Cob: Re: Cob Energy, Mixers, Presses, Bicycles, Feet, Horses, Tractors...

[Ocean]

Hi All you Cobbies, Old and New!!!

Well, well, it seems my critique of Brian's bike/cement/cob mixer 
started a lot of thought-provoking debate, although hurting some egos 
along the way.  Sorry about the sharpness of my original comment.  Seems 
again that this email stuff is so prone to mis-communication!

Nevertheless, I was totally jazzed by Kenn Goodson's attitude that 
"criticism would only make (his idea) better".  This spirit captures why 
we are writing to each other, to learn more, to explore ideas...

I agree with John Hall's comment that I too hate to see "enthusiastic 
people wanting to spend an immense amount of their energy heading in a 
pointless direction".  Our time and energy are limited and precious.  
There are many people on these listservs who have a lot more experience 
working with the medium of cob, who are able to advise whether these 
innovative ideas would in fact make cob mixing easier or harder.

I also concur with Matthew Hall's advice that "those involved in the 
cob-mixer debate (should) not put so much thought and effort into 
solving a problem that does not exist."  Cob is indeed best mixed (read: 
most ECOLOGICALLY) by the efforts of organic creatures, whether human or 
animal.  This is the way earthen building has been done for thousands of 
years, by traditional people, young and old, who are indeed much 
simpler, smarter, LoweOnTheEnergyConsumptionScale than all of us writing 
on these listservs.

But here we are in modern society wanting to improve the quality of our 
lives, hurt less salmon, use less energy...and here's Brian trying to 
think of a way to simplify mixer-cob.  He also has very little 
experience mixing or building with the stuff.  So I responded as someone 
who has some experience (just a couple years, I admit) and a couple 
major cob projects under my belt.  My intuition is that the bike-cement 
mixer won't work (hard to get enough torque from a bike) and doesn't 
even solve the electricity problem (if building with wet clay, in the 
winter as Pedro suggested, one must first puree the mud with an electric 
drill and paddle blade first).

No one, by the way responded to this point: that the 1HP mixer motor 
doesn't use that much power anyway!  Certainly a lot less than our 
addictions to computers, email, and the internet...did you all know that 
just ONE of the server complexes in Silicon Valley that channels the 
switching of the internet (a 100,000 square foot warehouse) uses about 5 
MEGAWATTS of power?  That's enough to light an entire small city such as 
ours in Corvallis.  And there are HUNDREDS of these server complexes in 
the USA running the 'net.  So why are we writing so many emails about 
saving a little power with a bike mixer, but at the same time wasting so 
much power with our beloved computers?  Not to mention the human 
connection we've lost in this electronic medium, where our feelings are 
hurt so easily?

No, I'm not trying to go "Nya, nya, nya, we are all hypocrites!"  What 
I'm trying to point out  is that those of us who are trying to make a 
difference and conserve energy all have our pet concerns and 
sensitivities.  Some are totally against using electricity, some against 
gasoline, some against animal products, some against cooking 
vegetables.  We also have our own special gifts and talents.  Brian, you 
are into biking and welding, which I think is great!  You'd probably 
like mixing cob by foot:  it's fun, and I'm sure you've got the muscles 
needed to stomp.

However, sometimes necessity dictates a limit on our time.  Cob requires 
time and energy to build with, both to mix AND to build.  In both of our 
projects, we ran into this limit:  lots of enthusiastic volunteers with 
SOME time to offer.  How to best use their time?  I made a judgment 
call, one not at all popular with Ianto, and decided to use a tractor to 
mix our cob.  We rented a Case Uniloader (similar to a Bobcat) for a day 
at a time and mixed a HUGE pile (anywhere from 10 to 20 YARDS).  OK, it 
was a mountain of cob!  The process of mixing by tractor is in itself an 
art, one which I will share more about during my slideshow at the NBC.

So we conserved the precious energy of our volunteers to BUILD our cob 
walls.  And cob building takes LOTS of muscle energy, to haul from the 
pile, to lift it onto the wall, to compress and compact and form into 
place.  And then to trim, to haul scrapings, to clean up.  Brian, I'd 
much rather see your enthusiasm spent learning to build and sculpt with 
cob, with your time left over to keep biking!

Besides, each of the tractor mixing days used only about 10 gallons of 
diesel.  There was a lot of noise, and in the restaurant's case, a lot 
of mud to pressure wash off the parking lot afterwards.  But then we 
used the precious material of cob to build a beautiful space, with an 
ambiance unlike any other.  We used a small cement mixer to make plaster 
for the wall and oven, which in the end I bought it from the rental 
place (I had the mixer rented out three months!)  BTW, if you NBCers 
want to borrow it, let me know!

I have come to realize the art of living sustainably in this age 
requires a balanced approach to Conviction and Compromise.  We have had 
to succomb to using some really nasty toxic materials to meet city codes 
(fiberglass, spray foam, and yards of rebar and concrete) but we've also 
used real linoleum, natural finishes and floor treatments, recycled 
building materials, restaurant equipment and even stainless steel, and 
made the best choices we could to make this restaurant as 
environmentally safe as possible.  We will be serving the best organic, 
vegetarian "world cuisine" on the West Coast!  I'll tell you all the 
tale at the NBC.

There is a lot of "embedded" energy in a cob structure.  The energy of 
people's love, sweat, and sometimes blood (ever stomped on a sharp rock 
while foot-mixing cob?), but also the energy of machines, whether 
tractors for mixing, trucks for hauling clay and sand, cars for bringing 
the volunteers to the site, or computers for the great debate and 
discourse of the coblist and nbc list.  Let's keep carrying the torch, 
and find ways to make peace with our energy use...we are all making a 
difference here, bringing more beauty into the cities, more love into 
our spaces, more humanity into the building world.

Blessings,
Ocean

Owner/Manager/Builder/Fixer-Upper/HeadBottleWasher
Intaba's Kitchen
http://www.intabas.com

Resident/Steward
Ahimsa Sanctuary
http://www.peacemaking.org


On Friday, March 22, 2002, at 06:04 PM, Charmaine R Taylor wrote:

> Hi Kenn you are describing a CInva Ram compressed brick maker, made
> popular in the 1950s, invented in Bogota Columbia.
>
> There are manual machines for sale into he US on a limited basis, most
> cost $650 to $2500+-
>
> However German Builder Frank Andresen created a "squeeze" box of wood,
> with flip  up handles that has a clay-straw-or sawdust/chhips loaf
> pressed, then released one brick at a time- very cool and very low
> tech.  I made a similar brick maker myself, and tested several recipes
> of cob like mixes some with lime-clay- all with fiber of some sort.
>
> Basically if you can weld together any metal with holes ( for a wetter
> mix to drain through as you suggest) and then place and press- you still
> have the problem of REMOVAL of the press- the papercrete folks
> originally shoveled papercrete ( a cement- sand-dirt-paper mix ) into
> old cloth sacks, laid between boards on the ground to square shape
> them,  tamped lightly, and left to dry by themselves for a few days,
> then peeled OFF the sack, and continued to dry--this is less labor of
> course
>
> No compression is needed for cob, so you could save work by not using
> (essentially) an adobe brick maker.
> For cold climates the advantage is making bricks all winter to dry  them
> in the basement, garage, etc...
>
> My block maker was 2pieces 14" long, 2 8" wide of 2x6" redwood boards
> nailed together,  with a heavy wood block  8"X14",  8" tall that fit the
> inner dimension of the form. Two more wood bits supported the  blocke
> frame edge while I tamped in the brick, removed the  wood supports and
> pushed DOWN the form thus exposing the brick on top the big block.
> Carefully remove the fresh brick, and set to dry somewhere.
>
> in the end this is too much labor- slip form pouring a wetter mix into
> cardboard boxes sitting on a drain screen is much faster, and they can
> dry on their own, and the cardboard  box is recycleable.
>
> Charmaine  Taylor/ Taylor Publishing
> http://www.dirtcheapbuilder.com
> http://www.papercrete.com
> PO Box 375, Cutten CA 95534
> 707-441-1632
>
> here are some web links that show CInva Block presses
>
> Cinva Ram:  A CEB press made from these plans is
> now offered by Warren Fernsler  at 505-354-7102 (toll
> free 877-369-1699) at Fernco Metal, price is $650. plus S&H,
> makes a 4"x6"x8" block, online information at the website:
> http://ferncometal.stormloader.com/
>
> Mike Gross of Terra Block in Orlando, FL offers an automated
> brick-a-minute machine, and larger production brick makers.
> 407-325-2738, www.terra-block.com
>
> The Mississippi State School of Architecture bought my CInva Ram planset
> in Feb 2000, and conducted a class to build one. See lots of photos and
> excellent test brick performance data online at:
> http://www.sarc.msstate.edu/gore/cinvablocks/cinva.html
>
> Cinva Ram type machine:
> http://www.geocities.com/abonaccorsom/Vene-Ram.html
>
>  BASIN site with good Cinva Ram information:
> http://www.gtz.de/basin/gate/interlocking.htm
>
> Earth as a Building Material-13 pages, good info
> http://www.fao.org/inpho/vlibrary/s1250e/S1250E06.htm
>
> Compressed Earth Block Article-well done
> http://www.carpetarea.com/designscapes/apr1_2001/spotlight3.asp
>
> Packer Presser in Belen, NM also produces a block press for $1500.
>
>
>
>