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The Work of Art and The Art of Work Kiko Denzer on Art |
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Cob: Re: Use of Forms?Raduazo at aol.com Raduazo at aol.comSun Jan 5 15:22:35 CST 2003
Cement mixers tend to make a mix that is too wet, and unless you have a really big mixer it makes batches that are too small. I use a cheap 5 HP rototiller to mine clay and mix it with sand and some times chopped straw. It works great and allows a much lower water content. If you can mix on a concrete slab you can move the finished product with a sand shovel. If you mix on the ground it is a little more difficult to control the mix but still not a big problem since cob is so forgiving, and move it with a dirt fork. By the way if you use a forms you are stuck with flat walls which will not dry until the forms are removed and your resulting product is called rammed earth not cob. There is a good book on it by David Easton, but I am not sure that the end result is worth the cost of the forms, and the equipment. Ed -------------- next part -------------- <HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Cement mixers tend to make a mix that is too wet, and unless you have a really big mixer it makes batches that are too small. I use a cheap 5 HP rototiller to mine clay and mix it with sand and some times chopped straw. It works great and allows a much lower water content. If you can mix on a concrete slab you can move the finished product with a sand shovel. If you mix on the ground it is a little more difficult to control the mix but still not a big problem since cob is so forgiving, and move it with a dirt fork.<BR> By the way if you use a forms you are stuck with flat walls which will not dry until the forms are removed and your resulting product is called rammed earth not cob. There is a good book on it by David Easton, but I am not sure that the end result is worth the cost of the forms, and the equipment.<BR> Ed</FONT></HTML>
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