Cob: Re: Bentonite (cat litter)

[Kyle Towers]

    I've used the unscented Wal-Mart litter to make fidobe.  It works OK,
but it takes a some effort to break up the chunks, and some fraction of the
chunks are actually small pebbles or large sand grains.  The fidobe was made
with newspaper and was light on the clay.  It shrank to half its original
size while drying, but was very light and very strong (and probably a darn
good insulator), but it could never be exposed to the slightest amount of
water w/o disintegrating.

    You can also check w/ a local well driller.  Standard practice is to
seal around the well casing with a bag of pure, finely powdered bentonite.
This keeps surface water from contaminating the well.

Regards,

Kyle

----- Original Message -----
From: "Shannon C. Dealy"

> On Sun, 19 Jan 2003, Matthew HALL(SED) wrote:
>
> [snip]
> > Finally, how much does it cost to buy and is it easily available?
> [snip]
>
> If you don't need large quantities, some of the clumping cat litters are
> nothing but bentonite clay (check the ingredients on the side), though
> many of them contain additives for various reasons, I have found that some
> appear to be nothing but bentonite.  This is what I used to make an
> insulation mix for a rocket bench stove, since for insulation you want
> there to be as little clay as possible, only enough to bind the mix
> together and bentonite being particularly sticky allows you to use alot
> less.
>
> FWIW
>
> Shannon C. Dealy