Cob: Re: Cob wall near Washington DC

Tue Jul 22 19:28:59 CDT 2003

        The building phase of my wall is finished it weighs about 8 tons dry, 
and I would like to thank all those who stooped by to help lift and ram the 8 
tons of material into place. A couple of people expressed surprise about how 
efficient a rototiller is at mixing cob. This should be a no-brainer. 
Especially for anyone who has read articles by organic gardeners about why they hate 
rototillers.
       Cobbers should love rototillers for the same reasons that gardeners 
hate them. "If you mix wet soil with a tiller or over till the soil it is 
compacted and turns to concrete." Let's hear it for soil that is compacted turned to 
concrete. My 5 horsepower tiller delivers ten times as much power to the soil 
as my poor aching feet ever could. I like mixing batches of two tons at a 
time.
       I have also used rototiller to mine clay.  Simply remove the 
overburden (topsoil) place a layer of sand on the cut and start tilling.
       I mixed up a batch of earth plaster today and hope to schedule a 
plastering party soon.
       Thanks for everything
       Ed
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<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT  SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">        The building phase of my wall is finished it weighs about 8 tons dry, and I would like to thank all those who stooped by to help lift and ram the 8 tons of material into place. A couple of people expressed surprise about how efficient a rototiller is at mixing cob. This should be a no-brainer. Especially for anyone who has read articles by organic gardeners about why they hate rototillers.<BR>
       Cobbers should love rototillers for the same reasons that gardeners hate them. "If you mix wet soil with a tiller or over till the soil it is compacted and turns to concrete." Let's hear it for soil that is compacted turned to concrete. My 5 horsepower tiller delivers ten times as much power to the soil as my poor aching feet ever could. I like mixing batches of two tons at a time.<BR>
       I have also used rototiller to mine clay.  Simply remove the overburden (topsoil) place a layer of sand on the cut and start tilling.<BR>
       I mixed up a batch of earth plaster today and hope to schedule a plastering party soon.<BR>
       Thanks for everything<BR>
       Ed</FONT></HTML>

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