Cob: Cattied fireplaces-straw wattles

[Mark Piepkorn]

At 12:39 AM 8/10/2003, Taylor Publishing-DirtCheapBuilder wrote:
>Clay and stick fireplaces are called Catties,  or cattied fireplaces, and 
>since clay does not burn, as in a cob oven it has been used for 
>centuries.  Clay coated sticks are wider at the bottom, narrow as they go 
>up, built as a 4 sided rectangle, small at the top


         Good to know there's a name for that technique, which I knew of 
but not by any name.

         This one in Ireland was unlike that in that it wasn't built up 
like Lincoln Logs. The sticks - which were horizontal only, except possibly 
for a couple vertical pieces defining the corners (a guess, since those 
weren't visible) - were doing little more than giving something for the 
wrist-sized straw ropes to weave around. They were spaced well apart, sort 
of like the rungs of a ladder.


>John Vivian has   nice drawings of a cattie in his "Wood Heat"  book from 
>the 1970s/


         Huh. I have that book (in storage), but I guess my retention ain't 
as perfect as it might be, alas.


         Sharing the fun of a quick self-informing websearch:

"The first fire in the town of Boston occurred on the 16th of March, 1631 
from the imperfect claying of one of the 'cattied' chimneys, and two 
buildings were destroyed." (This was the only reference I could find for 
"cattied," and none for "cattie," with regard to this type of 
chimney-building.)
http://hearth.com/what/historyfire.html

Log chimney pic
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/WP/journal/issues/v37n1/370101/370101.fg11.html

Lath chimney pic
http://www.planetware.com/photos/US/MA128.HTM

Timberframed chimney pic
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/users/deetz/Plymouth/framing12.html

"Note the leaning wood chimney chinked with mud." (large 1.4 meg pdf file 
of a hand illustration, which could easily have been a much smaller gif or 
jpg.)
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/faculty_archives/mountain_slavery/ill6.1.pdf

"The fireplace was made of logs and was large enough to take in a log five 
or six feet long. On the fireplace was built a wooden chimney, made of 
sticks piled up cob-house [?!?!] fashion, and extending out through the 
roof some two or three feet. The sides of the chimney tapered inward as 
they went up, so that the hole was somewhat smaller at the top than at the 
bottom. When the woodwork of the fireplace was done, and the chimney built 
up as high as needed, the whole affair was plastered outside and in with 
wet clay, which finished the fireplace and chimney. The heat of the fire 
soon hardened the clay and a chimney of this kind would last a long time." 
(reference only)
http://core.ecu.edu/hist/cecelskid/chapter1.htm

"A portion of one wall of solid stone masonry that provides a fireproof 
back for the clay fire hearth is characteristic of other early log cabins 
in the Genesee Country, as is the clay-lined wooden chimney."
http://www.gcv.org/attractions/historicVillage/villageHomes/Pioneer.shtml

"After this we built the chimney out with sticks and mud, and daubed the 
cracks of the cabin. My wife carrying me all the mixed mud for that 
purpose. While we were working it, it snowed so hard that I could hardly 
see her to the clay hole. I wanted to quit, but she said no, and we 
finished it that night." (reference only)
http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilwhite2/wchs_05_30_02.html

"The house had no floor but there was a wretched wooden chimney, which at 
times smoked fearfully."
http://www.turtletrack.org/CO_FirstPerson/CO_04052003_Verwyst_1.htm

- - - - -

         Catties. I'll remember that now. But I still wouldn't build one 
while any other option existed - though I'd sooner do that than make one 
out of twisted straw. I readily accept that solid wood fully encased in a 
decent thickness of clay would have a tremendously, mighty, awfully, darned 
hard time igniting; straw, whether dry or leichlehm, even when coated with 
inches of earthen render, I don't trust for applications like that. (Cob 
and adobe are another matter.) Here's why:
http://www.potkettleblack.com/natbild/fire.html