Cob Clay, Fibers, & FC

[Patrick Newberry]

Being a Southerner and living among the pine needles I felt a bit of guilt 
in that I've never tried to make any test bricks or such with pine straw(as we 
call it)

The stuff seems like it will last a long time as it will out last wheat straw 
on the ground by a long time.
I've heard of a book that talks about building with pine straw but I've never 
read it. 
It burns better than wheat straw. (not necessarily an advantage when building a 
house)
And last, I'll make some test brick too! OH yea, I have long leaf pine on our 
land so it has more potential than the shorter leaf pines.

Pat
http://www.gnat.net/~goshawk 


> 
> << What is pine straw? Is it the smooth pine needles you are referring too? >>
> 
> Pine straw is what we Southerners call fallen pine needles.  The needles
> discolor from a dark green to a rusty brown color.  With long-needle pines,
> the straw may reach lengths of anywhere from 6 to 10 inches (or 15 to 25 cm).
> So the fibers aren't terribly long...certainly not like regular straw.
> 
> <<The best way of finding out what clay works best in your situation is to
> make test bricks of varying proportions of clay sand & earth that are
> available at your site.>>
> 
> I have made test bricks.  I think most of them turned out too sandy (the sand
> would just slough right off...or is this normal with dried cob?).  The tensile
> strength was poor, although the compressive strength was amazing.  Tomorrow I
> plan to try some other mixtures and see what I get.
> 
> Thanks for the tip on Roman cement...anyone have a recipe for this?
> 
> Metta to all,
> 
> Ron Cameron
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In a message dated 10/16/98 5:29:43 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
> wfirstbr at wcb.bc.ca writes:
> 
> << Hi Ron,
>  
>  The best way of finding out what clay works best in your situation is to make
> test bricks of varying proportions of clay sand & earth that are available at
> your site. For each brick, record its recipe and when dry compare its
> properties, such as strength, weight, cracking, does it crumble, easy to break
> or is it rock hard. Some clays have quite high silt content making them less
> suitable. Stickiness is a good indicator as the clay is basically used as a
> glue.
>  
>  Fiber cement would probably work ok for non-load bearing interior walls. But
> you might also want to consider other alternatives such as clay straw which is
> also cheep and doesn't need custom mixing machines, or thin burlap bags filled
> with stabilized earth and wood chips, or other combinations. You could also
> use other natural recipes such as roman cement which has held up the Roman
> aqueducts for the past 2000 years. I have forgotten its recipe but it is light
> and strong. I would look towards using available natural materials that are
> close at hand (on your property) for the best return.
>  
>  What is pine straw? Is it the smooth pine needles you are referring too?
>  
>  Regards,
>  Will >>
> 
> 
"There is No Hope, but I may be wrong."