Cob:

[Amanda Peck]

Those nice flat walls are because they are cutting them to look that way, 
from what it sounds like.  And that seems to be a normal way of doing cob.  
But a lot of Americans seem to be glorying in the hand-made look.  Either 
can work.

I had a hard time finding a good description of slip-form concrete on the 
web.  Helen and Scott Nearing used it.  I have friends in the county here 
who have used it. But that's what's meant here.  You fill your form (with 
whatever, stone and concrete, papercrete, probably a dry cob mix), after it 
pretty well sets up, remove the forms--which are just boards wired together, 
no bottom--that fits on the previous part of your wall, no top, because 
that's how it's filled, set it up on top of what you just did, repeat. What 
we've called forms the British seem to call shuttering or 
(bottomless)troughs.

Somewhere (hidden on another computer) I've got a reference to an Australian 
version in which the succeeding layers are carefully keyed in.

If that's, ahem, clear as mud, this guy tells it this way.

http://www.homestead.org/rockwork.htm

There is another method that gives nice flat walls; it is much faster and 
you can use any shape rocks you wish. This method was described by Helen And 
Scott Nearing, but many of the present-day homesteaders have never read 
their books. For this method you use two (or more) sheets of plywood for the 
"forms" for your walls. Set the plywood in place on the foundation and use 
some wire to hold them apart for the width of wall that you want. I drill 
several matching holes in the two sheets of plywood, so that the wires will 
line up. Pieces of wood, cut to the right size, can be used to hold the 
plywood apart until you can drop some rocks between them. You will need some 
2"X4"s to support the forms from the outside as well. Once you have enough 
rocks in your "form" to hold them in place, remove the pieces of wood. Then 
fill the rest of the area between the plywood with stones and once it is 
full, pour in a wet cement mix. You want it wet enough that it will fill all 
of the spaces between the rocks. Once it has set up, cut the wires holding 
the plywood in place and move it to the next section of wall to be built. 
Using this method, you can be laying up one section of wall while another is 
setting up. This method gives nice flat, straight walls and you can use any 
shape rocks. This is just about the only way to use rounded river stone for 
walls.





Jill wants to know the translation of the British here.

http://www.endersonbrowns.demon.co.uk/cob/index.html

I don't understand what they are explaining, the trough.. say it again?


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