[Cob] Dry mixing & Cement Mixers

[ocean]

Dry clay and sand in a mixer will result in clay balls, unless you're 
using powdered clay from a pottery supply store.

The only luck we've had with a cement mixer (different than a mortar 
mixer, which has paddles) is to first soak the clay then whip it into a 
thick runny slip - note, there are no clay balls in the slip.

Then dump the slip into a cement mixer, and gradually add sand to the 
desired ratio.  The clay/sand mix will be wetter here than you expect 
with a foot-mixed batch.  Then throw in the straw, which will absorb a 
lot of the excess water.

Good luck!

Ocean Liff-Anderson
_____

Steward, Ahimsa Sanctuary  http://www.peacemaking.org
Proprietor, Intaba's Kitchen  http://www.intabas.com


On Mar 3, 2005, at 11:30 AM, Bill&Julie wrote:

> Hello,,,  Shannon and All...
> Although I have never mixed this way,, ONE possible advantage to
> DRY MIXING first, is for quality control ... ( batching )
> Also a cement mixer could possibly be used for this, which would
> free up a person to do something else, while it is running.
> If the clay lumps are very hard,,,  ~¿~ and you not too attached to
> the cement mixer... You could put a few ( small )cannon balls in
> the mixer. They do that to the Gold ore,, to make it into a flour..
>
> Bang, thump, crunch, bill,,,,  oh darn!
>