[Cob] Coblist Digest, Vol 6, Issue 74

[Maggie Henry]

Thanks for the info! I am always amazed at the info sharing! Now I have more
questions...Adobe comes pre-made? Where would I buy it? Cob cracks and falls
inside the oven? I need to learn what causes this and how to prevent it
before I experience it.
I also need to learn to ask better, more specific questions. Here goes ...
Can I use the Sunset design and substitute cob where they call for the
adobe/cement mixture? Should I still use all the wire it calls for? This is
the link to the project   so you can see what it calls for.

http://www.sunset.com/sunset/garden/article/0,20633,690891,00.html

I would like to make this big enough for a full size turkey... any thoughts
on door height and that formula Kiko gives in his book?

TIA!





>
> Maggie,
>
> IMO, there are only a couple reasons to use adobe instead of cob:
>
> 1. It is pre-made by someone else / mass-produced / labor-saving for you
> / quick to install.
> 2. If you have to make the cob in one geographic location and move it to
> another location (more than "people" distance apart) for your application.
> 3. If you have the opportunity to make adobe at one time when your use
> is further distant in TIME.  (i.e. a renter who is stockpiling adobe for
> an eventual home)
>
> Otherwise, I don't think there is any advantage to using adobe in the
> application you gave and I think there are probably disadvantages to
> it.  Cob will, sculpturally, be a lot more flexible.  However, there's
> no reason that you can't mix the two (and I think there are probably
> advantages to doing it this way--drying time will probably be less, for
> example).
>
> --Leslie
>
> Maggie Henry wrote:
> > Does anyone have any experience using both? Recommend one over the other?
> I
> > have read EVERYTHING I could get my hands on dealing with cob oven
> > construction. I found the Sunset Adobe Oven project directions and
> because I
> > want a Quebec-style was hook immediately because of not needing to build
> the
> > form. (The alder branch form from the Bread Ovens of Quebec looked
> > daunting!)
> >  I didn't really read the materials list on the Sunset oven and it was
> news
> > to me when someone posted "don't use portland cement"  Cement? That's not
> in
> > Kiko's book. So I actually read the entire project article. Sent me off
> > researching adobe.  My new question is which is better? Longer lasting?
> Can
> > I just cob over the form? Has anyone actually built one of these. I am
> > determined to get this done this summer!
> > Thanks in Advance for all your help!
> >
> > Maggie



We can not solve the problems we have created with the same thinking that
created them. Albert Einstein