Mixing cob… mesa style. This is a sloppier version of cob that’s good for infill, shaping and scratch coat plasters. Raw earth, straw and water. I’ve been using this for everything lately. In the video it shows a sloppy mix as it comes out of the mixer and the same mix after it has sat out in the sun and the wind. It stiffens up quick. I’m a fan of the cement ( cob ) mixer. It allows you to do several other things while the barrel is spinning. Electricity can come from variety of sources. Of course using power from the sun to make cob would be natural building nirvana. Even better… the human power of friends and neighbors.
It’s about that time of the year again. The weather is warming up and the mud is almost thawed. Fortunately in the high deserts of New Mexico there is plenty of good dirt around, especially in the mesa, where sometimes there’s too much mud! Plain old mesa dirt mixed with straw creates a delightful earthen plaster.
Cob = clay-rich soil, sand, straw, water + human energy!
People often forget to mention the human energy when speaking of the ingredients of cob! It’s either human energy or some other mechanical method of mixing. Electric mixer cob, tracker cob, tiller cob, cattle trodden etc. I mixed it up on a poly-propylene tarp. What’s nice about using a tarp is you can toss the material around, pulling the edges towards you while you mix. A basic mix might be 70% sand and %30 clay, with straw to ‘taste’. The ratios change from site to site as different sites have different soil content. In this video I was using a 2 clay-rich soil to 1 sand. I probably could have used more sand, but the batch worked fine for me. Continue…
Mixing cob… mesa style. This is a sloppier version of cob that’s good for infill, shaping and scratch coat plasters. Raw earth, straw and water. I’ve been using this for everything lately. In the video it shows a sloppy mix as it comes out of the mixer and the same mix after it has sat out in the sun and the wind. It stiffens up quick. I’m a fan of the cement ( cob ) mixer. It allows you to do several other things while the barrel is spinning. Electricity can come from variety of sources. Of course using power from the sun to make cob would be natural building nirvana. Even better… the human power of friends and neighbors.
