Re: [Strawbale] Cob Core Building proposal for Haiti

[Max Vittrup Jensen <max@permalot...>]

Hi Herbert,

Yes; back in year 2000 I actually went to USA explicitly to study 
papercrete, and I've worked with the Tow mixer. Smart invention, (though 
you'll have less wear and tear on the car by making a slight different 
set up from a broken car).
But no; It will absolutely not mix cob. It will at best cut the straw 
into pieces, and it would have to be a very wet mix for it to do that. 
The earth would dull the blades very fast, but the real trick for any 
mixer is to mix long straws.

During the past 10 year I've only experienced 3 machines which did a 
good job of it, all of them operating a horizontal drive shaft...

Cheers,
Max
------------

Dear Max

Have you ever heard about the system of the selfbuilt tow-mixer?
Just a blade of a lawnmower attached on an axle of an old car rotating in a
bottle just by driving around with the car:
Look at this example on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPno5gWBWqE

I like this simple idea, it surely works for cob and other mixings too. They
normally make PaperCrete or PaperAdobe with it...

best wishes