Oct 11 Lovely day today, cobbed after work

The cob that I mixed wet and soft in the rain on monday was nice today. I added straw to it and it seemed to be really nice sticky cob.Almost all the walls are up to window height now. I rolled the cob blobs into the wheelbarrow and then pushed it upright and this seems the best way of moving the cob. Carrying the heavy buckets and Putting it in buckets and then pulling it out onto the wall is very hard on the hands. Just taking it out of the barrow is so much easier.

Starting the posts with one from Oct 10th

I have a bad knee so I tried to cut down on the stomping a bit.I have also mixed mortar in a wheelbarrow for quite a while now. So, I find it removes some of the work if (after a few mixes on the tarp)
I add the full quantity of water to the clay in the wheelbarrow. I go with 2 litres of water to 5 shovels of clay and I mix and crush and paste in the barrow until it forms a thick slurry or paste. Then I add 7 shovels of coarse sand. The sand easily mixes with the clay now because all the little lumps are gone. Then I turn the mix out on the tarp and either mix a little more with treading or add the straw straight in.

Four or five small additions of straw treaded in and you have nice stiff cob.
It was really rainy today and I didnt want to do anything so I mixed a bunch of sand clay mixes. Same deal, I mixed them in the barrow except I mixed them wetter. It was nearly 4 liters of water to the clay. It mixed up quickly and the sand addition went quicker. Now I have a big pile of slowly drying sand clay mix just waiting for the addition of straw when I get a few dry hours. Hopefully, tomorrow, (tuesday 11th october) it will be ready to go on the walls when i come home from work. Definitely, hydrating the clay beforehand seems to save a lot of work.