Out on Bale
We've had a great stretch of weather... It brings out Island living at it's best. Sienna won't come to work with me while it's this hot, but she loves the beach outings. The ocean is the place to be, as the lakes are just too warm for swimming.
Saturday evening we went to see Los Rastrillos at the hall. An all ages show.... and as usual no Denman dance complete without Kids and a Border Collie. We were a slightly smaller crowd than the one in the video.
Straw Bale House Update: About half of the exterior walls are now "baled". We've started at 
the back of the house.... the idea being that we'll make all of the learning curve mistakes on the least visible side. We'll do one complete wall, then move on to the more visible areas. Once the bales are stacked and the cracks between them "stuffed", the walls are given a final plumb (fine tuning) using a sledge hammer. Then it comes time to shave the walls (to make them less hairy of course) and knock down any unsightly straw bulges. It was challenging to find a tool capable of shaving the flax straw. We tried weed-whackers, hedge shears and even the electric chainsaw with dismal results. The flax straw is just so fibrous 
that nothing seems to be able to shear it. During a visit to a hemp bale house a few years ago, that builder said that he'd had a difficult time with the same sort of problem. The problem has been solved by mounting an undercut saw carbide tooth blade onto my angle grinder. The result is a very dangerous, (but effective) tool.
the back of the house.... the idea being that we'll make all of the learning curve mistakes on the least visible side. We'll do one complete wall, then move on to the more visible areas. Once the bales are stacked and the cracks between them "stuffed", the walls are given a final plumb (fine tuning) using a sledge hammer. Then it comes time to shave the walls (to make them less hairy of course) and knock down any unsightly straw bulges. It was challenging to find a tool capable of shaving the flax straw. We tried weed-whackers, hedge shears and even the electric chainsaw with dismal results. The flax straw is just so fibrous 
that nothing seems to be able to shear it. During a visit to a hemp bale house a few years ago, that builder said that he'd had a difficult time with the same sort of problem. The problem has been solved by mounting an undercut saw carbide tooth blade onto my angle grinder. The result is a very dangerous, (but effective) tool.Once the wall was sheared we attached 2" square stucco wire, (which I'm told is not "code") 
anchored to the plaster stops and window bucks. Cedar window trims are then screwed into the bucks. Pretty much the same procedure will be done to the inside of the same wall, then the wire mesh on either side of the wall can be "sewn" together. This is accomplished using a customized baling needle which is capable of either pushing or pulling baling twine through the 18" walls. See design detail from http://www.strawbale.com/ I used a 3/8" aluminum rod (cost- $6) and a cutting wheel on my angle grinder to make the 45 degree grooves into which the twine fits.
anchored to the plaster stops and window bucks. Cedar window trims are then screwed into the bucks. Pretty much the same procedure will be done to the inside of the same wall, then the wire mesh on either side of the wall can be "sewn" together. This is accomplished using a customized baling needle which is capable of either pushing or pulling baling twine through the 18" walls. See design detail from http://www.strawbale.com/ I used a 3/8" aluminum rod (cost- $6) and a cutting wheel on my angle grinder to make the 45 degree grooves into which the twine fits.
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