As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
"Cement" was an original product of the Romans in building which still is in good condition in the 21st century. The original mixture was slaked lime, volcanic dust or cinder, sand and broken stone, in order to create an artificial rock.
Modern Portland Cement was a recipe of Joseph Aspdin of Leeds, England, who took out a patent in 1824 AD in the year of our Lord for Portland Cement, so called, as it resembled a rock which was quarried at the Isle of Portland.
The French and Germans were soon enough involved in this artificial stone creation, and improved the process greatly, so that upon it's introduction to America in 1865 AD in the year of our Lord, it was becoming a product of the ages.
Commercial production of cement did not take place until 1872 AD in the year of our Lord, and of note, it was not until 1896 AD in the year of our Lord in which it reached the million barrel mark in useage.
It is an amazing product really in having great compression stength, but slight tinsel strength, but with the addition of wire fabric or rod to achieve the tinsel strength or the strength to hold up against twisting, does this material of the ages come to it's full ability.
Literally cement will last thousands of years if well made and only jackhammer force or dynamite will break it apart.
Ignorance of cement and the weight of it, has kept it from common use by people and keeping it in the realm of industry, but for those individuals who play with the mud, great things begin taking place.
I first came into contact with sculpted cement while surfing the internet in looking for home construction materials which were cheap. I found in the South of America, the use of ferro cement for stone boats. These were boats constructed to move large stones from fields, and they seemed impossibly thin to do the work, but they did indeed do the work, and all it required was chicken mesh or woven wire to hold the platform together.
I was fascinated by a poorer than dirt man in Florida, who occupying a property he did not own, needed a roof, and placed upon that tropical structure ferro cement, in simply a chicken wire base, that he troweled cement onto, added another layer of wire and cement, to a slight dome, and he was stunned in the thin inch layer held him as he was walking around on it when it cured.
In dabbling in this mud, I have built a grill and enough anchors for decoys to last me the thousand years of Christ. It really is a remarkable material this cement and yet people are too warry to use it.
I was reading on this material recently and in the 1900's it was being advocated for barns to hog troughs, to ice houses to the Veteran's Home in Washington City. I was fascinated by the realities in they were making rafters or I BEAMS for roofing support in simply using U shaped metal as the stress support or rods.
The walls were three inches, with 10 inches of space between for the outside three inch wall. When a post was necessary to support the massive beams, one was poured into the wall, for the weight to transfer to.
These buildings were cool in summer and warm in winter, by the dead air spaces in the ceilings and walls. Air naturally moved from the main building, up the walls, to the ceilings and vented out the roof. The air was kept fresh and the buildings comfortable, especially for livestock.
Cement is hell on your hands, and requires leather gloves for novices. It is though for the drawbacks of effort, a longer than lifetime creation one set into place. Simply put down a solid foundation, give the proper support, use good cement, cure it correctly and the artificial rock will not crack or move.
It is my intention to build an underground home when the big donation comes in. I have been designing them for some time, and know the architecture which I intend to classically employ. This home will be about as bomb, bullet, storm and radioactive proof as can be from fire, flood and quake.
I even came across some long hidden knowledge which I do intend to employ in a time to come. Apparently they were experiment with posts for fences using cement. Rather ingenious in one would use plywood sheets now, with spacer boards laid at angle so the posts would have less weight and taper. Holes were drilled in the spacers and a greased rod was put in them, so the post with their wire rods would have holes in them for later passing fencing or support wires through them.
Literally these things would never rot and having the taper would naturally seat in the post hole. With a power post auger, this would be a simple thing as much as using a loader to lift the posts to the holes, so no physical effort would be needed really.
There was a dog house plan too which would outlast all the dogs several generations could have.
They even like modern methods were sculpting the cement for stone effect and adding colors at a ratio to not interfer with the cement curing. One person was adding cinder to his mix, and he believed the cinder absorbed moisture and made the cement drier and healthier for livestock......suppose people stock too.
The final addition was painting a white cement wash over the structure to seal up all holes for smooth finish and that was the perfection of all.
I have plans in this in God's help in funding and Inspiration, but I share this as a something my children might explore if so moved for some of their needs. In reading of Russian peasants of past Siberian centuries, I mentioned of their masonry structures in their massive ovens used for cooking and heating in that 60 below land. The prime spot was on top of the stove to sleep and with a small amount of fuel the cement simply "bled off" heat for 24 hours in a real green use of energy.
I close this disseration on artificial rock.
"Cement mortar for brick or masonry work; CEMENT MORTAR if made in the following proportions, will give a mortar that works greasy under the trowel.
Proportions are: One barrel "ATLAS" Portland Cement, four barrels clean sand and two pails of lime putty. Always have your brick thoroughly wet before using.
Ideal concrete (artificial stone) is made CONCRETE from a mixture of broken granite, trap rock or clean screened gravel, size varying from a walnut to a hen's egg, clean coarse sand and first-class Portland Cement in such proportions that the voids between the stones will be filled with sand, and the voids between the grains of sand filled with Portland Cement, with Portland Cement slightly in excess of the quantity necessary to fill said voids, in order to furnish additional adhesive properties to thoroughly combine the sand with the broken stone."
-Atlas Portland Cement Company
1900 AD in the year of our Lord
Yes now you are not ignorant and know the difference between CEMENT and CONCRETE as they are indeed two different entities.
nuff said
agtG
