Larro goes underground

[Eric Salop]

Well, whatever the use, i'd like to have one too. Hunting or hidden storage of some sort. As long as I can keep the critters out including brown recluse & black widow spiders. When I was a kid, we had a nice under ground camp"fort". I think it must have been a old cement cistern or something. 10'x10'. Also made what I called soddies. Branch frames covered with sod. I've got a bunch of left over cement #10 blocks to do something with.

As a kid, we often used soddies too to cover our dens. The best one I can remember was inspired by finding a rusty bed frame that someone had dumped. We dug a hole and used the earth to build up the walls a couple of feet, with the bed on top, covered in old carpet, with grass sods over it all. Another flap of carpet, trapped under the sods, folded down to make a door.

Looking forward to hear how you get on with the rest of the construction Larro.

 

[Larro Darro]

I spent most of the day here around the house. But I did get down to the camp right before dark and got in a little shoveling, including harvesting some clay for making cob. If all goes well, I might use it to make a chimney for my fox stove tomorrow.

 

[dragoneggs]

Hey Larro, I know you aren't wanting to dump a bunch of money into this project but one thing to consider for your pond floor if you are wanting to retain water is the use of sodium bentonite. It's kind of expensive so it might not be a great option but depending on what you are trying to do... ??? Something to research though. I know golf courses use it in forming ponds and it is a natural material.

 

[Larro Darro]

Hey Larro, I know you aren't wanting to dump a bunch of money into this project but one thing to consider for your pond floor if you are wanting to retain water is the use of sodium bentonite. It's kind of expensive so it might not be a great option but depending on what you are trying to do... ??? Something to research though. I know golf courses use it in forming ponds and it is a natural material.

My dug ponds have clay bottoms and they hold water pretty good, not to mention they get water piped in to them. The natural pond is 3-5 acres, so it has to come and go with the water table.

 

[dragoneggs]

My dug ponds have clay bottoms and they hold water pretty good, not to mention they get water piped in to them. The natural pond is 3-5 acres, so it has to come and go with the water table.

My pond will be small and will be fed naturally as well as I will have retaining wall base run off pipe from our terraced garden (live on a steep hill), and a well water connection. Ideally I will have some kind of aeration via a simple fountain or ???. I don't want stagnant water.

Following along... keep us up to date with your progress! :thumbsup:

 

[Larro Darro]

Today I turned my fire hole into a Fox stove. {or Badger stove, according to where you're at} I guess I could call it a Gopher stove

This was my first time working with cob. I used 3 parts {surprisingly good looking} clay, 2 parts sand, 1 1/2 parts water and a certain amount of straw to make the mud. I lined the bottom and sides of the hole, then mounded up a "chimney". The hole is bigger than the stove-top I had planned {used mower blades}, so I'm going to have to come up with another plan. I covered it with an old tarp so it can dry out slow. A few day's time will tell how good a job I did.

 

[hunt4570]

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Today I turned my fire hole into a Fox stove. {or Badger stove, according to where you're at} I guess I could call it a Gopher stove

This was my first time working with cob. I used 3 parts {surprisingly good looking} clay, 2 parts sand, 1 1/2 parts water and a certain amount of straw to make the mud. I lined the bottom and sides of the hole, then mounded up a "chimney". The hole is bigger than the stove-top I had planned {used mower blades}, so I'm going to have to come up with another plan. I covered it with an old tarp so it can dry out slow. A few day's time will tell how good a job I did.

Do you have a hole or something to the bottom to feed it air?

 

[Larro Darro]

Do you have a hole or something to the bottom to feed it air?

I used hole diggers and a trenching shovel to dig the air hole. This is a nighttime picture, but you can see the fire at the end of the air hole. {the broken block is to keep me from having a broken ankle} The times I had a fire in it, it drew really well. The higher up I go with the chimney, the better it will draw.

 

[hunt4570]

I used hole diggers and a trenching shovel to dig the air hole. This is a nighttime picture, but you can see the fire at the end of the air hole. {the broken block is to keep me from having a broken ankle} The times I had a fire in it, it drew really well. The higher up I go with the chimney, the better it will draw.

AH HA! I didn't see that before.

 

[Duwop]

Nice Larro, last year I built a fire pit now I want to build on of yours. I remember as a lad I was in boys home in south Ga. and we built hunting shelters 3 to 4 ft into the ground maybe 8x8 ft square and used tin for two foot walls above grade with tin roofs and also a fire hole/ place below grade to cook and heat space. Thanks havnt had that memory for some time.