RE: SB: life expectancy

[jmark.vanscoter@amd.com]

I just found this and thought I could add something.

The round baler was probably an Allis Chalmers Roto-Baler. They started selling them about them. The idea was that the bales were exceptionally weatherproof because the water followed the strands of straw and ran off, not through, the bales. Also, the bales were very dense (too dense?) and did not allow easy water entry.

I remember seeing pictures of a demonstration held at the Wisconsin State Fair (IIRC). They had a device like a merry-go-round with 6 or 8 bales. Alternating square and round. The bales ran under a fountain of water and very shortly the square bales were drenched, the A-C round bales stayed dry.

Not at all very relevant to building a SB structure in today's environment, unfortunately.

Mark V.S. in Austin, TX

-----Original Message-----
From: Kester Wilkinson [mailto:thestrawhouse@hotmail.com]

<snip>
no one knows when it was built, our neighbouring farmer cannot remember a 
time when it was not there, it was built by his father , as he is 56 he 
reckons it was built some time in the 40's.  It was built because the farm 
bought a round baler from america, there were very excited by this, it made 
quite small round bales very quckly - 1.5 foot diameter.

However, when they went to unroll them for animal bedding they were baled so 
tightly they just rolled about and wouldn't unravel.  So, rather than leave 
them to rot, they used that years harvest to build animal shelters, 
apparently they built several, the stable is all that remains.  It is built 
with hop poles, a shingled roof and then wrapped in chicken wire, the bales 
have been stacked up against the chicken wire.


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