Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Stubs
It's a method used by basket makers and
is very effective. You do need to make sure
that you have split the fibres enough and
that you twist and bend and don't just belt it
then snap it!
These are short lengths of hazel that are
fixed into holes in cross noggins of the
baseplate, to secure the first course of
bales. The holes are usually 32mm (1¼”)
in diameter and the hazel is 350mm (14”)
long by 32-38mm (1¼-1½”) diameter. It's
important that the hazel is long enough to
only 'embale' the first bale and not stick out
above it, for obvious rather important health
and safety reasons. It should be whittled
at the fatter end so that the natural but
irregular hazel fits tightly by friction into the
regular drilled hole. Two stubs are used per
bale, placed centrally, one-third from each
end of the bale. It should be possible to see
the bale plan by the location of noggins and
hazel stubs in the baseplate. Once made,
the stubs should not be placed until directly
before placing the bale on to them, to avoid
vampire-type injuries. Stubs are also used
like giant Rawlplugs before plastering,
knocked into the centre of a bale wherever
you want fixings for sockets, radiators,
kitchen cabinets, etc.
Hazel staple
Hazel pin
Internal pinning
Once the walls are four bales high, they
need to be pinned with lengths of hazel.
Again, sometimes we don't use these pins
at all, but they do help a lot for self-build
when people are not too familiar with bale
building. Also, they give the wall integrity,
so that each bale acts together with the
others instead of independently, and this
can be very important when building in
areas with lots of wind (engineers call this
high wind loading). The pins are as long as
the height of four bales, less 50mm (2”),
which is 1.35m (4' 6”), and they should be
38-50mm (1½-2”) in diameter, straight,
sharpened at the narrow end and without
excessive knobbles. There are two pins per
bale (dividing the bales into equal thirds),
driven down through the centre of the bales
to overlap with the hazel stubs that stand up
from the foundations. The same length pins
are used on the sixth course (unless there is
no seventh, in which case they go through
Staples
We used to use hazel staples at every radical
change of direction, such as at corners, or
at delicate points such as where the bales
go above windows and need attaching to
their neighbours. Nowadays this is done
only if the building requires it, such as when
the bales are a little less than perfect, or the
design needs a bit more robustness. Staples
are made from 900mm (3') lengths of hazel,
25-32mm (1-1¼”) in diameter, by splitting
the fibres apart with a heavy hammer at the
point where you want them to bend - without
breaking - and then twisting and bending.
