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[Tvoivozhd <tvoivozd AT infionline.net>]

sasha wrote:

> On Monday 06 September 2004 12:29 am, Tvoivozhd wrote:
>  
>
> > I'm pretty sure the prior Hypertufa post didn't make it into the
> > archives.  Hypertufa products are, however a very good home business.
> >    
>
>
>
>
>
> Can  paper (like in papercrete) be used instead of peat mos?
>
> Sasha 
>
>  

tvoivozhd---I think it could, at least in part, and there are other 
natural fibers which should work better than paper, which has very short 
fiber.  Papercrete is very easy to produce, all you need to do is whip 
newspaper and water together with a  motor-driven propellor or 
multi-bladed mixer, drain off excess water and add Portland Cement.

Peat moss has ideal characterists for hypertufa product appearance, but 
almost no tensile strength, other fibers are used to provide tensile 
strength where required, and acrylic latex lends strength also.

It seems to me that various kinds of grass, straw or cornstalk leaves if 
chopped or run through a powered shredder having a large-diameter 
screen,  three-quarter or one-inch, would produce a fiber that could be 
used as a substitute for peat moss..  Any of these grasses etc., would 
have to be dried before shredding.

You would have to experiment to see what variety grass would work 
best----I don't know what kind grasses you have in Serbia, here we have 
a waxy-exterior very strong and resistant to weather-degradation fescue, 
finer and less strong orchard-grass, (clover and alfalfa which probably 
wouldn't be worth a damn).  Farther south they have Bermuda Grass whidh 
would certainly merit experimentation, as would perennial ryegrass or 
rye stems---don't know whether you would have to remove the rye leaves 
or not.

Make up some six-inch square test plaques of different thickness to 
abuse with a wire brush to see how closely they resemble peat-moss mixes 
in strength and appearance.  You might come up with something better.