Hypertufa Millstone.

thats very clever ~ it looks so old!!

wow it looks great.. I'm inspired now...

There was a feature of making a trough with Hypertufa on the BBC's coverage of Chelsea last week...I would suspect it will be quite popular or a while.
BTW - your millstone looks great.

My poor OH wait until I show him lol!

After reading your blog i've just spent an hour watching videos on yt, i'm going to give it a try myself now...

Hallo all. Thanks fo your reply´s. To those of you that have never made anything out of hypertufa before....may I give you a couple of tips...from the little experience that I have had upto now...if in doubt add a bit more cement than the 3-2-1 mixture, it won´t do any harm and will make it stronger, don´t be too impatient and let it dry long enough..the millstone was drying out for about 8 days but longer won´t hurt it. Have fun trying it out,
just as I do, I also want to experiment adding styropore chips to the mixture and then maybe a little less peat and see how that turns out.

whats styropore rogi?

Hi Stickytoffee....sorry is that not the english word for it...you see I live in 2 worlds...here I write in english...well most of the time..hihi and at home and at work I write and talk in German....what I meant are "plastic chips"..I hope you know what I mean now.

im not sure rogi ~ it might be the english but i didnt know what it was ~ thank you ~ is it a bit like polystyrene?

polystyrene...thats exactly the word I was looking for...thanks.

oh good, thanks anyway ~ i cant speak another language so im very impressed that you can do 2 fluently

Hi Stickitoffe...I "emigrated" to Germany 40 years ago...to "see the world"...and I got no further than here..hihi and to understand the country and the people you have to speak their language and then I married a German girl...who spoke and still speaks very little english...so I was "forced" to learn German!. For a while I learnt Czech but now have forgotten all of that. At the time I went to school in Uppingham foreign languages wern´t being taught.

i had to look up uppingham ~ not so far from me ~ i was born in hertfordshire, moved to bedfordshire and now worcestershire ~ not so different from where you came from. they taught us french at school but i hated it; we also had to learn latin which was no use apart from the odd quiz question!!
i guess being married to a german girl you dont have much choice but to speak the language.

i wish they would sell that hypertufa stuff as a kit ~ the correct quantities to be mixed at home?? like making a cake from a packet mix?? i fancy a go at it but im waiting for OH to be away for a bit ~ dont want him watching while i make a mess!!!

Hi Stickitoffee, for hypertufa you need portland cement.. a 25 Kg bag here costs 2 €, sand...I use coarse sand and peat...a 60 litre bag costs 3 € here and is more than I will use for a long time, you need 3 parts cement, 2 parts sand and 1 part peat, and of course water, you mix it up until it is a gooyey texture, I only make small quantities at one time using a garden trowel and a plastic bucket, I also use the trowel for measuring...a heaped trowel full being 1 portion, I usualy mix 6x cement, 4x sand and 2x peat then mix it in the bucket...quite hard work, put it in the mould and then make another portion etc until I have enough...go on try it..even when your OH is there...show your OH how clever you are.

not clever but im very tempted!!
just a small dish-like container to use as a small pond ~ how waterproof is it?
presumably the peat could be used on the garden if i dont use it all in construction??
its not a bad price is it? i have an area near the garden i could use and it wouldnt matter about the mess!!
your instructions and use of the trowel is very helpful ~ thank you!!

....yes they are waterproof...the birdbath I made holds water OK and doesn´t leak.

excellent ~ i shall promise myself to have a go. i have put this on my favourites so that i can keep the 'recipe'!!

great pictures, and nice explanation, Rogi, thanks much, this has gone into my favorites. I've been "bugged" by hypertufa ever since I first found out about it, but I have some reservations on a couple of points, so I've not tried it yet.

Agree with Sticki about selling hypertufa in ready-mixed packs! that's one of the things holding me back - recipes alwasy specify Portland cement and I'd never heard of peat moss: the more stages there are in a process the more chances I have of making a mistake and messing up.

It's been years since I mixed even plaster of paris, so this would be a big step - think I'll start with concrete (my local hardware shop sells ready-mix packs) and see how I get on with the process of making things, then, if that goes well, work up to "mixing my own"

Did you make any more things, Rogi? and if you did, can we have pics, please? I've not read all your blogs yet so you may have done one already that I've not got to yet.

Hallo Franl. I had never head of "Peat Moss" either so I just bought a big bag of peat and that seemed to be OK. Upto now I havn´t made any more things...but hoping to make some this year...and don´t worry if it doesn´t work out....it isn´t expensive...and after all it is only a hobby and not "life saving" if you see what I mean, enjoy mixing up the sloppy mess and just experiment with things...like I do...either it works or it doesn´t.

I'll keep watching this space ...