Yes, very different but in some ways they act alike. Ground up caliche makes a nice slippery mud, and they use it for sand roads to firm them up. Unfortunately I live in a deep sand area and would have to find clay on someone else's place and get permission to harvest it. I have lots of caliché from the hole we made for the underground dome, which is on hold for a while.
Diesel is about half that around here, so about half the price of the AE in a 5 gallon bucket. I imagine alcohol would work also, as would just about any type of petroleum product, to dissolve the shingles.
The solar cooker idea is excellent, but diesel in a bucket would be a lot faster and easier since I don't have any sliding doors sitting around and they are hard to come by here on the border, just like all the really good trash.
Spaceman
Charmaine Taylor wrote:
Spaceman-- they are two different 'minerals' but caliche is so great that I'd try it if you can use it. mixing it WITH any local clay will give you a strong binding material. Mary Miller-- a long time ago PC experimenter sent me a sample of papercrete with caliche, vs cement, and the dang thing is very strong. since it is a LIME based material, it will bind well to the AE or other mixes you try. go for it and let us know. melting shingles in diesel fuel at $4. a gallon? AE is so cheap ( $20. 5 gal bucket) that it might be worth trying both. BUT also since the tar shingles are just tar- paper base and gravel why not SOLAR COOK them.. make a crude slider door solar cooker over a pile of shingles? ( with old PC panels around it. and melt it down faster with no fuels needed? even on a small scale you can test it in a big black pot or old drum or similar.
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