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Thread: Building a Rock Shelter (Perm or Temp) FREE

  1. #21

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    Friend of mine just had a wall built. He tried to talk the stonelayer into doing a Cornish hedge but the guy insisted it would take twice as much stone. We didn't see it that way. Cornish hedge is just a really tall skinny wall laying down sideways. Same amount of stone... Sheesh.


  2. #22
    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    Doesn't a Cornish Hedge have a dirt center and top?
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  3. #23

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    Seems that way. I thought I remember seeing something about a machine like a snowblower that piles those dirt rows up. Or maybe that was a local joke. Most of the ones we ran into (literally) had thorny bushes growing out of them (Gorse?). But a healthy proportion of them also had rock faces. Inches from the passenger mirror (or less, but we never broke it).
    Winnie?

  4. #24
    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    Yeah, if I remember right, the wall is just framed up against dirt sort of at a flared angle at the bottom to support the whole thing. The the plants are planted on top and grow over the side of the wall creating the hedge.
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  5. #25
    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    Depending on how tall you wanted him to build it he would have used a LOT less stone if you wanted a true Cornish hedge. Since the bulk of the wall would have been dirt.
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  6. #26

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    I gotta say, I'm not too sure about the skills of this particular stone mason.
    The rocks in the wall are loose. He built the base far wider than the top with an awful lot of rubble behind rather than compacted earth. Several other things about it were rather shoddy. It'll be interesting to see it in spring.

  7. #27

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    I've built a couple that I use for a Just-in-Case place underneath a small natural waterfall. Excellent, dry, very hidden. Sometimes it's hard to get to if it's rained a lot but it would be for others to find me, too. Takes patience and time but well worth it. You never know if you'll need it or not - try it now while there is still time.
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  8. #28
    Senior Member Winnie's Avatar
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    A Cornish Hedge is as Rick states. It is basically an earth bank that's faced with local stone. Often the stone is placed in a herringbone pattern to add stability, then shrubs, usually Hawthorn or Blackthorn are planted on the top. Once these get to a suitable size they are then laid to make a windproof and stockproof hedge. A dry stone wall on the other hand is built entirely of stone and occaisionally has a core of rubble. This is dependant on the height. A taller wall will be built wider at the base than the top and it's these that often have a rubble core to stabilise the shape. There are also regional variations on the theme. In this area, we have wetstone walls, as the walls are only one stone thick, mortar is used as a "glue"

    Lowkey, I'd have the bloke back and get him to rebuild the wall. Winnie jnr learned to build drystone walls at college and he says there should be no movement at all.
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  9. #29
    Senior Member randyt's Avatar
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    My grandpa told a story about a stone wall he laid up when he was young. He laid it up and whoom it fell down. My great grandpa laid it up slower this time and it stayed.

    The stone we have around here are round, they're not worth a darn for stone work. The stone we had in ky was perfect, it had flat sides.

    the concept the OP posted is similar to Sourdoughs trapper cabin/smoke holes. Not a bad idea to have a few scattered here there and yonder especially with a cache nearby.

  10. #30

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    He said it 'needed to settle'.
    Uh, ya...
    It's still standing. But I refuse to park next to it.

    Winnie, I'm curious about the stockproof hedge. When you say they Lay it, do you mean they bend over the tops to make it more impenetrable? Hawthorne has some nasty thorns on it. You don't see those berms here and I gotta wonder why. Even a pig couldn't root under one of those.

    I've been out looking at land and wondering how I would fence it (if I manage to swing land and a small house, I can't afford a lot of stock fence). That gives me ideas...

  11. #31
    Senior Member Winnie's Avatar
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    Lowkey, I found this youtube, it shows the priciples of hedge laying. The hedges were usually hawthorn or blackthorn mainly because they are native shrubsover here and are pretty much animal proof. Some of the hedges are hundreds of years old and the preferences of shrubs to use dates way back to when there were still wild boar and predators. My dad taught me how to do this many years ago, though I doubt I could do more than a few yards now, it's hard work!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Andv7...eature=related
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  12. #32
    Senior Member gryffynklm's Avatar
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    Interesting video to bad it won't work with arborvitae.
    Karl

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  13. #33

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    Hey Winnie-
    Back on this hedge thing.
    Once it's layed over and staked and the new growth comes up through it, how is it maintained?
    Is it sheared? Are the stakes and laced pieces replaced or left to rot away? At what point are they considered 'finished'?

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