[GSBN] Bullet Resistance of Straw Bale Walls

[Graeme North]

I have a dreadful feeling of “only in America” about this thread  -  but hey - we have the opportunity of solving several natural building issues relating to people’s safety and building durability issues at once.

Bullets will simply wreck any plaster system, and we always grapple with rain screens so the answer will surely be to now specify: 






Depleted uranium rain screens over breathable plaster on the exterior of strawbale buildings, along with bullet proof glass in windows.

The challenge to architects will be to make DU look pretty.

And remember folks - the Murricans have previously done impact penetration tests of various armaments into mud bricks ( I’ve got them somewhere) so maybe the other answer is mud brick and not strawbale.

(And a dreadful observation that the target is a black person,  given various news items recently)

2c worth

Graeme

> On 18/08/2016, at 4:56 AM, Tom Hahn <tomhahn at econet.org> wrote:
> 
> John, and all - Not sure if that article is from this long ago, but it sounds similar to the one I remember being offered to The Last Straw in about 1996-97, when I was editor.  They were requesting a fairly significant publishing fee, but at the time our circumstances didn't allow for that, so we decided to decline.  I don't think we were ever sent a copy of the whole article, but if so, it might be deep in the printed or digital archives of TLS from about 1996-97 (anything sound familiar Jeff? Joyce? Catherine? Matts?).
> 
> Best to everyone,
> 
> Tom Hahn; RA, LEED-AP
> Architectural Design Studio Instructor, Pro-tem 
> School of Architecture and Allied Arts 
> University of Oregon - Eugene Campus 
> p: 541-285-0868 
> e: tomh at uoregon.edu <mailto:tomh at uoregon.edu>   
> e: tomhahn at econet.org <mailto:tomhahn at econet.org>
> 
>> John Swearingen <mailto:jswearingen at skillful-means.com>	August 17, 2016 at 7:34 AM
>> <image.jpg>
>> 
>> The only test that I know was done by the husband of a woman who wrote an article on strawbale for Survival Magazine.  This is probably what John G remembers hearing about.  Somewhere I have a copy of that magazine filed away.  The bales stopped or slowed light caliber bullets, but not heavier ones, like a 30-30..
>> 
>> This is a picture of the bales at the police station project that we worked on earlier this year.  The target was courtesy of the police, who had a lot of very interesting comments to make about their new SWAT locker. :)
>> 
>> John "Out on Bail" Swearingen
>> 
>> 
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>> john rehorn <mailto:rehorn at frontier.net>	August 16, 2016 at 5:38 PM
>> I’d be willing to give it a try and document it on video.  I’m guessing that the caliber of bullet used for armed conflict is similar to a 30-30, and my guess is that it would go right through it at 100 feet.  Cement plaster would slow it quite a bit.  Want me to set it up?  I probably need to do it in September when farming slows down.  No paperwork would be required, LOL.
>> 
>> John Rehorn
>> 
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>> John Glassford <mailto:jacksflat at gmail.com>	August 16, 2016 at 2:31 PM
>> G ' day Darcy
>> 
>> I remember a conversation with the Straw Dogs when we visited California on the Great International Straw Bale Caravan from Tuscon to San Francisco cannot exactly remember the year 1998 I think.
>> 
>> Turko Semmes <http://semmesco.com/> and the other Straw Dog talked about firing certain types of guns into straw bales.
>> 
>> It was a fun morning and we laughed a lot however the conversation is sort of fuzzy now but I am sure they said that a rendered SB would stop a .303 bullet.  I may be wrong.
>> 
>> Kind regards
>> John Glassford
>> Huff 'n' Puff Constructions
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>> Darcey Donovan <mailto:darcey at paksbab.org>	August 16, 2016 at 11:15 AM
>> Hello friends,
>>  
>> Are there any tests out there regarding the bullet resistance of straw bale walls? It is a concern in Pakistan, and I've received an inquiry about it and if cement plaster would increase it. 
>>  
>> Our bales are 13" thick and we use earthen plasters, lime-stabilized earthen plasters and lime plasters.
>>  
>> Thanks,
>>  
>> Darcey
>>  
>> Darcey Messner Donovan, P.E.
>> Pakistan Straw Bale and Appropriate Building (PAKSBAB)
>> +1-530-902-5516 Ph
>> darcey at paksbab.org <mailto:darcey at paksbab.org>
>> www.paksbab.org <x-msg://4/www.paksbab.org>
>>  
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