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Hypertufa Mill Stone

17 years ago

I plan on building a backyard water feature using a mill stone I would like to make using hypertufa. The dimensions would be 4 foot diameter and 8 inches thick. Is it a good idea to use this technic and any idea of how much portland cement I would require?

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Comments (7)

fredw10
17 years ago
I think you should not use any peatmoss because you want the wheel to look like stone without chunks of peat that will rot out. I would use one part cement, and 1 1/2 parts each of sand and vermiculite. I estimate you will need five to six bags of cement. Remember- the finished piece will weigh about six hundred pounds. If the water is continuously running over the wheel, it will erode some in time.
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myback_garden
17 years ago
I have a water feature that I made of with hypertufa (millwheel)in 2006..as well a 4' Mill wheel for a home builder for his model homes...I made the large one as well with Tufa
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Ann, If you are working on the outside of a mold you would push the stones into the walls after you have the mold completely covered. Wall has to be thick enough so stones don't go through to the inside of the planter. Use smaller stones towards the base of the planter. If you use larger ones they can stick out too far and make the planter sit lopsided. You will have to adjust the stones and the mix often because they keep shifting if you're working on the outside. If you work on the inside of a mold the stones will be more embedded though you can carve out around the stones while it's still damp. You can also make a plain sided planter and add stones after the fact by making up a mortar mix and mortaring the stones in place. If the planter isn't fresh made, submerge it in a bucket of water and let the water sink in to the piece before adding the mortar and stones. You need a damp surface to add any cement mix to an already cured piece. If you are going to make your stones shiny use an outdoor clear varnish/poly and only paint the stones not the cement mix. I don't use varnish/poly so can't recommend one. Go to hardware/home improvement/masonry store or search online for stone/rock sealer.
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Hypertufa would probably not be a good choice. You won't save that much weight and lose a great deal of strength. Tango is the guy who has the solution. Check his website. You should consider Ferrocement. Strong concrete on a steel armature. The Armature will support your top and themn you can concentrate on the finish.
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That's a Grindstone, likely from a 19th century water-powered factory somewhere. You can tell it's not a mill stone for the reason noted above by lindac92, but with a 36" diameter it is nonetheless a desirable piece of garden decor. It will never bring the kind of money that a grindstone that large would (which could be in the neighborhood of a couple thousand dollars) but it will sell so long as the portion now buried in the soil is all there, if for no other reason than that the most obvious use for a stone this size is as part of a fountain, probably the base, which means it will placed horizontally, flat on the ground, instead of vertically, with some part of it buried. And lindac92, sorry, but these things are shipped here, there, and everywhere. Real shippers actually prefer them because compared, say, to a much larger piece of furniture or even a nice oil painting of similar size to it, the stone weighs so much. All truck shipping is priced according to a combination of volume and weight. This little puppy probably weighs about 275 pounds but takes up less than five cubic feet, a shipper's dream, whereas if I were to load just four of them into my van to take to a show, technically, legally (and intelligently) I wouldn't have room for anything else. I will routinely take as much as six or seven hundred pounds of stone this or stone that to a show in the Spring ("garden time") but I have to place them directly over the rear axle and then be very careful of how much the rest of the load weighs and where to place it. Yes, shipping by common carrier seems expensive, but it's a lot more economical than it would be for me to bring it to you (and then return home empty) or for you to maybe come visit family in the northeast for a couple of weeks, traveling real light, then stopping by to pick it up and carry it back home.
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My response will be based on that I will assume there will be fish, With newly cured Portland Cement, there is a chemical residue that come off if you would do a water rinse. You can see that happening because the water will get cloudy. I assume that may not be healthy for fish. At some point the chemical may stop coming off the cement, but I honestly could not tell you how long. IMHO - I would not.
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myback_garden
17 years ago
I'm not sure if this will work but here's the pics of the Millstones...thanks

Here is a link that might be useful: flikr photos
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syllabus
17 years ago
myback garden: Love your water feature! Your millstone is EXactly what my husband wants me to create for our garden! Would you be willing to share your process w/ us all? I've found some instructions on how to create a mold... but I would love to hear how you did yours & how you went about creating the "grid" on the top. Did you use something on the bottom & poured the tufa on top, or did you use something to score the top? How much tufa did it take & what recipe did you use?
I am anxious to hear your details!
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myback_garden
17 years ago
This is from a previous post when I first made the millstone...........The design was done by my hubby..I asked him to do up something for me and that is what he came up with...lol.. he drew it and I used a saw to make the lines.I would like to do another one with leaf imprints in it..It weighs about 25 to 30 lbs so one person can manage it..but far easier if 2 pick it up..Once it is up on it's side though it rolls just like a wheel so that makes for easy moving by one person.
I used...16 litres of port
4 litres of sand
12 litres of vermiculite
3/4 cup of brown colorant
3/4 of a bottle of acrylic admix(I think it was overkill on the admix) :).. but I just kept pouring and before I knew it most of the bottle was gone.lol
it set up for demolding and carving in about 24 hrs
....I believe it is about 24" round-fountain Mill stone...the larger one is about 4' round..I took a different route with the making of the large millstone and just used a bucket for measuring..I can't remember the ratio...but I just kept repeating it...for every wheel barrel full...It took about 5 barrels...to fill and it is 6.5" in depth.. this one is very heavy...It cannot be lifted without mechanical help..my hubby's guess is about 400 lbs...find a mold the size you want and then just fill it up to the depth you want..I used a large barrel(plastic drum)...took my sawzal and cut it down..Hope this helps I have some more pics i will try to put on flikr..
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syllabus
17 years ago
myback garden: Thank you very much for the more detailed instructions. The additional details really help!
I think this is a project that my DH and I will enjoy doing together once the weather cools down a bit here (100's right now)! I'll be checking back to see if you post more pics of your beautiful finished projects.
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wendy2shoes
17 years ago
Just a shot of what's available commercially for about 89 bucks..includes pump, resevoir, and fibreglass millstone

{{gwi:73096}}

I didn't like it, so I "dressed" the stone with 'tufa, and tried again..

{{gwi:73098}}

Still didn't like it,(My SIL said it looked like a cow pie) so I took off the "stone" and just piled on river rocks. (I'll show a picture tomorrow..none on file)
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