Aleksandar Jankovic wrote:We have access to a lot of straw bales from last year that have not been pressed tight and are not exactly the ideal dimensions for our cottage. So we thought about making a hand baler (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_dYfTc1Wsc]something[/youtube] similar to this perhaps) and re-baling these old bales to the dimensions we seek. It's extra work, but we've got the manpower and won't need more than a hundred bales for the small cottage.
My main question is: can a hand baler make bales of adequate tightness for building a straw bale home? Or are these super tight bales only the product of machines? We're talking about wheat straw, by the way. And if anyone has any hand baler plans to share that they are happy with, that would be awesome
I am collecting the recycled materials to construct a hand baler. I scythe my own hay and so far have stacked it loose for several years. This is nice, but being able to press my hay would make it much easier to store and transport.
I have seen several versions of the baler you mention, and they are OK if you have a couple of goats to
feed which don't mind smaller-dimensioned shaggy-looking hay bales, but there is a much better option which applies greater compression more easily, and makes bigger, neater bales comparable with commercial ones.
You can see this marvelous device in use at :
The plans for this much better design are available here :
http://www.tillersinternational.org/farming/resources_techguides/ThemiTillersManualHayBalerPlans.pdf
and instructions here :
http://tillersinternational.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/ThemiTillersManualHayBaler.pdf
Themi-Tillers is an organisation which designs
appropriate technology for people and livestock in developing country agriculture, and for sensible folks opting out of the high-tech agribusiness age.