Rick,
I have the mixer that I have linked below.
It is easy to use, however I see and have dealt with draw backs to the mixer. I know others will have opinions, of course.
The big cat is electric. It uses vegetable oil to lubricate with, so that is easy. You do need to add a bit of water first to the drum, and I have mixed concrete mixes, hypertufa mixes, lightweight concrete/tufa mixes.
Draw backs I see
1) You still have to lift the bag to the barrell
2) The big cat that I have did not have a switch to turn it off, basically you plug it in and it is on, and have to unplug to stop it. I resolved this for my use by plugging it into a surge panel.
3) For me and the things that I was doing at the time it worked great, however the majority of things that I make on a much more regular basis from leaves, faces, tiles, rocks, spheres, basins etc, are much more comfortable for me to mix in a mixing bowl.
4) A cement mixer is still loud even if it is electric
Rick, I know at least a few have or have considered mixers and will have opinions. Good luck on your quest, decide if you really will need it and will the amount that it mixes be more effective than hand mixing. If you are using air entraping/entraining ingredients then a mixer is the option you are looking for, as hand mixing does little to an effective job.
Dena

Here is a link that might be useful: Red Lion Big Cat

Since you asked, here's my auld beast, I don't even know where it came from,
it was just "here" one day, some decade or so ago.
It's suffered every kind of abuse, including some lout leaving it
half full of wet mix for days, then belaboring it with a sledge to "clean" it,
and, with a new electric motor this year (160.00), it still runs.
The casters are mostly broken and the blades bent.
There isn't that much else to break, by virtue of simplicity.

I hear the rattle of stones over the motor, it's not that loud
but then, it's not allowed indoors.
No switch of course, the power strip is a good idea, Dena.

I imagine you could find one cheap or free from some contractor
with equally sloppy helpers...worth checking perhaps?

Here is a link that might be useful:

I love my Imer mixer. It has an idustry wide reputation for being pretty much bullet proof and they are a bargain at the full price of about $350 if Home Depot still carries them (I've also seen them carrying some other, more "Americanized" name version, but it still had the Imer ID on it). The commercial casting company I work with keeps a 10 or 15 year old one as back-up for when their high-dollar units go down and it's never failed them. It tilts & swivels and can handle probably a hundred pounds of mix, but I rarely put in more than about 50 myself. Has three well made blades that do a great job on some of the tricky mixtures I run through it. Take a look at the Album titled "Tools" on the link below for a couple of pix.

Here is a link that might be useful: See

Tango - that link doesn't connect to a photo album! I'd be interested to see it.

rickharmer - I don't use a cement mixer any more (large work I get cast commercially, small work I mix myself by hand) but when I DID use one, the link below is what I had. It worked fine - and had an off switch. Far as I know it's not legal here (Health & Safety Regulations) to have an appliance without an off switch.

dena - I'm a pretty small (5'4') woman, so I don't do any heavy lifting if I can avoid it. I used to lift my materials into the drum by the bucketload. Even though I'm careful in everything I do, and warm up beforehand, I still manage to get tendonitis and pulled muscles pretty regularly, so I 'mind myself'. Nowadays, if I was doing a lot of mixing I'd make a platform of pallets beside the mixer, get the bags of cement and sand delivered directly on to the pallets, and do my measuring out on the pallets as well. Then your materials are already half-way to the drum, so less lifting involved.

Here is a link that might be useful: Elecric mixer

Sorry folks...got my album link wrong twice yesterday. Try this one.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tango's Albums

Linnea I have an antique as well.
I paid $75 dollars for it and it works great. These old timers are very quiet as well.
Heavy steel and gears that can never really wear out. Only the motor might need replacing.
I think second hand is the way to go if you can find one. The steel drum is up for anything. I smash colored bottles in mine and use it to grind the glass shards with a bag of very fine silica.
I rarely use it to mix my tufa or crete recipes but it does make strong stepping stones and slabs on which I apply my finish coats.

Rick it's the wrong time of year, but if you have a local buy and sell online, or even a paper, check them out used.
You really can't go wrong, I got a deal but even if you pay $150-$200 you can always get your money back. There is always demand for these used.
There is always a neighbor who wants to rent it from you.
You can actually make money.

For the kind of hypertufa mixes I use, the only method that works is a bucket, a strong trowel and good thick rubber gloves to protect my hands. That's because I like the mix to be a long way from being pourable.

A concrete mixer just doesn't work for that, though it used to be O.K. for concrete. But even with concrete I used as little water as possible so I had to stop the mixer now & again to reach in with a trowel to make sure everything was getting mixed properly.

My rule is - too much water spoils everything whether it's - coffee, tea, concrete or Hypertufa. I think it makes them weak.

When I'm mixing(by hand!)20 lbs of cement,20 lbs of sand,and a large volume of perlite,I'm not a happy camper,because wet or dry,it's a hell of a lot to mix,by hand.I'm looking at a single pour arrangement,not a series of smaller pours for the mold that I'm working with.A mixer would do a better job of blending the ingredients IMO.I'll do handwork for smaller projects.
To coin an old phrase"To each,their own."

Hi Rick
This will meet all your needs.
I don't know what it's worth, but I know I can't afford it.:)

Here is a link that might be useful: We ALL need one of these.

Hi Again Rick
You didn't want Buck Rogers creations but I'll add this.
I made my own hands free paddle mixer with a $75 12" second hand drill press and a cheap mortar paddle.
Works very well for some recipes. I use a rubber scrapper to push the mud down into the paddle.
And the drill press with a flex cable attached makes a great tool for grinding and wire brushing your work.
The one list is top of rhe line but you can find them for $20.

Here is a link that might be useful: Excellent cable for grinding and brushing tools.

Herb - I have a friend who makes dry-rammed concrete garden urns and ornaments. The mixing is all done in an electric mixer - as he puts it, "I threaten the mix with water". Water is literally sprinkled in as the mixer works, and he grabs handfuls every few minutes to test if it will hold together when squeezed.

One problem with mixing in a bucket, I've found, is that it's hard to get the trowel down to the bottom of the mix. For small mixes I use a cat-litter tray, because the sides are low. For larger mixes in the past I had two methods - one was to place 4 pieces of timber on the ground (4" x 4", approx 6 ft long) in a square. Then drape very strong builders' plastic sheeting across the top, overlapping well all around. Place your dry ingredients in the centre. Then just walk around the outside of the square, lifting up the plastic sheet and rolling the mix to and fro until it's well mixed. You can do quite a big mix that way.

The other method, if I needed a wetter mix, was that I had an old plastic barrel (large) which I cut in half lengthways and laid on the ground. That was a handy shape, the open top of the barrel didn't get in the way of the shovel handle.

I use the method my dad used, and I think a lot of professionals use, and that is in a special concrete mixing tub. I bought mine at HD for under $15. And a garden hoe. The tub has two straight sides and two sides that slope gracefully up. It is not a large tub, maybe 36 inches by 24 inches. You put in the dry ingredients, use your hoe to pull it towards you, push it back, from one sloped side to the other. You have a hose, and you sprinkle water in and repeat the hoe process till it is the consistency you want. Then just keep working the hoe, pulling it towards one sloped end, and pushing it back (or you can go around the tub and pull it back to the other end) But this method is relatively easy, you are standing up, not bending over. You don't have the problem of having dry mix stuck in the bottom of a bucket, and you get a consistent mix. Whether you need a gallon of concrete or 5 gallons. I was using the bucket, but these tubs are so cheap, and it made my "concrete" life very easy. I don't attempt HUGE projects, so I can mix the amount I need very easily. I have even been looking at it as a form for a trough! Would make a good one!!

Hi Running Dog
You can do a dry concrete in a mixer but im my experience Tufa or light weight concrete are a real pain.
The light materials, peat vermiculite, perlite stick to the inside of the drum and you must constantly scrap the sides.
For rough tufa it's OK but I have a hard time getting even color and consistency using my mixer.

I use my wheel barrow with a hoe for bigger jobs. I have cut a big slot in the hoe to make mixing much easier. You can buy a real concrete hoe and they are worth the money. The holes make a difference. Although the slotted variety works better IMO for dry tufa. The one below is designed for wheelbarrows, notice the rounded corners.

I use $2 secondhand baby bathtubs for smaller jobs. They are perfect. High sides and NO corners.

Here is a link that might be useful: Concrete hoe

That concrete hoe looks very interesting. I've never seen one like it, don't think they're available on this side of the Atlantic! Just did a google, and sure enough - plenty of concrete hoes for sale in the US, but none when I do a google UK search.

Hi Dog
Do you have an angle grinder?
I bought a secondhand garden hoe. You have good strong one's in the UK.
Then I cut a large window in the hoe with my angle grinder. It looks like a picture frame now.
It works great. Better than the round holes for a dry mix.

Herb writes:
"My rule is - too much water spoils everything whether it's - coffee, tea, concrete or Hypertufa. I think it makes them weak."

Herb you forgot whiskey.:)

This is like my black plastic concrete mixing pan. (the white inside is the store sticker) It really works well, and washes out clean. No corners, so dry stuff gets mixed in well.
{{gwi:73828}}

Thanks for all the info and pictures, folks :) Getting lots of ideas.

And thanks from "up" here.Lots of ideas and lots of products,both cheap and not so cheap(!)
Again,thanks for your responses.I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.......
Cheers from here

What a surprisingly interesting thread. I guess if there is a lesson here, it's that everyone has his or her own preferred way of working. And that's just the way it ought to be. Do what works for you. Personally, I use just about all of the mixing methods described above depending on what I'm trying to accomplish at the moment. The only item I've tossed aside is that goofy little roll-around thing. However, if anybody out there loves them and wants one for free, just stop by anytime and help yourself. To each his own.

Hi Tango
You can punch holes in it and use it as a small composter.
Keep filling it with wet scraps and roll it around on your lawn. Occasionally dump it on the garden.:)

Tufaenough --- Be careful...you could easily start a whole new thread along the same line as "101 uses for a dead cat".

I will put my oar in the water on this one, and hope to not get hit offside the head with it:

First, I should say that I do not make huge concrete pieces, just troughs, sinks, etc., bowls and the like. For my purposes, I try not to make anything that weighs over 50 lbs empty (my fighting weight limit...)

So, anyhow, I got the hang of using the "goofy little roll around thing" (also known as the accursed OddJob Mixer) for small batches by putting in pre-mixed dry ingredients in, rolling it around dry to mix them even more, adding some water, rolling it around again for a couple minutes, and then dumping the contents out into a mortar tub (the big plastic one from HD) and then finishing the hypertufa by hand wearing a pair of those thick chemical rubber gloves. This doesn't make a huge amount, but find it is easy to use indoors in the winter without making a big, dusty production out of the whole thing.

Also, for larger batches I do use my electric cement mixer, and have learned that by spinning a little water into the barrel prior to adding any dry pre-mixed tufa, this just about eliminates the old standing on your head routine to getting the un-hydrated mix out of the baffles at the bottom. Sometimes I do stop the mixer and take a look to see how things are going. To me, anyway, I think that mixing big batches in the wheelbarrow or the mortar tub is vintage savage amusement -- with or with out a mortar hoe... just my personal point of view. I never make a "pourable mix" (was told that was a hypertufa cardinal sin because to pour it would have too much water in it), so I just tip the barrel on the mixer, and haul the mix out either directly into what I am making, or into the old mortar tub and have at it from there.

There are almost always ways to outsmart stuff that's heavier than you are :), so let gravity be your friend when it comes to tufa mixing (if not your physique!!) and you can really almost eliminate all of that hauling and lifting of batches that weigh more than you do.

For small concrete jobs (12 bags or less) I'd suggest using the Reusable Concrete Mixing Bag made by the Cement Solution Company. No Bucket - No Tools - No Mess. You can mix up to a FULL 80lb bag of ready mix concrete in just 1 minute. Check it out! It realy works!

Here is a link that might be useful: The Cement Solution

Thanks for that link. I just emailed about prices and sizes. I kept trying to mix my concrete in a bag; it just seemed like the perfect solution - easy to knead and shake without dust. Sadly, I found that all the plastic bags I tried leaked one way or another.
Laura

Laura I have used plastic bags with good success in the past. I used a twin size mattress bag, and used a large plastic utility tub to stabilize it in. If you go to a store that sells mattresses they may give you some extra matt bags for free. I now use either my electric mixer for big jobs, or my old decrepit wheel barrow for medium to small. I do have an odd job and only used it a couple of times for sand mixes and it worked fine. A girl friend has used hers for tufa mixes and we did a few batches together it seemed to work alright then also. I was lucky and scored a new odd job from a thrift store for $1.00 , it was brand new and I couldn't pass it up,
Cindy

I must have missed something due to my inactivity ...

Cindy says
"I was lucky and scored a new odd job from a thrift store for $1.00"

....and I have NO idea what this odd job thing is! Please direct me into the arena of enlightenment!!!!

Thanks,

Vicki

Hi Vicki, an odd job is the little pail sort of item you can use to mix concrete projects. It has fins on the inside and a lid, and you roll it on the ground. Lee Valley carries it. I am not sure but I think they sell for around 60.00 so my score from the thrift store was great. Last week I got a plastic hat to use as a mold. The people at the thrift store said it was a cute chip and dip bowl, but I knew it was really a mold waiting to be found. :)
Cindy

Thanks, Cindy - now I know what you mean - the name is different from what I thought - but yes - quite a score, indeed!!!! LOL

I did some small batches in Ziploc type bags ...........and liked doing it that way ....never thought about bigger heavier bags for larger batches. I don't always think "outside the bag" ............LOL

grins

Vicki

Ziplock now has a HUGE zipped storage bag. Why not try this for the mixing. I can't imagine trying to mix the full 80 pound bag of concrete in a bag, but why not try a smaller amount.