wood ash

[Battis]

A month or so ago a local guy I know who has a garden in a section of a town plot asked if I had any ash from my woodstove. He said it's good for the soil. I gave him several bags that I had saved.
I got a call from him today asking what the heck I burn in the stove. Hardwood, I told him. Well, it caused burns on his arms and hands. Hey, I'm not a gardener - I killed a cactus once - but a five minute online search told me that wood ash when mixed with water can become toxic.
Live and learn, I guess.

[Froogal]

A month or so ago a local guy I know who has a garden in a section of a town plot asked if I had any ash from my woodstove. He said it's good for the soil. I gave him several bags that I had saved.
I got a call from him today asking what the heck I burn in the stove. Hardwood, I told him. Well, it caused burns on his arms and hands. Hey, I'm not a gardener - I killed a cactus once - but a five minute online search told me that wood ash when mixed with water can become toxic.
Live and learn, I guess.

If I'm not mistaken, mixing wood ash with water is how they used to make lye.

[StuBach]

Good nugget if wisdom, hopefully that will be retained and known if ever needed. Thanks

[starnbar]

It is also how soap used to be made wood ash is one of the main ingredients for lye soap.

[bedbugbilly]

Just tell him you weren't aware of it . . . and that's no LYE! I'm betting that this would have been common knowledge a 150 years ago. I wonder if the guy knows that if he mixed cow manure into his garden soil from cattle that have been eating corn will cause him to have a bumper crop of field corn mixed in with his vegetables? "Ala succotash!"

[Shawlerbrook]

Been using wood ash from my wood stove in my garden for years. Works like lime and also adds micronutrients. Never get it on my hands as I just dump the full ash can on the garden all heating season then rototill it in spring. Also use some wood ashes when my long country gravel driveway get icy.

[Mk42gunner]

IIRC the lye made by leaching water through wood ash is Potassium Hydroxide, which is normally used for making soft soaps. Sodium Hydroxide (your typical drain cleaner) is used to make hard bar type soaps.

When I was a kid, we just dumped the ashes from the stove in the garden, maybe spreading them a little as we dumped the bucket. There were usually a few live coals left in the ashes, so we never put them close to anything flammable.

Robert

[Battis]

The town owns a pretty large old dairy farm, and they put aside a section for gardens ($15 per year). The gardeners get a good sized square and all summer long they work at it. Some people know what they're doing, others just like to be outside. I've given wood ash to other "farmers" and no one ever had a problem. They were the ones that knew what they were doing.
And old timer once told me that back in the 20s (1920s) he played on a hockey team that made their ice rinks by spreading wood ash around the perimeter of the rink, then flooding it. The ash kept the water in place until it froze.

[tunnug]

I may be wrong but I think wood ash and water is how mountain men and people of that sort tanned their animal hides.

[popper]

Changes the soil Ph and adds 'body' to it. Trick shown to the settlers by the indians.
If you use saw dust or chips to soil, add nitrogen fertilizer-wood uses nitrogen to decompose.

[Thumbcocker]

I may be wrong but I think wood ash and water is how mountain men and people of that sort tanned their animal hides.

It is one method of removing the hair from hides.

[rockrat]

Works if you have acid soil, but if you have alkaline soil, it will make it even more so alkaline. Don't use the ash if you burn any coal.

[bakerjw]

Wood ash is a base rather than an acid. It will burn like lye if strong enough and is how they used to make soap back in the day.
Yes, it can burn skin if concentrated enough.

[Gtrubicon]

Here on the property we have a lot of black oak trees, they are a very large and beautiful tree. They are a host tree, or a mother tree as many in our area refer too them. When you cut one down, it doesn’t die. It continues to grow like a shrub, They are very ugly. Hundreds of sucker vines out of a stump as small as 12”. Several years ago I started dumping all our fire place ash on the freshly cut stumps, about an inch thick. It kills them dead as disco.

[monadnock#5]

Ain't no used to about it. Lye made from wood (hardwood) ash is still how most lye soap is made. I have heard tell that sodium or potassium hydroxide can be purchased in hardware stores and works fine for soap. Cuts into the profits though.

[bangerjim]

"Better living.............through chemistry!"

True today - as well as 2 thousand years ago. I have a book somewhere that is 2.5" thick that lists all the "olde school" chemistry stuff people did to make living better. They did not call "stuff" by the chemical names as we do today, but by colloquial names everybody knew and could obtain from their local pharmacist and hardware store.

[monadnock#5]

Potassium hydroxide plus wood ash equals Potash, a well known term here in New England.

[Char-Gar]

I remember an old song from long ago about "Grandma's Lye Soap".

[waksupi]

"Better living.............through chemistry!"

True today - as well as 2 thousand years ago. I have a book somewhere that is 2.5" thick that lists all the "olde school" chemistry stuff people did to make living better. They did not call "stuff" by the chemical names as we do today, but by colloquial names everybody knew and could obtain from their local pharmacist and hardware store.

Sounds like "Hensley's Book of Formulas". I've looked at mine many times.

[bangerjim]

Sounds like "Hensley's Book of Formulas". I've looked at mine many times.

That is it!!!!!! Thanks. Now I just need to find it in the may thousands of books I have in the library shelves scattered in 5 different rooms of the house and shop.

banger

[brewer12345]

I have basic soil, but the wood ash has a lot of good stuff in it. That is why slash and burn agriculture works (at least for a while). So I toss the occasional bucket of wood ash into the compost heap along with all the food stuff (banana peels, vegetable scraps, etc.) and a few loads of quail manure (we keep coturnix and their poop needs to compost before you put it in the soil) and let it cook all summer. Come the Fall, I dig it into the raised beds after the frost has killed everything.

[tankgunner59]

Wood ash has a high lime content, and lime will definitely burn our skin.

[gwpercle]

Wood ashes mixed with water = Lye ... yes Lye will burn your skin ... it's like Draino !

When I was a boy my Mom told me they mixed wood ashes leached (wood was their principal source of heat ) with water then added it to Hog Lard ... to make SOAP ! I didn't believe her ...how could dirty wood ash , water and greasy hog fat combine to make ...clean soap ? My mind still doesn't understand it but she wasn't telling me a story .
This is from 1930's depression era Dirt Poor East Texas Oil Field Living & Surviving as told by Effie Castilaw to her son .
Gary

[jim147]

Less then 30 miles south there are people making soap out of wood ash this weekend. They do it every year in Fort Scott the first weekend in June.

We used lye and a few other chemicals for years to clean things. It was rough on my gloves and sometimes my skin. It was the job I picked.

[poppy42]

Potassium hydroxide plus wood ash equals Potash, a well known term here in New England.

Exactly! What are the three main nutrients needed by plants! Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium! When you get 10 1010 fertilizer that’s what it means! Potassium helps develop a healthy root system.

[GregLaROCHE]

I once cleared an overgrown pasture. I had a big fire burning for a week. The next spring, when the grass grew, there was a big spot much greener than the rest where the fire was.

Ashes from a wood stove are great for a garden. They become even better, if when you have finished eating, you burn your leftover bones in the wood stove. They add phosphorus, a very important nutrient.

[Mr_Sheesh]

Pretty sure Hensley's book of cormulas is available asca free pdf file somewhere online. Thi k i snagged a copy on my #2 machine?

[brewer12345]

Wood ashes mixed with water = Lye ... yes Lye will burn your skin ... it's like Draino !

When I was a boy my Mom told me they mixed wood ashes leached (wood was their principal source of heat ) with water then added it to Hog Lard ... to make SOAP ! I didn't believe her ...how could dirty wood ash , water and greasy hog fat combine to make ...clean soap ? My mind still doesn't understand it but she wasn't telling me a story .
This is from 1930's depression era Dirt Poor East Texas Oil Field Living & Surviving as told by Effie Castilaw to her son .
Gary


Yes, absolutely true. I make soap as a hobby but I use purchased lye as it is more predictable/controllable. You can leach lye out of ashes and use it to make soap. Something I will eventually try for sure.

[Ateam]

Soaking a hide in ash lye is called bucking, it makes the hair slip easier and the grain easier to scrape off. The hide does need to be neutralized (returned to a ph of 7) with an acid (vinegar works) before the actual tanning process can occur.

[Burnt Fingers]

Pretty sure Hensley's book of cormulas is available asca free pdf file somewhere online. Thi k i snagged a copy on my #2 machine?

Why not provide a link? It was the second result in a search.

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/53143

[waksupi]

Soaking a hide in ash lye is called bucking, it makes the hair slip easier and the grain easier to scrape off. The hide does need to be neutralized (returned to a ph of 7) with an acid (vinegar works) before the actual tanning process can occur.

It also helps break down the glue layer in the hide. I always used a fresh water rinse to neutralize the lye. Vinegar tended to tighten the fibers in the hide, making it more difficult to break down properly. I was brain tanning 40-50 hides a year when I was still in the business.

[monadnock#5]

Wood ashes mixed with water = Lye ... yes Lye will burn your skin ... it's like Draino !

When I was a boy my Mom told me they mixed wood ashes leached (wood was their principal source of heat ) with water then added it to Hog Lard ... to make SOAP ! I didn't believe her ...how could dirty wood ash , water and greasy hog fat combine to make ...clean soap ? My mind still doesn't understand it but she wasn't telling me a story .
This is from 1930's depression era Dirt Poor East Texas Oil Field Living & Surviving as told by Effie Castilaw to her son .
Gary

I'm no chemist. And not a whole lot of practical experience, but.....During the process of making lye soap, a conversation takes place called saponification. When completed, there is no trace of lye in the finished product. One has to be careful to follow the recipe however. Done wrong, great misery will likely result.

[shooterg]

Still remember Falls here on the farm, slaughtering hogs and making lye soap . We used it mostly in the "old kitchen" for cleanup for us and any hired help. Grandma had storebought for bathing ! Miss the smoked hams way more than the lye soap !!

[Carbineone]

Our neighbor lady takes a 50 gallon drum for Her Garden every few years..

[clarksvillejoe]

We use it on iris's, blooms like you have never seen before. Small amount in flower bed late fall and leaches in over winter. Plenty of supply from outdoor wood boiler.

[Edward]

I may be wrong but I think wood ash and water is how mountain men and people of that sort tanned their animal hides.

You are wrong , I use it for hair removal on hides I"m tanning The brains are used for tanning /Ed

[waksupi]

Still remember Falls here on the farm, slaughtering hogs and making lye soap . We used it mostly in the "old kitchen" for cleanup for us and any hired help. Grandma had storebought for bathing ! Miss the smoked hams way more than the lye soap !!

I let my lye soap age around six months before use. Mild as you could ask for. An easy test, wash your hands with it. If it stings, it needs to age more.

[gwpercle]

Still remember Falls here on the farm, slaughtering hogs and making lye soap . We used it mostly in the "old kitchen" for cleanup for us and any hired help. Grandma had storebought for bathing ! Miss the smoked hams way more than the lye soap !!

Man there was nothing more fun than a Hog Killing ... we called it a Boucherie' ... I really miss the fresh hog cracklins ..."Gratton" ... fresh out the big iron lard rendering pot ... it's been many years ,
Hog's Head Cheese !!!
Yeah ... the lye soap making was last on my list and usually done later in the week .
A lot of the lard was used in food preservation and in cooking ... soap was utilitarian .
The edible foods came first ..Sausage , Andouille , Hams all had to be prepared and then smoked ...
Gary

[gbrown]

Back in 1963, my paternal grandmother died, I was a pall bearer. Somewhere around in my files, I have a diary, written over 3-4 months, in which she described daily, weekly and monthly tasks. One of which was soap making. They had some type of vessel that they loaded with hardwood ashes, collecting it in a cast iron pot. Dripped water into them, took that and mixed with rendered fat and made soap. I've made it, but mine had a PH, too basic, wouldn't burn you, but you could feel it..
Your PH should be around 7. Neutral. It was an interesting project, but none I will pursue.

[GhostHawk]

I make my Lye soap in an old crock pot. Use it on low to melt the tallow and fats. Add my lye/water which heats things up considerable. Grab a second hand store 2$ stick blender and start working. When it hits trace I clean up, put on the lid. Depending on the recipe some 2 to 3 hours later it will puff up and start raising the lid.

Mix it up well, put it into molds, let it cool. I start using it the next day. It is a cold process recipe but I do a hot process on it to speed up the process.

Last 2 batch's have had pine tar added, now that makes a good man's soap that is very good for the skin. And no sting.

[Thumbcocker]

I buy a couple of bars of lye soap when we go to rendezvous put on by reinactors. Use it the night before I go deer hunting because it is scent free.