SC -Lye from ashes
Par Leijonhuvud
pkl at absaroka.obgyn.ks.se
Thu Feb 26 07:48:33 PST 1998
On Thu, 26 Feb 1998, Phyllis Spurr wrote:
> > You derive the lye used in soapmaking from the wood ashes from your
> > fireplace or wood stove.
> I've also made my own lye, in about the same manner. However, an
> easier way to make lye water is to take a coffee can, punch holes in
> the bottom, fill with your ashes, place filled coffee can over a
> recepticle to catch lye water, pour water into the ashes and let
> drain. Do this several times with fresh ashes each time. I usually
> add a little table salt to strengthen the lye water and strain
> through a cloth to remove ash debris.
I can't recall what pH you need for soapmaking, but for a stronger lye
you can mix ashes with water, and boil the mix (1:2 (V/V, ashes/water)
will typically give pH 11-12, IIRC).
Be carefull with strongly alkaline solutions; they are _very_ damaging
to eyes, etc if you mess up. _If_ you do get some in the eyes the
treatment is to rinse with plain water or sterile isotonic saline
(preferred, for obvious reasons) as soon as possible (preferably within
5 seconds...), and keep rinsing until medical attention can be obtained.
There are good reasons why people wear safety goggles in laboratories.
/UlfR
- --
Par Leijonhufvud par.leijonhufvud at labtek.ki.se
PGP fingerprint = 76 3B 11 28 79 39 87 C0 DC 4C 1F 4C C0 1F 1E 89
A dead body revenges not injuries.
--William Blake
============================================================================
To be removed from the SCA-Cooks mailing list, please send a message to
Majordomo at Ansteorra.ORG with the message body of "unsubscribe SCA-Cooks".
============================================================================
More information about the Sca-cooks
mailing list