Uses for Ash

[7acres]

In years past I'd just dump my ash out on the dirt road. This year my wife read some article about using ash in your garden. So I put a 55 gallon drum on the back porch and have been filling all Winter. It's about 45 gallons full.

I'm wondering what else people use ash for? Any other ideas?

 

[SpaceBus]

Grit for a frozen driveway

 

[Kevin Weis]

X2 on the ice traction. Cover the ice with it and its like your on dry pavement.

 

[Fiddler]

Make an ash hopper and drip water through the ash to make lye. Use the lye to make soap.

I also use wet ashes to dehair hides before I tan them.

 

[johneh]

Some for traction on my lane
some in the garden tilled in the spring
some in the compost
the rest spread in the hay fields

 

[kennyp2339]

To much ash in the soil can hurt your plants to, generally a lite sprinkling is enough, don't go over board, also if your burning walnut keep the ash away from the vegetable garden, walnut ash is toxic to vegetables (when they grow and mature they will display signs of a blight)

 

[SpaceBus]

I imagine wood ash probably isn't good for dog's feet, which is why I haven't used mine for grit on the ice yet.

 

[WiscWoody]

Dogs have feet now? Their getting more and more like us all the time! Lol... Now you can them fit for shoes....

 

[SpaceBus]

Dogs have feet now? Their getting more and more like us all the time! Lol... Now you can them fit for shoes....

I mean, there are dog shoes... I was thinking about getting my dogs some shoes so the salt and/or wood ash doesn't tear up their feet.

 

[Fiddler]

I imagine wood ash probably isn't good for dog's feet, which is why I haven't used mine for grit on the ice yet.

hardwood ashes plus water = lye. Your feet won't like that either.

 

[7acres]

Make an ash hopper and drip water through the ash to make lye. Use the lye to make soap.

I also use wet ashes to dehair hides before I tan them.

Glad you mentioned this. My wife does buy lye for her soap making. If I could make it easily that would be pretty cool. I remember looking into it years back and not finding much detailed information on the lye making process. I got the sense that there wasn't much to it. Do you know if it's really as simple as letting water drip through ash and lye is what you collect dripping out the bottom of the ash-containing vessel?

 

[Fiddler]

Glad you mentioned this. My wife does buy lye for her soap making. If I could make it easily that would be pretty cool. I remember looking into it years back and not finding much detailed information on the lye making process. I got the sense that there wasn't much to it. Do you know if it's really as simple as letting water drip through ash and lye is what you collect dripping out the bottom of the ash-containing vessel?

Yes it really is as simple as that. You need to take the "drippings" and rerun them through the ashes until you get the desired strength of lye. The old timey rule of thumb is that when you can float an egg in the liquid you have reached the desire strength. If you do a search for an ash hopper/dripper you will see myriad ways to make the hopper. Traditionally you put a layer of straw in the bottom of the hopper to filter out the ashes. I'm sure modern designs use other filter material. Pay attention to what you make the hopper from as aluminum and lye will react.

 

[7acres]

https://mountainmansoap.wordpress.com/2013/12/19/making-lye-from-ashes/

Sure enough! Here's a decent link to the process. Just like you said, Fiddler. I've got plenty of ash on hand now to make plenty of lye.

 

[SpaceBus]

hardwood ashes plus water = lye. Your feet won't like that either.

My thoughts exactly and why I haven't used it on my ice covered rural gravel road ice covered property. It would be great, but I don't want to hurt my dogs' paws. We don't use salt around the house because of the dogs. Next winter we will have a better solution for dealing with this issue.

 

[Manly]

The Misses uses some for ash facials. She’s been doing this for years. Keeps her skin tight and gives her that Manly glow.

 

[XmasTreefarmer]

So many uses for that ash!

• I sprinkle some in the chicken roosting pit weekly all year long - the chicken manure is acidic and the ash helps to neutralize that, so it makes better fertilizer. It also keeps things smelling a bit better in there and seems to keep flies to zero over the Summer months.
• I use it like sand in front of the garage and barn for traction. And the charcoal that is in it acts like a solar collector and will melt the ice on a sunny day.
• Some for the garden for sure, but as others have said, don't over do it. Best to check the pH of your soil with a meter so you don't add too much.
• And the lawn - most lawns are too acidic and can really benefit from the addition of ashes to raise the pH. Also good to check that with a pH meter, but if you have a fair amount of lawn, it's hard to over do it.

I have a small 20 gallon metal trash can in the barn where I put some of my ash, so that I have a supply for over the Summer. The rest tends to get put where I want it directly from my ash bucket.

 

[shortys7777]

Along the lines of ash. How often are people emptying their stove? I've burned a cord and only emptied it once. Took out may 1.5 gallons.

 

[WiscWoody]

I mean, there are dog shoes... I was thinking about getting my dogs some shoes so the salt and/or wood ash doesn't tear up their feet.

It’s cold up here as in Maine I’m sure and I’ve thought about the shoes or booties for dog paws for my two dogs for when it’s very cold out... but I think they knaw them off. If it’s really cold out, below zero stufff I just get them out to do their things for a few minutes then I get them back in right away.

 

[firefighterjake]

I mix mine with plaster of paris and make busts of long time Hearth.com members like BrotherBart, BeGreen and other folks.

OK, truthfully I just spread the ash on my driveway for melting/traction.