Brent
04-06-2011, 01:06 PM
Has anyone made KOH from hardwood ash? I make soap and occasionally do a batch "old school" by using beef or pork fat and KOH made from wood ash from our wood stove.
I cannot buy lye anywhere locally and the drain openers that have lye also have additional chemicals. I know dozens of places to get it online but I am an avid DIYer.
I use the straw from our goat barn and chicken coop as a filter medium. Both the straw and wood ash ends up in our garden.
To extract it I use two 5 gallon buckets. On one bucket I have drilled a lot of 1/8" holes for drainage. I place it inside another 5 gallon bucket. The tp bucket I layer 2" straw and then 2" ash and repeat that all the way to the top. Then I just leave the bucket outside to collect rainwater. I live in Western WA so there is an abundance of distilled water that falls out of the sky.
I cannot buy lye anywhere locally and the drain openers that have lye also have additional chemicals. I know dozens of places to get it online but I am an avid DIYer.
I use the straw from our goat barn and chicken coop as a filter medium. Both the straw and wood ash ends up in our garden.
To extract it I use two 5 gallon buckets. On one bucket I have drilled a lot of 1/8" holes for drainage. I place it inside another 5 gallon bucket. The tp bucket I layer 2" straw and then 2" ash and repeat that all the way to the top. Then I just leave the bucket outside to collect rainwater. I live in Western WA so there is an abundance of distilled water that falls out of the sky.