Thursday Trivia

Re: Thursday Trivia-A Still????

Earlier stage of making.......mash grinder......

Re: Totally SWAG

If the gray material would happen to be wood ashes, then I'd suggest the top end of a lye soap manufacturing facility. My grandmother used to trickle water through wood ashes in a barrel to make lye that she would then add to lard to make soap. Other than that I don't know much about the process.

Re: Totally SWAG

I must concur with your guess. Certainly, the greyish white powder has shown a marked affect on the wood backing the pile is resting against. That reaction in wood would be consistent with the reactions of lye.

For soap making, the lye-water mixture would be brought to a slow boil in a cauldron to which rendered animal fat (usually pig fat, or lard - beef tallow was reserved for candle making) was added. The heat would melt the fat, which was stirred to improve the reaction. Saponification occured at the high temperature as the water was boiled off from the mixture. (The process of converting the fat to soap is called saponification - it occurs naturally in drain pipes, clogging them, which is why lye reactants are used to clear drains.) Once the water is gone, the melted soap is poured out into a mold and allowed to cool. Just before it hardens completely, it is cut into bars for ease of use.

Saponification is a fascinating discovery dating back to the middle ages. The alchemists who discovered it were undoubtedly looking for something else, but the result was useful. The Romans used wood ash as a means to get dirt and grease stains off of clothing. It is a wonder the clothing lasted very long with such a treatment. For cleaning one's skin, it would have to be an act of desperation - the lye from wet wood ash would literally disolve the fat right out of your skin; your hands would be nice and clean, but repeated use would be very uncomfortable.

FNelson

Clear and sunny in Eastern Missouri

Re: Thursday Trivia

Been there, seen that room. I'm not gonna tell though. A friend of mine, Jim Artemis, works in the cabinet shop there as a volunteer demonstrator. The whole place was endowed by the Wehle family from their Genessee beer fortune.

Re: Totally SWAG

Those are ashes. Now, what is the proper name for it, and what two products are commonly made from the product that comes out of it for extra credit.

Re: Totally SWAG

I don't know the answers to your questions, but I also just remembered that lye soap isn't safe from mice. I bought some at a farm auction once just for nostalgic reasons, and put it in a storage shed. The mice cleaned it up. They must have had the cleanest digestive tracts in the animal kingdom.

The answer *LINK*

What i was looking for was "ashery". Several people knew what it was for. Here is a link about them.


Ashery