Hi Cody, I’ve been watching y’all now for a while and really enjoy your content. Im 68 yrs old and 5 yrs ago switched from Baptist to SDA. I just didn’t believe some of the things I had been taught. My eyes have been opened in the Bible and I see a lot clearer now and I love the new truths in the Bible I’ve come to understand and know. Please pray for me and my family. Thanks for your stories and sharing. God bless y’all. (Old guy from Arkansas)🇺🇸
My daughter makes the best Lye soap and she starts with hardwood ash. FYI... when your fruit trees start to produce, if you'll take an old coffee can punch a small hole in the side near the top and mix 1/3 molasses to 2/3 water and hang it in the trees it will attract and drown the insects that lay eggs and in eat your fruit.
My wife and I run through about 3/4 of a cord per winter. We have a gas furnace, but prefer the wood burning fireplace. I've got a good bit of ash and I have been spreading it around the garden getting ready for spring. I'm glad to know I was doing the right thing!
Clayton Rector, An open Log fire, + a wood stove, For comfort and warmth, Every one is afected by an open wood firer for the better, I'm now going find one on RUclips and relax for an our or two.
I miss the Pacific NW, been in GA for 14 years and I admit, I like it here as well. Still long for home sometimes though. Your videos are like a trip back home for me and help with the homesickness. Thanks!
Those are all great ideas! You can also use it for a chicken dust bath. Also, chickens ingest charcoal chunks from time to time... helps with internal parasites :) when dust bathing, the ash discourages external parasites. I hadn't known that soft woods leave less ash than hard wood does? Always thought it was the other way around... wow, something new! Thank YOU!!
I'm glad somebody likes the snow. I lived and worked in it for 50 years and swore every day of my life when I retired I was leaving and fortunately 8 years ago that day came and I got the heck out of it and haven't seen a snow flake since and love it.
My Mom & I have made lye soap with the ashes from the fireplace years ago. We also had bear fat to use with the beef & pork fats. We wore gloves, masks to clean the charcoal chunks out so we had just pure ashes, which were added to water to extricate the lye properties from the ashes into the water. She had a book that had measurements in it to use based on batch sizes. That batch was kind of crumbly, which we attributed more to the bear fat than the use of the wood ashes. But that soap was awesome on skin! It was the most moistening, highest lathering soap batch we ever made. I still have a couple token bars I'm saving for dire times!
THIS IS A GREAT USE. If you have a glass front on your wood stove. Use a wet cloth and dip it in the ash to CLEAN the glass on your wood stove. I read this someplace on the internet about two days after installing a wood stove. It sounded weird, but it turned an impossible job into an easy job. Pat
I hope the tree is ok cause of all this ash you gave it. I couldn't read all the messages but there are many things to make with ash. As you said, potassium is good for the garden (not too much), or to slow down snails (a little). I have been using it for about 6 years to make lye (not very concentrate), that I use for the washing machine, to clean the floor, the car or whatever I have to clean. The wet ash left from the lye makes a kind of paste used to clean my hands outside from garden or garage work (very efficient). And now I use the lye with some pig lard to make some liquid soap. I am sure we could find many other uses. Thanks for your videos
My family burns wood to heat our house but I never knew that the ash could clean silver that is very interesting thanks for all y'all do and all the information y'all give.
Glad you mentioned chimney fires. When I was young and naieve I had 3! Having the fire brigade try to find your house in the middle of nowhere is not fun. I heat all my house with wood and now on the 1st of every month I sweep my chimney religiously, go outside, see my broom sticking out the chimney pot and make a wish. Great channel.
wood ash can also be used in pottery making for a beautiful glaze. If mixed with some water, it can be sprayed lightly onto a pot before firing as a decoration or used to make glaze for the whole pot. The dry ash can also be dumped on top of another wet glaze to create a dripping effect. Of course the results depend on what type of tree it came from. The minerals and content of the tree that it gleaned from the earth are transferred to the pot in the final glaze firing. Thanks for the tip about the wet sacks and chimney fires.
Wood ashes can also help your car tires get traction in snow. Lay down a solid layer of ash under your tires (and along the path you will travel) and it will help you get un-stuck. Just used that trick today -- helped me get traction on a snowy incline!!
Neat idea with the soaked sacks. All that steam not only cools the chimney fire by absorbing heat but it has a smothering effect removing air from the triangle too. As a professional chimney sweep, though, I always recommend that folks call 911 and leave the house. Out in the woods as you are, something more immediate is a good thing too. Nothing beats chimney fires better than good wood burning practices and regular, even frequent, chimney sweeping. No creosote means no fuel for a chimney fire.
Haha, you're a bit late on the snow! Here in Northern Michigan we have so much snow we don't know what to do with. I have at least 4 feet of snow at my house and the snow won't stop! I'm loving every minute of it.
I burned wood on/off for years without needing a chimney sweep by burning only dry wood. Yearly chimney inspection is a terrific idea just to be on the safe side.
My brother is a soap hobbyist and uses wood ash and used frying oil from local restaurants to make soap. The thing to keep in mind if you ever want to try it is that soap making is a very bad smelling process so it is best to do it far enough away from the house to not be a big problem.
In case of chimney fire you can also drop snowballs down from the top, they take longer to turn into steam, and therefore reduces the risk of cracking the pipe/oven. it is a method that they use here in Norway. nice info on the use of ashes.
We have a fireplace insert with glass doors. the doors get a smoke film on them from the wood burning. I have found the best way to clean the door glass is with a crumpled piece of news paper. I wet the end and stick it in the ash, it cuts through the smoke film very easy, then I dry it off with dry newspaper and wala, clean glass. you should only do this when the class is cool to the touch.
I learned about an excellent use for wood ash when I got one wheel slightly off the road in Minnesota one cold winter night. My friend came out with some wood ash and put it under the wheel for traction. Nothing better.
Nice info on the wood ash. I'd appreciate it if you could push some of that cold, snowy weather down into California. We just got our first rain in about two months this week and need more. So please, when you're done, send it along.
charcoal can be used to make a home grown pencil lead. I spread my ashes back in the bush around younger deciduous trees. I live in Ontario Canada so I like to encourage sugar maples where I see them so I scatter ashes around the base of young and medium sized sugar maples, basswoods and beech trees too. We have quite a bit of conifers here so the ash really helps to make the acidic soil more alkaline. The trees really respond to it too, it is quite amazing. Ashes really make the deciduous trees grow!
when we would go camping. (usually a large group of people) We would use cast iron skillets or pots on a camp fire to cook. when we were finished cooking and the food was out of the pot, take a scoop of ash in the pot to the river and use a scrubby or a small amount of sand from the river bank to scrub the pot. rinse and dry and your ready for lunch or dinner. (depending how long you stay).
Saw a video where a guy was growing his own morel mushrooms. He would collect some and make a slurry from them. one of the ingredients was burnt wood ashes. He would pour this slurry of morel spores in moist areas around his property. Important that the wood ashes are fresh. If they get rained on, the nutrients the morel spores like get washed away. At $200+ per pound, not a bad way to supplement an income if you got the right land/soil.
We always put our ashes in the garden they seem to really help. Hope you guys get more snow we picked up 10 inches Sunday night into Monday here just south of Pittsburgh Pa
1 pt ground charcoal to 3 pts Pine Rosin(Dried Resin)= Pine Pitch, a very useful & natural product. Just melt the pine rosin(dried resin), then add the FINEST particles of pulverized charcoal & mix w/ stick. Great stuff. Use what coals are leftover after the fire. Not ab wood ash, but charcoal makes ash, so I thought it would be helpful.
Just taught I share something with you. 1 pound of hard wood and 1 pound of soft wood at the same % of humidity produce exactly the same amount BTU . The volume of hard wood is less than the soft wood, keep in mind. Thank you for sharing!
What a great channel, I found it looking at gas powered material carts to haul firewood and such. Glad I found you. Thanks for sharing. I thought those looked like Doug Firs, happy to see folks in the Pac NW doing what you do. Have you looked for gold on your property? You never know till you look. Fine gold every where here in Western Oregon.Your kids would love looking for it. Thanks for the tip on pond algae and fruit trees. Be safe, keep the vids coming please.
You can make lye by soaking hardwood ashes in water. The old folks here in AR. use to make Hominy by soaking corn in lye,and it's good for making soap.
Wood ash also works great on fireplace or woodstove glass that gets blackened with soot and creosote. Just take a damp paper towel, dab it in some wood ash, and wipe that crap off. I was using oven cleaner, which worked but is simply toxic with its fumes, until I learned that little trick.
I've used hard wood ash with my goats' milk to make soap. It's just not too often that I use the ash as it has to be hard wood and here in NW Louisiana, it's a big piney wood forest...pine just doesn't work for this purpose. I have to admit, I didn't know that the fruit trees loved ash. Thanks for the video!
Also might keep a sifter box handy with steel screen to sift out any charcoal for the blacksmith forge I built a brake drum forge myself and use charcoal exclusively so if we happen to have a campfire then when its on towards time to turn in I give the embers a good soaking and save the charcoal instead of letting them ash out
I used to fill small holes in my yard with it but it seems to promote clover growth and that was not something I wanted in my lawn. The surrounding pastures had plenty of clover for my bees.
Great video! And congrats on the snow...the irony being that here in the Midwest we're already on something like winter storm number 14 for the year!!!
The ash works great on our garden along with our coffee grounds and egg shells. We take a few scoops of ash and two gal. of used coffee grounds and crushed up egg shells and put it all in to 55 gals of water. let it ferment for a few weeks and then water our garden. By the time we're done with the first 55 gals the second is ready. We keep a screen over the mix to keep mosquito from growing. We then take all the solids that is left and til it in to the earth in the fall after the garden has pasted, making it ready for the next year.
Just watched this and another use for ash is to keep a sealed bucket of them in your car/truck. If you're stuck toss a good amount under your tires and the ash will help the tires grip. Way better then sand. Winter time I'll keep a sealed 2.5 gallon bucket of ash in the truck and the car. Another use is to brush your teeth with the fine ash ifs you're short of toothpaste or if we're in a SHTF situation .
I can't believe you guys have not had snow! Michigan is having one of the worst years ever. Blistering cold temps, ice storms and 3 or 4 storms with over 16 inches of snow for us!
Hi. May I add that wood ash aids in increasing pH which means it is more alkaline. Wood ash is best incorporated into compost, as it is often used like lime, and not used in high amounts around plantings. Make sure you have gloves on if handling it, as it will take layers of skin off your hands if it becomes even mildly wet on your skin. It is good for incorporating in soil when planting peas.
I like that strap he has for his holster. I never considered to carry in that manner. I'm definitely gonna look into that and wear under a button down or small coat.
For chiminea fires, I keep a few plastic bags full of "dry chem". The stuff that you fill abc fire extinguishers with. Then you go up on your roof and drop them down. Learned this while on the volunteer fire department. We called them chem-bombs.
just to add a point,you should use a bucket with a cover,windy days.if you can don't keep bucket on the deck,store it somewhere away from the house your life could depend on it. all the best
My grandmother made soap with ashes. She would run water through the ashes. She used to put a small piece of bacon in the water overnight to check if the lye was strong enough. It would dissolve the fat.
Lye is a great tool around a homestead. It's a free resource. Great paint remover, sweetens acidic water, makes soap. It's also very dangerous, and requires caution making, storing and using. Oh yeah, one of the few reliable ways to get rid of the bodies.
thanks for this I had seen it a long time ago but I was cleaning my wood heater of ashes and thought it might be good for the garden but wanted to know and questioned you tube and there you were and also thanks for the info on the raspberries because they are very similar to my black berries I am planting next month 2000 of them thornless with berries as big as 3 inches yum again thanks for all of your videos have a great day brother
When you dump the ashes around your fruit trees you should chant, if you don't produce this could be you. lol I like the idea of the water soaked gunny sacks to put out a chimney fire.
another great use for ashes is for traction on ice if you have a sloped driveway and cant get enough traction to get going. Nothing provides better traction on ice than a good scoop of ashes.
Rutland sells a flare like device called chimfex that when light and put into a wood stove or fireplace during a chimney fire smothers and extinguishes the fire without causing damage to the stove or chimney. I keep two close to my stove just in case. It can make all the difference while waiting for far off FDs to respond. It can be bought on amazon for around $30.
oh lord we will be expecting a storm here soon as well, stay warm you guys! my family burns coal in the winter and i know it doesn't contain the same nutrient so this wasn't super useful but for those who burn coal as i heres some tips, dont just let it sit in a pile its very useful as well and it will harden in to almost stone if you let it sit in a pile so clean up is a pain, but it can be used as an alternative for gravel such as in drive ways for extra traction or filling in holes that collect water where you dont want it, or like in my yard where we park our cars it gets very muddy so we have been putting it there to hold extra water, give extra traction and firm up the ground a little, good luck and stay warm all
To provide the chimney fire it is important to clean out your chimney 2-3 times a year it depends on how often you use it. When your stainless steel chimney starts burning you have a problem because it is broken after the fire
Best use is in the outhouse ( if you have one). A can of ashes over the top after N0. 2. If you have hardwood ash you can make the hydroxide (Lye) by simmering the ash in water then pour it off after the ash settles. Not necessary in alkaline soil like here in Ut.- for gardens.
You can have some of my snow from Central Ontario Canada. We have a good 4 feet of accumulation. That is after several melt cycles so in all we may have had about 8 feet total this year so far. Much more than recent past and even the kids are tired of the large dumps of snow. :)
If you grow Strawberry's try spreading the ashes around them. As a child my father did this and we had some of the biggest juicyist Strawberry's all summer long and slugs don't like going across the ashes so this means they don't get eaten by slugs.
When you get enough snow, gather up some snow and make some snow cream. All you need to make snow cream is: snow 1 cup sugar (you might not use the whole cup) milk a few drops of vanilla flavoring just mix together
One use that I've found for wood ashes is as an "organic" metal cleaner. If you want to remove any rust or residue from axe heads or knife blades just rub the ashes from a hardwood fire directly on the steel. When you're done just wipe it down and store appropriately. On a side not I usually hit my tools with a little Wd-40 just for good measure.
3:33 Junk in the Ashes ! I try to keep all Junk out of my Garden . I use a large Magnet and run it through the Ashes before I put them in the Garden . I use a Magnet out of a Microwave Oven and simply drag it through the ashes . I have tried putting the magnet on the blade of a Hoe to make things easy , But my preferred method is to fill my container of Ashes with water , scoop off the floating Wood Coals and dive in up to my Elbows and use the Magnet to churn through the Ashes and Mud . Throw everything that's Magnetic , Nails etc into the Trash and everything else goes in the Garden .
+sQWERTYFALIEN2011 Hi , I take the magnet from a base woofer, drill a hole in the center and attach a small rrope to it. Then just wasl around and it picks up nails etc.
Another use for ashes is for doing the dishes, in the medieval times they didnt use soaps for cleaning plates, ashes mixed with water forms a soap that you can do the dishes with.
A former firefighter gave me a tip on how to put out chimney fires. He said: spray vinegar into the stove, that will kill the fire from the bottom up. I dont know if it works. We have a wood stove so we may have to find out some day.
Glsd you like the snow. We've already had tons of it here in central Indiana, Im sick of it lol. still at least 6 inches on the ground and they are predicting 7-12 more inches starting tuesday sometime after 1 pm. what a winter this has been
On some very silty soils, like the on I have in Galicia in NW Spain, the soil is too acid and lacks potassium. Wood ashes are good source of potassium so when we plant tomatos we sprinkle some ashes in the furrow before seeding. Being ashes alkaline also helps reduce acidity and the fertilizer dung is not wasted by the acid soil. Ashes used to be employed to make bleach. Try not to overdo the ashes since they can be quite alkaline, specially woods with lignin like oak etc.
Personally, I've taken a pillow case full of hard wood ash and steeped it in a 5 gallon bucket with soft water. Very important that it is soft water. Rain, snow melt or distilled. After a rich tea has been made remove the pillow case. You can let it evaporate naturally or on the stove.
having a base PH, the ash may help lower the PH (or raise depending on how you look at it) of the pond water and make it a less healthy environment for the algae if your pond is naturally acidic. Soda Ash is used to lower the pH of swimming pools if they get too acidic. most of the time though, you have to add acid to swimming pools to keep the water at the correct PH as it tends to want to go base. water with a centered PH level doesnt want to grow stuff as much. Funny how pool chemistry can come in handy.
Mrs. Wranglerstar, you should try ash soap, I've done it the same way you were talking about polishing silver, you can add scent and things from there, but it works as well as something like Gojo
![Eminem - Fuel (feat. JID) [Official Lyric Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/t5H_CewqpKA/mqdefault.jpg)
Hi Cody, I’ve been watching y’all now for a while and really enjoy your content. Im 68 yrs old and 5 yrs ago switched from Baptist to SDA. I just didn’t believe some of the things I had been taught. My eyes have been opened in the Bible and I see a lot clearer now and I love the new truths in the Bible I’ve come to understand and know. Please pray for me and my family. Thanks for your stories and sharing. God bless y’all. (Old guy from Arkansas)🇺🇸
My daughter makes the best Lye soap and she starts with hardwood ash.
FYI... when your fruit trees start to produce, if you'll take an old coffee can punch a small hole in the side near the top and mix 1/3 molasses to 2/3 water and hang it in the trees it will attract and drown the insects that lay eggs and in eat your fruit.
My wife and I run through about 3/4 of a cord per winter. We have a gas furnace, but prefer the wood burning fireplace. I've got a good bit of ash and I have been spreading it around the garden getting ready for spring. I'm glad to know I was doing the right thing!
Clayton Rector, An open Log fire, + a wood stove, For comfort and warmth, Every one is afected by an open wood firer for the better, I'm now going find one on RUclips and relax for an our or two.
I miss the Pacific NW, been in GA for 14 years and I admit, I like it here as well. Still long for home sometimes though. Your videos are like a trip back home for me and help with the homesickness. Thanks!
Those are all great ideas! You can also use it for a chicken dust bath. Also, chickens ingest charcoal chunks from time to time... helps with internal parasites :) when dust bathing, the ash discourages external parasites. I hadn't known that soft woods leave less ash than hard wood does? Always thought it was the other way around... wow, something new! Thank YOU!!
I'm glad somebody likes the snow. I lived and worked in it for 50 years and swore every day of my life when I retired I was leaving and fortunately 8 years ago that day came and I got the heck out of it and haven't seen a snow flake since and love it.
My Mom & I have made lye soap with the ashes from the fireplace years ago. We also had bear fat to use with the beef & pork fats. We wore gloves, masks to clean the charcoal chunks out so we had just pure ashes, which were added to water to extricate the lye properties from the ashes into the water. She had a book that had measurements in it to use based on batch sizes. That batch was kind of crumbly, which we attributed more to the bear fat than the use of the wood ashes. But that soap was awesome on skin! It was the most moistening, highest lathering soap batch we ever made. I still have a couple token bars I'm saving for dire times!
GOTTA LOVE THAT SIMPLE LIVING - HARD WORK, BUT VERY REWARDING IN THE WAY OF GRATIFICATION AND FEELING GREAT ABOUT THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS!
oak ashes for Lye
THIS IS A GREAT USE. If you have a glass front on your wood stove.
Use a wet cloth and dip it in the ash to CLEAN the glass on your wood stove.
I read this someplace on the internet about two days after installing a wood stove.
It sounded weird, but it turned an impossible job into an easy job.
Pat
LycomingWarrior Will give it a try in a day or so.
I hope the tree is ok cause of all this ash you gave it.
I couldn't read all the messages but there are many things to make with ash.
As you said, potassium is good for the garden (not too much), or to slow down snails (a little). I have been using it for about 6 years to make lye (not very concentrate), that I use for the washing machine, to clean the floor, the car or whatever I have to clean. The wet ash left from the lye makes a kind of paste used to clean my hands outside from garden or garage work (very efficient). And now I use the lye with some pig lard to make some liquid soap.
I am sure we could find many other uses.
Thanks for your videos
And, if you keep a bucket of ashes in your blacksmithing area, you can use them to cool workpieces slowly by covering them in ash.
Great tip
My family burns wood to heat our house but I never knew that the ash could clean silver that is very interesting thanks for all y'all do and all the information y'all give.
Good tips, my wife and I live in southern Maine and heat with wood 24/7 in the winter, our ashes go into the garden which does very well for us.
Glad you mentioned chimney fires. When I was young and naieve I had 3! Having the fire brigade try to find your house in the middle of nowhere is not fun. I heat all my house with wood and now on the 1st of every month I sweep my chimney religiously, go outside, see my broom sticking out the chimney pot and make a wish. Great channel.
wood ash can also be used in pottery making for a beautiful glaze. If mixed with some water, it can be sprayed lightly onto a pot before firing as a decoration or used to make glaze for the whole pot. The dry ash can also be dumped on top of another wet glaze to create a dripping effect. Of course the results depend on what type of tree it came from. The minerals and content of the tree that it gleaned from the earth are transferred to the pot in the final glaze firing.
Thanks for the tip about the wet sacks and chimney fires.
I'm in the same boat when it gets cold and snowy I get this internal desire to get outside and do something. Great video
It's so nice to hear someone approve of the snow.
I live vicariously though you guys. Keep posting.
Wood ashes can also help your car tires get traction in snow. Lay down a solid layer of ash under your tires (and along the path you will travel) and it will help you get un-stuck. Just used that trick today -- helped me get traction on a snowy incline!!
Neat idea with the soaked sacks. All that steam not only cools the chimney fire by absorbing heat but it has a smothering effect removing air from the triangle too. As a professional chimney sweep, though, I always recommend that folks call 911 and leave the house. Out in the woods as you are, something more immediate is a good thing too. Nothing beats chimney fires better than good wood burning practices and regular, even frequent, chimney sweeping. No creosote means no fuel for a chimney fire.
I'm glad to be here in sunny San Diego, well away from any chance of snow. But I like watching you guys get excited about it. Cute!
Haha, you're a bit late on the snow! Here in Northern Michigan we have so much snow we don't know what to do with. I have at least 4 feet of snow at my house and the snow won't stop! I'm loving every minute of it.
We just got our first wood stove (SO EXCITED!) and I remembered you had a video about wood ash...thanks for the reminder!!
I burned wood on/off for years without needing a chimney sweep by burning only dry wood. Yearly chimney inspection is a terrific idea just to be on the safe side.
My brother is a soap hobbyist and uses wood ash and used frying oil from local restaurants to make soap. The thing to keep in mind if you ever want to try it is that soap making is a very bad smelling process so it is best to do it far enough away from the house to not be a big problem.
Thanks for sharing, Stan!
In case of chimney fire you can also drop snowballs down from the top, they take longer to turn into steam, and therefore reduces the risk of cracking the pipe/oven. it is a method that they use here in Norway. nice info on the use of ashes.
We have a fireplace insert with glass doors. the doors get a smoke film on them
from the wood burning. I have found the best way to clean the door glass is with a crumpled piece of news paper. I wet the end and stick it in the ash, it cuts
through the smoke film very easy, then I dry it off with dry newspaper and wala, clean glass. you should only do this when the class is cool to the touch.
I learned about an excellent use for wood ash when I got one wheel slightly off the road in Minnesota one cold winter night. My friend came out with some wood ash and put it under the wheel for traction. Nothing better.
Since I have limestone driveway and salt destroys it I just put my wood ash on it .
Nice info on the wood ash. I'd appreciate it if you could push some of that cold, snowy weather down into California. We just got our first rain in about two months this week and need more. So please, when you're done, send it along.
Cody the snow is gorgeous. We had about and 1" here in NC. The kids had a ball playing in it..
Rick
charcoal can be used to make a home grown pencil lead. I spread my ashes back in the bush around younger deciduous trees. I live in Ontario Canada so I like to encourage sugar maples where I see them so I scatter ashes around the base of young and medium sized sugar maples, basswoods and beech trees too. We have quite a bit of conifers here so the ash really helps to make the acidic soil more alkaline. The trees really respond to it too, it is quite amazing. Ashes really make the deciduous trees grow!
I never knew that hard woods produce more ashes than the softer woods. That really is a good idea for keeping the pests away!
when we would go camping. (usually a large group of people) We would use cast iron skillets or pots on a camp fire to cook. when we were finished cooking and the food was out of the pot, take a scoop of ash in the pot to the river and use a scrubby or a small amount of sand from the river bank to scrub the pot. rinse and dry and your ready for lunch or dinner. (depending how long you stay).
Saw a video where a guy was growing his own morel mushrooms. He would collect some and make a slurry from them. one of the ingredients was burnt wood ashes. He would pour this slurry of morel spores in moist areas around his property. Important that the wood ashes are fresh. If they get rained on, the nutrients the morel spores like get washed away. At $200+ per pound, not a bad way to supplement an income if you got the right land/soil.
We always put our ashes in the garden they seem to really help. Hope you guys get more snow we picked up 10 inches Sunday night into Monday here just south of Pittsburgh Pa
Never thought of wet gunny sack! Thanks for the info as I was wondering what I should do.
love use guys videos . im a Louisiana swamp boy and knot how to survive in the swamp.v cant wait to get back in my lifestyle keep up the good work
1 pt ground charcoal to 3 pts Pine Rosin(Dried Resin)= Pine Pitch, a very useful & natural product. Just melt the pine rosin(dried resin), then add the FINEST particles of pulverized charcoal & mix w/ stick. Great stuff. Use what coals are leftover after the fire. Not ab wood ash, but charcoal makes ash, so I thought it would be helpful.
Just taught I share something with you. 1 pound of hard wood and 1 pound of soft wood at the same % of humidity produce exactly the same amount BTU . The volume of hard wood is less than the soft wood, keep in mind. Thank you for sharing!
Makes great traction on ice if your stuck.
What a great channel, I found it looking at gas powered material carts to haul firewood and such. Glad I found you. Thanks for sharing. I thought those looked like Doug Firs, happy to see folks in the Pac NW doing what you do. Have you looked for gold on your property? You never know till you look. Fine gold every where here in Western Oregon.Your kids would love looking for it. Thanks for the tip on pond algae and fruit trees. Be safe, keep the vids coming please.
You can make lye by soaking hardwood ashes in water. The old folks here in AR. use to make Hominy by soaking corn in lye,and it's good for making soap.
Wood ash also works great on fireplace or woodstove glass that gets blackened with soot and creosote. Just take a damp paper towel, dab it in some wood ash, and wipe that crap off. I was using oven cleaner, which worked but is simply toxic with its fumes, until I learned that little trick.
I've used hard wood ash with my goats' milk to make soap. It's just not too often that I use the ash as it has to be hard wood and here in NW Louisiana, it's a big piney wood forest...pine just doesn't work for this purpose. I have to admit, I didn't know that the fruit trees loved ash. Thanks for the video!
Also might keep a sifter box handy with steel screen to sift out any charcoal for the blacksmith forge I built a brake drum forge myself and use charcoal exclusively so if we happen to have a campfire then when its on towards time to turn in I give the embers a good soaking and save the charcoal instead of letting them ash out
Thank you,sir. You and your family are an inspiration!
I used to fill small holes in my yard with it but it seems to promote clover growth and that was not something I wanted in my lawn. The surrounding pastures had plenty of clover for my bees.
Great video! And congrats on the snow...the irony being that here in the Midwest we're already on something like winter storm number 14 for the year!!!
The ash works great on our garden along with our coffee grounds and egg shells. We take a few scoops of ash and two gal. of used coffee grounds and crushed up egg shells and put it all in to 55 gals of water. let it ferment for a few weeks and then water our garden. By the time we're done with the first 55 gals the second is ready. We keep a screen over the mix to keep mosquito from growing. We then take all the solids that is left and til it in to the earth in the fall after the garden has pasted, making it ready for the next year.
Just watched this and another use for ash is to keep a sealed bucket of them in your car/truck. If you're stuck toss a good amount under your tires and the ash will help the tires grip. Way better then sand. Winter time I'll keep a sealed 2.5 gallon bucket of ash in the truck and the car. Another use is to brush your teeth with the fine ash ifs you're short of toothpaste or if we're in a SHTF situation .
I can't believe you guys have not had snow! Michigan is having one of the worst years ever. Blistering cold temps, ice storms and 3 or 4 storms with over 16 inches of snow for us!
Hi. May I add that wood ash aids in increasing pH which means it is more alkaline. Wood ash is best incorporated into compost, as it is often used like lime, and not used in high amounts around plantings. Make sure you have gloves on if handling it, as it will take layers of skin off your hands if it becomes even mildly wet on your skin. It is good for incorporating in soil when planting peas.
I like that strap he has for his holster. I never considered to carry in that manner. I'm definitely gonna look into that and wear under a button down or small coat.
Saw some good ideas for suburban areas here as well. New subscriber. Love the site and what you're doing. All the best!
For chiminea fires, I keep a few plastic bags full of "dry chem". The stuff that you fill abc fire extinguishers with. Then you go up on your roof and drop them down. Learned this while on the volunteer fire department. We called them chem-bombs.
You guys are a true blessing!
Hi wood ash is great for onions ,leeks etc .
Indeed it is a punch mower.
When I was young we used ashes in the outhouse to keep the order down. Works well.
just to add a point,you should use a bucket with a cover,windy days.if you can don't keep bucket on the deck,store it somewhere away from the house your life could depend on it. all the best
Ah I love snow! In fact, it just snowed over where I am and it was a fantastic time skiing, the snow just kept comming down all day!
My grandmother made soap with ashes. She would run water through the ashes. She used to put a small piece of bacon in the water overnight to check if the lye was strong enough. It would dissolve the fat.
Lye is a great tool around a homestead. It's a free resource. Great paint remover, sweetens acidic water, makes soap. It's also very dangerous, and requires caution making, storing and using. Oh yeah, one of the few reliable ways to get rid of the bodies.
thanks for this I had seen it a long time ago but I was cleaning my wood heater of ashes and thought it might be good for the garden but wanted to know and questioned you tube and there you were and also thanks for the info on the raspberries because they are very similar to my black berries I am planting next month 2000 of them thornless with berries as big as 3 inches yum again thanks for all of your videos have a great day brother
All very good information Cody, I'm sure you are really enjoying the snow! :)
When you dump the ashes around your fruit trees you should chant, if you don't produce this could be you. lol I like the idea of the water soaked gunny sacks to put out a chimney fire.
We got about a 1/2" of snow over in Boise area this morning too. Not much around here this year!
another great use for ashes is for traction on ice if you have a sloped driveway and cant get enough traction to get going. Nothing provides better traction on ice than a good scoop of ashes.
Rutland sells a flare like device called chimfex that when light and put into a wood stove or fireplace during a chimney fire smothers and extinguishes the fire without causing damage to the stove or chimney. I keep two close to my stove just in case. It can make all the difference while waiting for far off FDs to respond. It can be bought on amazon for around $30.
oh lord we will be expecting a storm here soon as well, stay warm you guys! my family burns coal in the winter and i know it doesn't contain the same nutrient so this wasn't super useful but for those who burn coal as i heres some tips, dont just let it sit in a pile its very useful as well and it will harden in to almost stone if you let it sit in a pile so clean up is a pain, but it can be used as an alternative for gravel such as in drive ways for extra traction or filling in holes that collect water where you dont want it, or like in my yard where we park our cars it gets very muddy so we have been putting it there to hold extra water, give extra traction and firm up the ground a little, good luck and stay warm all
I hate the snow you can keep it.. I live in N.H. snow sucks... great Idea with the ashes.. I go throw tons of wood.. thanks for the Ideas...
To provide the chimney fire it is important to clean out your chimney 2-3 times a year it depends on how often you use it.
When your stainless steel chimney starts burning you have a problem because it is broken after the fire
Good info. They are also good for around peach trees
Thanks for the info!! I'm trying to learn what I can before we move to property!!!!
Best use is in the outhouse ( if you have one). A can of ashes over the top after
N0. 2. If you have hardwood ash you can make the hydroxide (Lye) by simmering the ash in water then pour it off after the ash settles. Not necessary in alkaline soil like here in Ut.- for gardens.
Ashes also work great as ice melt on the snowbanks. Just a little bit of ash on a sunny day can do serious damage to tall snowbanks.
Nice video guys... Love the Utube and all the knowledge that people bring to it Thanks
You can have some of my snow from Central Ontario Canada. We have a good 4 feet of accumulation. That is after several melt cycles so in all we may have had about 8 feet total this year so far. Much more than recent past and even the kids are tired of the large dumps of snow. :)
better to carry and never need it..then to need it and not have...carry on wranglerstar
Great advise!
If you grow Strawberry's try spreading the ashes around them. As a child my father did this and we had some of the biggest juicyist Strawberry's all summer long and slugs don't like going across the ashes so this means they don't get eaten by slugs.
Will try ash on my new fruit trees! Thanks for the idea guys!
I've been adding ash to my garden all winter.
if you are stuck in a snow drift you can use ashes to help give your tires traction
When you get enough snow, gather up some snow and make some snow cream.
All you need to make snow cream is:
snow
1 cup sugar (you might not use the whole cup)
milk
a few drops of vanilla flavoring
just mix together
One use that I've found for wood ashes is as an "organic" metal cleaner. If you want to remove any rust or residue from axe heads or knife blades just rub the ashes from a hardwood fire directly on the steel. When you're done just wipe it down and store appropriately. On a side not I usually hit my tools with a little Wd-40 just for good measure.
Zachary Morse A light coat of any oil will do the trick fine.
Vegetable oil even.
3:33 Junk in the Ashes ! I try to keep all Junk out of my Garden . I use a large Magnet and run it through the Ashes before I put them in the Garden . I use a Magnet out of a Microwave Oven and simply drag it through the ashes . I have tried putting the magnet on the blade of a Hoe to make things easy , But my preferred method is to fill my container of Ashes with water , scoop off the floating Wood Coals and dive in up to my Elbows and use the Magnet to churn through the Ashes and Mud . Throw everything that's Magnetic , Nails etc into the Trash and everything else goes in the Garden .
+sQWERTYFALIEN2011 Hi , I take the magnet from a base woofer, drill a hole in the center and attach a small rrope to it. Then just wasl around and it picks up nails etc.
Another use for ashes is for doing the dishes, in the medieval times they didnt use soaps for cleaning plates, ashes mixed with water forms a soap that you can do the dishes with.
A former firefighter gave me a tip on how to put out chimney fires. He said: spray vinegar into the stove, that will kill the fire from the bottom up. I dont know if it works. We have a wood stove so we may have to find out some day.
She's a nice addition to your videos.
I use wood ashes for traction on ice in winter it's really great as traction
I really like your "winter holster" Care to divulge where you got it? TIA
At the place where douche bags go to shop.
Glsd you like the snow. We've already had tons of it here in central Indiana, Im sick of it lol. still at least 6 inches on the ground and they are predicting 7-12 more inches starting tuesday sometime after 1 pm. what a winter this has been
The snow makes the homestead look like an entirely different place!
I Love Wranglerstar!!! Click like all the time!!!
On some very silty soils, like the on I have in Galicia in NW Spain, the soil is too acid and lacks potassium. Wood ashes are good source of potassium so when we plant tomatos we sprinkle some ashes in the furrow before seeding. Being ashes alkaline also helps reduce acidity and the fertilizer dung is not wasted by the acid soil. Ashes used to be employed to make bleach. Try not to overdo the ashes since they can be quite alkaline, specially woods with lignin like oak etc.
I've always used wood ash on the driveway for the ice, as good as salt or sand.
Personally, I've taken a pillow case full of hard wood ash and steeped it in a 5 gallon bucket with soft water. Very important that it is soft water. Rain, snow melt or distilled. After a rich tea has been made remove the pillow case. You can let it evaporate naturally or on the stove.
you can also make potassium nitrate with it wich can be used for gunpowder and is a good fertilizer
having a base PH, the ash may help lower the PH (or raise depending on how you look at it) of the pond water and make it a less healthy environment for the algae if your pond is naturally acidic. Soda Ash is used to lower the pH of swimming pools if they get too acidic. most of the time though, you have to add acid to swimming pools to keep the water at the correct PH as it tends to want to go base. water with a centered PH level doesnt want to grow stuff as much.
Funny how pool chemistry can come in handy.
Mrs. Wranglerstar, you should try ash soap, I've done it the same way you were talking about polishing silver, you can add scent and things from there, but it works as well as something like Gojo
Good tips guys. Thanks for sharing
You can have some of our snow! We are getting hammered here in NJ!