Barriehie
Forum GOD!
No, caustic soda. Leaching water through hardwood ashes yields potassium hydroxide. Lots of rural long ago practices in the Foxfire series of books from the high schoolers in Rabun Gap GA.
Have a look.
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Have a look.
My mom tried that a few times, and yes, she learned it from the Foxfire books. I inherited loads of those books when my parents moved into town.
Barriehie
Forum GOD!
That's about 90 or so miles from here.
Really interesting.
Is harwood ash different from other plant material ash? Meaning, does saltbrush ash or corncob ash used for hominy produce potassium hydroxide or sodium hydroxide, which is what I (maybe mistakingly) thought.
Barriehie
Forum GOD!
The soft woods and plant ash will produce sodium hydroxide but not in a viable amount and it's not "electrical" enough. Hard woods produce potassium hydroxide. See in the pic below how potassium, K, is heavier and has more electrons, and orbitals, than sodium, Na.
Perhaps saltbrush is very sodium rich? The ashes produce a decent enough alkalinity to dissove the cellulose corn kernel hulls - takes an hour or two of simmering - and mild enough not to burn skin while handling