Wood ash soap

[Medwayman]

Has anybody ever tried?

How to Make Wood Ash Soap

When you start homesteading, you find that there is a use for everything and stop throwing things away. There are even a lot of uses for ash from your wood stove – including making soap.

www.primalsurvivor.net

 

[Joecole]

Has anybody ever tried?

How to Make Wood Ash Soap

When you start homesteading, you find that there is a use for everything and stop throwing things away. There are even a lot of uses for ash from your wood stove – including making soap.

www.primalsurvivor.net

I've never tried but I believe you steep the wood ash in water to produce lye then mix it with rendered fat

 

[Ystranc]

Yes, I also use white wood ash to clean my electric oven and Rayburn. It also works on burned on grease in camping cookware. If you soak a cloth in a bucket of water and then dip it in clean white wood ash (no gritty bits) it can be used to convert any burned on fat and grease in your oven to soap which in turn helps remove any other burned on bits without the use of environmentally damaging chemical oven cleaners. It is just as effective as brands like Mr muscle and I have plenty of it as a byproduct of heating my home with wood.
Basically white wood ash soaked in a small amount of water creates lye or caustic soda which when added to fat breaks down the fat into soap. Coincidentally you can use a very similar process with the addition of wood ethanol to make bio diesel.