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Article: How lye is made, and some uses.
- Article from:
- Countryside & Small Stock Journal
- Article date:
- March 1, 1994
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 Countryside Publications Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Several readers have asked how to make lye. Even if you think it's too cheap in the stores to bother making your own, it's an old-time skill worth knowing. Lye-making is seldom mentioned in old books: lye had many uses in addition to soapmaking, and most people "just knew" how it was made.
The basic ingredient was hardwood ashes. Water leaching through those ashes is lye.
It was made in a wooden barrel with a small hole in the bottom, near the edge. (The modern homesteader's wooden barrel substitute--plastic trash cans or buckets--won't work: the lye will eat them up.) The barrel was on a platform of wood or rocks, so a stoneware container could be put ...