Lye, fat and water are the three basic ingredients that combine to make soap. Lye dissolves protein and oily deposits, lending itself to cleaning applications in the home as well as being one of the main ingredients in making soap. Many commercial oven cleaning applications use lye. It can be used as a paint stripper, but on wood it will raise the grain. Lye dissolves protein and oil — meaning it can degrade soap and hair — making it useful as a drain cleaner.
Wood ash lye has a different chemical makeup than commercially produced lye. The chemical name for lye made with wood ash is called potassium hydroxide. The commercially available lye crystals are sodium hydroxide. These two different chemicals cannot be substituted in equal measure. Read recipes carefully to see which type of lye is used or you could be disappointed with your results.
Homemade lye is best made using ash from hardwoods like maple and oak or by using fruit trees such as apple. Evergreens and pine trees are not suitable woods for ash for this purpose. The wood must be burned at high temperatures with lots of oxygen so that the wood is completely consumed leaving white, paper thin ash, not chunks of charcoal.
You will need enough ashes to fill a lye-safe, waterproof container (non-metal) to within three to four inches of the top rim. Ash containers may be large (wooden barrels) or small (5 gallon buckets).
Get 2 containers that are not metal. The first vessel will contain the ash while the second will catch the lye water. Near the bottom of your ash bucket, fashion a small hole. To stop the hole Use a non metal object such as a cork, wooden tooth pick, or a small dowel.
In the bottom of the ash container, place a layer of clean river gravel. Grass, hay or straw should then be added and packed 4 inches thick. Pressing down firmly, fill the rest of the bucket with your wood ashes. Be sure to stop 3 or four inches below the top.
At least five gallons of soft water will be needed, possibly more. Having only trace amounts of minerals classifies water as soft. This water can be acquired by use of a specialized filter, or from peat or, sandstone or lava rock sources like granite. You could also use distilled water. Rainwater is a natural source of soft water.
Be cognizant that the location of your container should be well away from animals or children that could upend it. The drainage can be caught in a glass jar, wooden bucket, or an enamel coated pan. Don’t use metal or the lye could burn a hole in it. Find a position for this catch container that is close enough to the ash bucket to prevent unnecessary splashing during drainage.
Lye may cause blindness. Ingestion of lye can be deadly. Potassium hydroxide (lye) is caustic and can burn anything that it touches, reacting especially to fats and oil on skin. The chemical action of lye with fats and oils creates salts which can result in severe burns, permanent injury and scars. Note that lye burns may not hurt right away because the burn may be so severe as to have damaged the nerves (pain receptors) in the skin.
Safety precautions should be undertaken before beginning. Check to be sure the space where you are working is well ventilated. The telephone numbers for poison control and emergency medical services should be at your fingertips. Wear protective clothing. Rubber cleaning gloves and protective eyewear are a must along with covering for your arms and legs. Keep vinegar nearby in order to neutralize any skin burns. Do NOT wash with water following contact with this substance as this will merely exacerbate the corrosive affect.
Use a broom handle or dowel to create an indentation in the packed ashes. Boil one of the gallons of your soft water. Carefully use the full gallon of boiling water to wet the ash. The ash and water will spit, spew and bubble. Wait until this simmers down before adding another gallon of soft water. The ashes may settle to a lower level. Add more ash to the container to keep it filled. Repeat this process until the ashes in the container are covered with water. Close the lid on the container.
Clear the opening at the base of the container so that the liquid can drain into your second vessel. Draining the ash bucket could take as much as 24 hours.
Take the runoff from your ash bucket and pour it through again on day two and day three. Recycling the water through the ashes increases the strength of your lye.
A variation of this method is to leave the bucket sitting without draining it. Cover the container and allow the water to sit for about 3 days. Make sure it is in an area where it can’t get spilled. After this time you should drain the bucket.
The drained liquid is lye water also known as potassium hydroxide. A fresh intact egg placed into your lye can test its strength. If your lye solution is the right potency, the egg will float exposing a nickel or quarter sized portion of its shell above the surface. This equals an area of 2 to 2 1/2 centimeters in diameter. An egg that sinks means that the lye solution is too weak and won’t work in soap recipes. Dilute your lye solution with more rainwater should the egg bob on top of the surfaceindicating that your solution is too strong. Be sure to dispose of the egg after use.
Heating weak lye water will strengthen your solution by reducing the water content. Enamel finished pans are safe for this as long as they are never again utilized in cooking foods. Be careful when heating lye as it can be scorched. The solution is strong enough when a chicken feather touched to the heating lye starts to dissolve. Set the pan of lye water aside to cool.
Store lye water in jars with plenty of head room to allow for safety in pouring. Close jars firmly and store them in an unlit, cool area where curious children haven’t any access.
Dispose of the old leached ashes in a hole dug away from high traffic areas. The ashes should be completely cooled before you cover the hole.
To make potash crystals, place the lye water in a safe container. You’ll find that glass is a good choice for this project. Left in the sun, uncovered, the water will evaporate and crystals will form. Follow the same storage precautions with potash crystals as you would the lye water.
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