Uses For Wood Ashes & Charcoal. For removing fur from animal skins. As lye for making soap. I have washed my hands using water and wood ashes. Spread around plants to stop slugs and snails. As garden fertilizer. For controlling mites on chooks and other fowls. Charcoal as a water filter. For protecting dry foods. Using in the toilet pit. For testing wind direction. Laying down to catch animal tracks. Bury a fire in ashes to keep it in at night. Charcoal will attract moisture. Charcoal as an antidote for poisons. For drawing, writing, and marking patterns on animal skins. For camouflage on your face and hands. Charcoal used as a slurry in a poultice for insect bites. Charcoal for controlling Diarrhea Charcoal is an ingredient in gunpowder http://www.greenlivingtips.com/articles/255/1/Uses-for-wood-ashes.html http://afrisciheroes.wordpress.com/2010/04/28/grandma-found-a-lot-of-uses-for-wood-ash/ http://www.frontierfreedom.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=105 http://www.diylife.com/2010/02/12/unusual-uses-charcoal/ http://healingtools.tripod.com/thn5.html http://healingtools.tripod.com/char3.html
Charcoal is a fundamental element that any prepper should know how to properly use it. Is readily available since there is plenty of wood out there. Besides of its general uses as fire sustenance, It also has great anti-fungal, anti-viral, and antibacterial properties if 'activated', because It behaves somewhat like an esponge, except for the 'absorb' part of course, It just traps them within it . Thus, It will not directly injure or kill these organisms, but will attract them in the same manner as other toxins and facilitate their elimination.
White wood ash soaked in water creates a mild lye solution that can be strained and used to launder undyed natural cloth. It can also be added to oil, fat and grease to make soap. I use it on a damp cloth to deep clean the surface and ovens of my wood fired range each spring after it's been burning all winter. It doesn't just remove burned on grease it actually turns it into soap and cleans the iron and enamel surfaces to a high shine without abrasion or scratching. Beware of burning charcoal in any enclosed space, it gives off a disproportionately large amount of carbon monoxide gas and will continue to do so even after it becomes cool.
We use our woodstoves ashes for fertilizer in our gardens. It is a good source of lime and potassium. And the stuff needs to go somewhere.
Charcoal and wood ashes sure does have a lot of things it can be used for, the few i have tried out are using it to dry food and testing wind direction too, it couldn't have been anymore effective trust me.
