Thread: Fire Ash II

Would the type of ash matter (hardwood vs softwood)?

Originally Posted by mparker762

Are you using the CO powder or the waxy chapstick tube? I'm using the tube and don't find it messy at all.

CO powder mixed in a liquid carrier. It goes on well but once rubbed in and dry it seems to come off on hands, etc.... for a while. I have a newe German loom strop with green paste that does the same thing.

Tony

Something to consider. Ash with moisture or water becomes Lye. It is caustic and can etch metals or paint. Rust (Fe2O3) is an oxidation process. If the steel is covered with fat or oil the object doesn't rust - no oxygen. Crude soap is made from fat or oil and lye. Most soaps have an excess of fat. Otherwise, they would burn the skin to some degree. Possibly, the soaped strop is imparting some level of protection to the razor because of the fatty soap.

I think that ash's abrasive properties come from it's composition, carbon, which is the same stuff diamonds are made of, also the stuff that gives toughness to the steel...

Nenad

Originally Posted by superfly

I think that ash's abrasive properties come from it's composition, carbon, which is the same stuff diamonds are made of, also the stuff that gives toughness to the steel...

Nenad

I thought ashes are the left over minerals in wood after the carbon has been burnt off as carbon dioxide. Or is there still significant amounts of carbon left in most ashes?

Originally Posted by Kees

I thought ashes are the left over minerals in wood after the carbon has been burnt off as carbon dioxide. Or is there still significant amounts of carbon left in most ashes?

"The sorption materials included activated carbon containing 87% carbon and wood ash residuals containing 32, 27, 6, and 0.24% carbon, with surface areas of 520, 85, 74, 25, and 2.1 m2/g, respectively. This laboratory sorption experiment was undertaken to examine sorption efficiency and kinetics of chemical odorants by activated carbon and wood ash residuals. Results demonstrate that wood ash with higher carbon concentrations and higher surface areas sorbed odorants better than low-carbon ash. Furthermore, the 32 and 27% carbon wood ash possessed characteristics similar to activated carbon and were able to sorb odorous gases effectively."

quote from:
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/conten...00004/art00001

cheers,
Nenad

Originally Posted by rickw

Something to consider. Ash with moisture or water becomes Lye. It is caustic and can etch metals or paint. Rust (Fe2O3) is an oxidation process. If the steel is covered with fat or oil the object doesn't rust - no oxygen. Crude soap is made from fat or oil and lye. Most soaps have an excess of fat. Otherwise, they would burn the skin to some degree. Possibly, the soaped strop is imparting some level of protection to the razor because of the fatty soap.

Lye is alkaline, and while it can significantly etch metals at very high pH levels (13-14) at low pH levels it inhibits the oxidiation reaction without significant etching. Most "rust inhibitors" like oil are alkaline, and in the case of antifreeze that's the main factor inhibiting rust of the iron components in the engine, most of the rest of the stuff is there for the aluminum and rubber, and to inhibit scaling.

It's not just the oils in the soaps that would prevent rusting - soap is hydroscopic, meaning it absorbs moisture out of the atmosphere, so any soap on the fin would also attract moisture, and while oil does protect the blade from oxygen, I'm skeptical that a substance with only 5%-8% excess oil is enough to provide much protection. It would be straightforward to spritz some camellia oil on the linen side of a strop and give it a couple of weeks and see how that works.

From what I've read most hand and face soaps are in the range of 8-10, which is pretty mild. I don't know what the pH of shaving soaps are, but from what I've read alkalinity helps soften the whiskers, so they're probably not at the low range...

I dont' think it's carbon chemistry related. Woods pick up lots of other minerals during their living phase. Even pine, which we use for making steel in old fashioned smelters is calculated to contribute silicates to the smelting process resulting in improved slag formation.

Wood ash contains dolomite, magnesium- and other calcium-containing minerals. Portlandite and calcites are present in self-hardened and granulated ash. Potassium-containing syngenite, quartz, and Fe-K-Mg-silicates, also gypsum and calcium silicate hydrate. Now, I have no idea as to granular sizes relative to abrasive grit character.

Don't really know about wood ash; but cigar ash makes a wonderful silver polish. I have also had good results with it making "pipe mud" to raise the bottom of the tobacco chamber in the bowl of a pipe where the draft hole was drilled too high. I just used the pipes for an ashtray, added a little spit and tamped it down. Hardened like concrete and worked very well.
Now I have an excuse to smoke more cigars and use the ash on the linen side of my strop for an experiment!

Originally Posted by dennisthemenace

Don't really know about wood ash; but cigar ash makes a wonderful silver polish.

Great minds think alike. I just picked up a vintage strop off ebay that I'm planning on treating with cigar ash on the linen side and soap on the leather side.