Do you heat your house with wood? What to do with the ashes is a question for most. Obviously, you want to take great care to dispose of them in a way that won’t start a fire, but did you know that the ashes have all sorts of uses?
Here’s an article from Lizzie Bennett of Underground Medic, a website that is no longer around where this was originally published. ~ Daisy
18 Uses For Wood Ash
Wood ash is suitable for much more than the compost heap.
Wood ash is composed of calcium, potassium, phosphorus, and magnesium but also contains trace amounts of iron, manganese, sodium, boron, zinc, copper, and molybdenum. As it’s alkaline, handle it with care, especially when it’s wet! And never mix it with nitrate-based fertilizers unless you actually intend to produce ammonia gas!!
Did you know that:
- Putting wood ash on an ants’ nest forces them to relocate…the ash seems to cause them problems so they pack and leave.
- A pan of ash in the corner of a basement or other dark area will deter mice and roaches…not tried that one but assured by a friend it works.
- Decent-sized lumps of wood charcoal will filter impurities out of water.
- Wood ash in a metal or ceramic container will dehumidify a damp space very well.
- Putting ash on a fire will snuff the flames instantly. We actually keep a decorative bucket of it near the fireplace just in case an ember hits the carpet.
- Neutralise acidic soil by adding wood ash, never use around tender young plants though as it’s too strong and will kill them off.
- Sprinkling wood ash around the edge of a young plant bed will deter slugs and snails from having a midnight feast. If they don’t like its drying effect on their undersides, re-apply after rain.
- At up to 70% calcium carbonate, wood ash can replace lime in a pinch.
- If you keep chickens ash mixed with sand makes a great dust bath for the birds.
- Make soap. Here’s a recipe
- Ash on paths and driveways prevents slipping and melts snow and ice. It is messy as hell, so make sure you have a mat so boots can be wiped before coming indoors. A bag of ash in the trunk is great for giving some grip if you get into a wheels spinning but going nowhere situation.
- The mildly abrasive nature of ash makes it excellent for cleaning up dull silver, metals, and cloudy glassware. Make a thick paste and rub lightly. leave a few minutes and then polish off. Always wear gloves…it’s caustic.
- Wood ash neutralizes bad smells. Great for home gyms, sheds, garages, etc; replace with fresh ash every few days.
- Blot up oil stains on drives and floors. Put the ask on the stain, stomp it in, leave for a few minutes, and brush up.
- If your four-legged friend got too close to a skunk, help is at hand. Rub ash into the dog’s coat and let him run around a while, and then brush him. No more Eau de Skunk.
- Control algae in your pond. 1 tablespoon of ash per 1000 gallons of water improves the robustness of aquatic plants and inhibits algae growth.
- Clean glass on oven and wood stove doors. Make a thick paste, slap it on and wait a while. Scrape off the excess and then polish.
- Clean your teeth with pure wood ash…not ash from painted, varnished or treated wood. Clean your teeth with a dab of ash on the brush, rinse well, and feel how clean they are.
Learn more
Check out 20 Uses For Banana Peels for more ideas on using something that other folks would throw away.
Do you have any more good uses for the ashes from your fireplace or woodstove? Have you ever tried any of the ones above?
Let’s discuss it in the comments section.
15 Responses
This is a really, really useful post.
However, I see no way to print it.
And there is no way to email it – I do not use social media, nor do many of the people who could use this article.
Please consider adding a print icon, and adding email to your methods of sharing. Thank you Daisy.
I run into that problem, too. What I did is “select” or highlight the text I want to copy, then “copy” it, open my “notebook”, “paste” it onto the notebook page, and then print it. This works. It is not pretty, but you do have the info you want.
Also–I have heard of another use for wood ash, presumably from fine hard wood ash only: preserve fresh eggs for longer term. Cover the eggs in wood ash and reportedly they stay fresh for a long time.
JW, maybe this will help. In the upper right hand corner of my browser there are three horizontal lines stacked on top of each other that can be used to customize the browser. Click on the three lines and in the list of items to choose from is a printer icon next to the word “Print”. Select that and the rest is easy. You can either print the page or save it as a PDF file. I use Brave as my browser so I can only speak for what I see. I’m not sure about other browsers. I hope this helps.
If your dog ever gets in an encounter with a skunk, a bath or a good soaking in tomato juice works very well to eliminate the offensive odor . A couple of those large cans from the grocery store is all you need, the cheapest brand works fine. It’s not fun work of course but the results are positive. Might be bit less messy than working with ashes, and you won’t be breathing it in either.
It may have worked for you but it never did for us. Nor did it work when my sister’s got sprayed either. Boy that was a mess.
Only time heled.
We blend wood ash with dust diatomaceous earth and place it in the rubber pans you use t feed horses with to create a dust bath for our chickens in the winter ❄️
great advice
Charcoal Fridge.. the evaporation on charcoal with water causes a cooling effect from evaporation. Best for drier climate areas. Look up details on internet. People for centuries have used this technique to keep their food cool to survive.
wood ash or biochar works great in our area in the gardens. our dirt around our area is acidic. people around here ( deep south )don’t cut fields in the spring before planting, they burn them off. it has always worked very well here to put nutrients back into the soil. it depends on your areas PH levels around here it’s acidic.
My father during WWII used to use ash to brush his teeth as a child. It was called soot. Thats apparently what they used to do at that point in history when they was no money or things like toothpaste. He had really good teeth into adult life.
This was an extremely useful article, Daisy! I have for the last 5 years saved all the charcoal from our woodstove to use for water filtration, but just put the ash in the compost. I will use it a bit more creatively from now on.
Could you perhaps do an article on how to make a water filter? I have one but the spigot broke and unless I can get another spigot it’s useless. I know they can be made from plastic bottles but have forgotten how to make them. Would you have any other ideas?
A word of caution – I tried using wood ash to get rid of head lice. Yeah, don’t try that. It didn’t help with the head lice and it was horrible in my hair.
Your #2 – A pan of ash in the corner of a basement or other dark area will deter mice and roaches…not tried that one but assured by a friend it works.
We have had a problem with Moles and / or Voles for the past year in our yard. They have tunneled so excessively, wherever you step the ground feels spongy.
Any idea if this would work spread on the lawn? Also, the ash from burned leaves, twigs and branches would have the same effect? Or is this a trial I’ll have to try?
Hi Kevin,
What also works well against moles is put dung-slurry from cows in the molehills, they do not like that. It also helps to get a beautiful lawn.
In severe cases, you can also put a small amount of diesel-fuel at the bottom of the molehill. It’s not exactly environmentally friendly, but the moles go away!
I live in a rural area where dogs often get skunked. Everyone agrees tomato juice does not work. I used this formula that uses things I always have on hand when one of my dogs had a close encounter:
1 quart peroxide
1/4 cup baking soda
they say just a teaspoon of Dawn dish soap, but I used more.
Mix and thoroughly rub into the dog’s fur. Don’t get into their eyes. Rinse. Reapply in areas that still need it. This really works! Don’t try to store this mixture, they say it could explode! Wear gloves so you don’t get skunky hands.
Put the tomato juice to good use and have a Bloody Mary afterwards.