[MR] Quick Lime (Lye)
Phillip Jones
jonesj at infoave.net
Thu May 10 12:56:54 PDT 2001
Very much helpful, thanks. Would we get quick lime by heating the oyster
shells?
Really, I am learning a lot of useful stuff here. But I wonder about the
response I got suggesting that it might be not be Laurels but other artisans
I wanted to eliminate with the hogs. Not so, good friends. I am certainly
not the type to cast Pearls before Swine.
Phillip Jones
Triplette Competition Arms
101 East Main Street
Elkin, NC 28621
336-835-7774
phillip at mindless.com
www.triplette.com
-----Original Message-----
From: atlantia-admin at atlantia.sca.org
[mailto:atlantia-admin at atlantia.sca.org]On Behalf Of Towey Brian
Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2001 11:24 AM
To: atlantia at atlantia.org
Subject: RE: [MR] Quick Lime (Lye)
At the risk of stating the obvious, I think we should spell out the
difference between lye and quick lime. Otherwise, the title of this thread
is likely to confuse the non-chemically inclined.
LIME STONE is Calcium Carbonate, CaCO3, made from fossilized sea shells.
QUICK LIME is Calcium Oxide, CaO, formed by heating ("calcining") lime stone
so that carbon dioxide is liberated. It is also called "calcia," "burnt
lime," "caustic lime," "hot lime," or even "high-calcium lime".
HYDRATED or SLAKED LIME is Calcium Hydroxide (Ca(OH)2), made by adding water
to quick lime. This reaction can be quite vigorous. The water may have
previously been part of your skin, so be warned.
The production of lime is quite ancient, forming the base technology for
most cements, whitewash, plasters, and glazes. Quick lime is also useful in
plague pits, aiding in the decomposition of the diseased carcasses.
LYE is another story all together. It is Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH). It can
be concentrated from wood ash, or made by mixing slaked lime with soda ash.
[For the more adventurous, it can be made by letting water get near metallic
sodium.] Also called "caustic soda," lye is typically used to saponify
fats.
By the way, maize treated with lye is hominy (grits). Maize treated with
slaked lime is posole (masa). Both treatments liberate niacin and
tryptophan, and so fight pellagra, which was a huge scourge in period.
I hope this helps.
-Charles Fleming
mka Brian Towey
"Miror Otium Negotium Multum Requirare"
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Becky McEllistrem [SMTP:bmcellis at yahoo.com]
> Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2001 9:04 AM
> To: atlantia at atlantia.org
> Subject: RE: [MR] Quick Lime (Lye)
>
> Phillip you're my friend and I care about you very
> much, so take this in the nicest of ways: I'm getting
> very worried about you..... <G>
>
> Rebecca
>
>
> --- Phillip Jones <jonesj at infoave.net> wrote:
> >
> > Fascinating. Truly the most informative thread I've
> > seen in some time.
> >
> > Now then, is the glass method documentable to
> > period? I mean, I'd hate for
> > some body to get all bent out of shape because my
> > disposal methods were OOP.
> > The ghost of any such laurel would haunt me with
> > moans of "out of period",
> > "not doc u MENT a ble" {shiver}. Would oyster shells
> > work well, I mean if we
> > wanted to keep an Atlantian theme?
> >
> > Seems to me that another fine method would be pigs.
> > I hear they eat pretty
> > much everything, but am concerned how they would
> > handle the thick skulls of
> > certain um objects....
> >
> >
> > Phillip Jones
> > Triplette Competition Arms
> > 101 East Main Street
> > Elkin, NC 28621
> > 336-835-7774
> > phillip at mindless.com
> > www.triplette.com
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: atlantia-admin at atlantia.sca.org
> > [mailto:atlantia-admin at atlantia.sca.org]On Behalf Of
> > Velsthe1 at aol.com
> > Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2001 1:07 AM
> > To: phillip at mindless.com; atlantia at atlantia.org
> > Subject: RE: [MR] Quick Lime (Lye)
> >
> >
> >
> > >I'm less interested in soapmaking than in hiding
> > the
> > >corpses. Is ashe lye suitable for this?
> > >Phillip Jones
> >
> > Errr, well, it will work. The most popular (commonly
> > used through history)
> > method is to pile a number of bodies into an open
> > pit then coat them in lye.
> > Sun and rain doing their natural things will erode a
> > body in a about a week,
> > less if there is a lot of lye and rain.
> >
> > The most effective and easily disguisable way of
> > doing it is burying the
> > body with layers of lye and broken glass in this
> > order (from the bottom to
> > top): dirt, glass, lye, body, lye, glass, lye, dirt,
> > glass, dirt to surface.
> > The glass immediately above and below the body
> > servers to grind the body and
> > help the lye do it's job. The glass just below the
> > surface is to discourage
> > animals from digging up the evide...bod...object
> > buried. Doesn't work as
> > fast as the open pit method, but in about 3 weeks,
> > there isn't much left but
> > broken glass under about 3 feet of dirt.
> >
> > Just pay attention to make sure that the water table
> > is low, and ground
> > drinking water isn't too near (particularly yours).
> >
> >
> > Vels
> >
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