Actually, you were heading in the right direction, Zeke. All conifers are technically softwoods, period. Softwoods are distinguished from other plants by their reproduction method. All softwoods are cone bearing.
Hardwoods are flower bearing. As a general rule of thumb, if it's a broadleaf or also very roughly, if it's deciduous, it's probably a hardwood (don't be fooled though, there are many exceptions in both camps - for example here in New Zealand most of the indigenous hardwoods, except for one are evergreen and on the other side, Larches and some cypresses, both conifers, are deciduous) The term softwood, though has little bearing on the hardness of the wood, though in general, they are softer than hardwoods. Again, exceptions abound. Balsa is a hardwood, Yew which is harder than most hardwoods is a softwood. Confused yet? Having said that all of the trees you mentioned are hardwoods and therefore fine for producing lye. Now, I'm not an expert on making lye from wood ashes but veside the JtF info, I did find this on the net regarding softwood vs hardwood ashes for soapmaking: http://www.endtimesreport.com/making_lye.html "Soft wood ashes yield a lye that will only produce soft soap. Hardwood ash lye will make harder soap for bars, and the best ash of all is from seaweed, such as kelp. Kelp ash lye produces an extremely hard, durable soap." I can't quite reconcile that with the info on JtF because this might suggest that hardwood ash would contain more NaOH than softwood - which for soap making would be far better, but maybe lye from softwood ash would be better for biofuel production? Maybe someone else can clarify this. I would imagine that most of the lye making techniques from the past using wood ashes had soap making as a goal. Maybe softwoods just don't produce as much lye? or not just the type of lye affects the hardness of soap? I'm beyond my realm of knowledge at this point, so more questions than answers. In any case, your source would be fine. Steve On Saturday 13 May 2006 01:57 am, Zeke Yewdall wrote: Often all broadleaf trees are called hardwoods, and all conifers are called softwoods, but that's not really true. For example, aspens have much softer wood than do larch. I'm not sure of a technical definition -- a certain hardness or strength or something? Or in this case it seems like we're looking for a certain chemical composition, which could vary with soil type as well? Z On 5/11/06, Scott Burton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I'm not an expert in these matters, but I know that Oak and I think Walnut > and Maple are hardwoods. I'm not sure about elm and cherry. > > Sounds to me like it'd be a good source. > > --Scott Burton > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jason & Katie > Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2006 4:57 PM > To: Biofuel@sustainablelists.org > Subject: Re: [Biofuel] New Biodiesel Catalyst > > my father is a forester, and is very much involved with resource management > (hes the coordinator) at a forest preserve where i grew up, every three > years a logging company is called in to thin out a small section of the > park, and these sections are rotated every cycle. my father collects the > tops from the trees that are removed and cuts them for firewood, which is > all oak, walnut, maple, cherry, and elm. would this group of woods be a > suitable supply of ash for KOH? i know the article calls for hardwood, but > there are some non-pine varieties that dont qualify. > > anyway, im rambling. this supply would be a good way to heat an alcohol > distillery or even just basic home heating, but there need not be any real > waste of energy in the pursuit of wood ash, and anyone with a rain barrel > can make their own KOH. > > > there are a thousand ways around any obstacle but the most fitting is the > least obvious. > > Jason > > > _______________________________________________ > Biofuel mailing list > Biofuel@sustainablelists.org > http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > > Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 > messages): > http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.1.392 / Virus Database: 268.5.5/333 - Release Date: 5/5/2006 > > > -- > No virus found in this outgoing message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.1.392 / Virus Database: 268.5.6/337 - Release Date: 5/11/2006 > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Biofuel mailing list > Biofuel@sustainablelists.org > http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > > Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 > messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ -- Steve Racz (03) 383 8167 [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
