This is kind of a thought experiment to see what we as a group really know about how it was done in the old days.
Think of a tool used in earlier times (anything from Paleolithic to the pre-Industrial era). Considering what you know about those times and what you know about chemistry, carpentry or any other relevant subject, could you make one? Could you make a sword? A plow? Do you have any idea how to thresh grain or mill it into flour? How would you go about making butter? Assuming you had a sheep ready to shear, how far could you get in making a nice woolen blanket? How do you make beer or wine? Can you salt or dry your meat?
Pick a goal. Tell us your thought process, what you would try to do to achieve your goal. Once you’ve described it to us, go back to the magic of the internet and try to find a “how to” page and see how close you came.
I’ll go first: I’d like to try to make soap.
What I know: soap is a combination of lye and fat. So the first thing is to figure out how to get lye.
- I seem to recall that you can get lye from wood ash. I remember seeing an illustration of some contraption designed to get lye from ashes by weighting the ash and letting it drip. That doesn’t make a lot of sense, since I don’t know where the liquid comes from, but this is what I’ll try:
I scoop some ashes from the fireplace and put them in a bucket. I’ll pour water in the bucket, enough to wet the ash down, let it sit overnight, then tip the ash bucket on its side and put a brick on top of the wet ash. I test what drips out of the bucket by dipping my finger in it. If I burn my finger, Huzzah! I’ve got lye.
- The fat is easier to get. I’ll go to the grocery store and get pork lard. If I can’t find any, I’ll use bacon. I suppose I could also use butter or olive oil. I don’t know what magic turns fat plus lye into soap, but I’ll assume basic chemistry and apply heat. I take whatever fat source I have and heat it on a double boiler until it turns liquid. Then I add my “lye” in equal parts and stir. Stir frequently for fifteen minutes, then let sit to cool. If I’m successful, I’ve got some sort of smelly soap. If not, I’ve got a lump of dirty fat.
With my next post I’ll tell you how successful google thinks I was. Feel free to comment on mine or try your own.
One request: please don’t pick a skill you already have. If you know how to make beer, don’t tell us how to make beer. Try weaving a basket instead.
