Is my theory about the fireplace ashes sound or stupid?
We have a rock driveway. At the very end is a concrete apron that leads to the street. A small trench forms on the rock side at the edge of the apron, where the car wheels pass between the rock and the concrete.
We have a fireplace. I surmise that if we take the wood ashes and deposit them in that trench, then wet them down, the weight and pressure of the car driving over the ashes will compact them into something almost solid, like concrete, but not as solid as concrete.
Is this right?
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Make sense to me. Although the moisture bit is important, I think, to make them initially bond with each other.
Upon further thought, could this be a way to dispose of unclaimed cremated remains? (“He put his heart into the building of the road…”)
I have some experience with ashes and driveways – and it was not pretty.
I tried ashes on my driveway in the winter thinking they would help melt snow instead of using salt. It was a disaster. The ash pile made such a mess. Even when wet, the car tires dragged the gray goo up the driveway leaving tracks on the asphalt that people walked through. It got on our boots and shoes and into the house. even though we take our shoes off. Yuk!
I put ashes on the stones out to my barn and they still blow around like a cloud of dust when I go over it with the rider mower.
Now I put ashes in the garden when it needs it and throw the rest into the woods when the wind is blowing away from my house.
Well, as I said, I think wetting them down initially is important to keep them from blowing around. I mean, just dumping them someplace could cause a problem. I think the pressure and weight of the car would bond them into something other than lose ashes.
They were plenty wet. They turned into a gray sticky goo. Unfortunately they don’t stay wet forever. Eventually they dry out and there is the problem. Maybe there is some magic binder that can be added. A little mortar mix perhaps?
Try a shovel full and see. Don’t do a lot. You might regret it. Although they would make neat dust devils to photograph when the wind is just right.
@Dutchess_III Ashes by themselves even with water, wouldn’t really have a bonding agent would be my guess. As soon as they dry out they’d blow around or wet they would stick to everything.
@LuckyGuy Might be on to something with the mortar mix. It would take a heck of a lot of pressure to change them into a solid structure if it’s just ashes.
The weight / pressure of the car driving over them is the final step in bonding them. No, just pouring water on the ashes alone would do it.
@Dutchess_III I was thinking massive amounts of pressure, like deep in the earth kind of pressure.
Well, but I’m not looking for diamonds! We’ll just have to see how it comes out. :)
I throw mine on all my flower beds, just before or during a light rain.
Compacting material (like taking a light carbon dust to something more solid) takes not only pressure, but pressure over time. A few seconds of intermittent tire pressure isn’t going to do it. You need more pressure, over a greater amount of time.
In order to turn ash into a permanent structure, you’d need a hardener, like lime.
You’re probably right, but we’ll find out! I will report back when it’s been run over a hundred times, it quits raining and the sun comes out and bakes it. That might be..next summer the way things are going here!
This is so exciting. A real experiment. (Even though my experiment did not work out well.)
Something to think about. Car tires really don’t put that much pressure on things. The maximum pressure they can apply is the inflation pressure usually 35 psi. That is only about 2 atmospheres. the pressure exerted by a woman in high heels can be 4 times that.
If the tires were steel, like vibratory street rollers, you can get pressures 100X car tire pressure.
Don’t forget to let us know what happens!
I won’t! But I am NOT going to stomp around in those ashes in high heels, just for the psi! I will not. :)
Please take some pics if you decide to break out the stilettos.
NO!! It would look really, really stupid. Me in my pyjamas and wearing stilettos stomping around in the mud!
These would get the pressure up to 2400 psi, about 150 atmospheres. Who knows what they would do outside!
NO! Someone would drive by and ask if I was dressed up to go to Walmart, and did I have my food stamps with me!
It has rained every single night for the last 2 months…except for last night. I need water on my ashes!!
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