Showing the process of cooking and preparing cattail leaves (also known as bulrush leaves or typha leaves) in household lye to separate the fibers for paper making.
Perhaps it makes no difference in this application (It typically does in soap making) But what type of lye is this? Potassium Hydroxide or Sodium Hydroxide? Both come as a white pellets or powder so its hard to tell just from looking at it. I've recently learned that cattails have a high content of potassium which can be collected from it's ashes, so I'm interested in trying them as a substitute for the hardwood ashes typically used to make 'traditional' lye water solutions, effectively diluted Potassium Hydroxide. Would be really cool to be able to use cattails as one plant that can be eaten year round, used as heat and then be able to make both soap and paper from; with almost no waste.
Jim, I'm trying to find a better answer to plastic or purchased paper pots for potting up peppers and tomatoes, and I was pleased to find your video! I heat with wood, so I'm wondering if I just cook the cut up cattails long enough in a pot on the wood stove, would that break apart the cells and release the fibers enough to use in pot forms for paper pots? I'm thinking of trying old clay pots as forms, as they suck up moisture and could be set in the sun to dry.🌞🌄🌱. Working with nature is the way to go, thank you very much for the video! (I might try boiling the cattails with alkaline wood ashes, then neutralizing the mixture with vinegar once the lignin has been solubilized and can be washed out)
Yes the cat tail paper should work just fine for that purpose. If you have other scrap paper to throw in the blender with the cattails that can also work.
