Five Uses For Your Wood Burning Ashes

Tips For Wood Burning Ashes

When you first get a woodburner, the obvious things to do with the ashes is to put them straight into the bin (though never while hot, as the old-style dustbins used to remind us). However, there are actually many more useful things that you could use those ashes for than waiting for them to cool and throwing them out.

The dusty by-product of burning wood can actually be a very useful accessory around the home and garden, helping you with various cleaning and gardening tasks. Here are five examples of ways in which you might like to put your ashes to better use:

1. On your garden

Wood ash contains lots of goodness for your plants, including potassium, magnesium and phosphorus. Wood ashes tend to contain lots of lime, which is useful for combating acidic soil. We have heard that ashes are particularly good for fruit bearing trees, plants and bushes, also root vegetables and the onion family.

If you plan to do this, don’t forget to spread the cold ashes on a calm day and low to the ground, with any wind behind you; otherwise you will be wearing them and breathing them in, which wouldn’t be good! You can head to the Royal Horticultural Society website for more tips on using ashes in your garden.

2. On oil spills

If you’ve got a drop of oil on your drive or in your garage, drop some cool wood burning ashes on it. Leave them overnight and in the morning, if everything has gone to plan, both ashes and oil should easily be swept away.

3. To clean your wood-burning stove

If you’ve got a wood-burning stove with airwash then your glass should keep itself fairly clean. But if you do need to clean your glass by hand, a lot of people swear by a bit of newspaper dipped in some cool ashes. We’ve heard tales of people using this method to get tough stains off other glass surfaces too.

4. To keep bugs at bay

Another use in the garden. Tiny piles of ashes used as borders around each of your plants will help to keep unwanted visitors away from your plants. Insects, slugs and snailed can all be deterred from tucking into your greenery by a humble pile of ashes.

5. To polish metals

Mixing your wood ashes with water creates a paste that does a great job of buffing up your silver or pewter. It is abrasive, but if used with care it’s mild enough to create a nice shine without causing any damage.

We hope these tips come in useful, let us know how you get on! If you’re looking to buy a wood burning stove, check out our range here!