Canonfestival at the Medieval centre 2012
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Inp04W3zfcI

Tudor pyrotechnics
https://youtu.be/YucMjWINERI?t=44m13s

Gunpowder artillery in the Middle Ages

The Europeans were the last major Eurasian group to learn the secret of gunpowder. Their late acquaintance with gunpowder, however, would not prevent them from making their mark on the substance's development. Europeans pushed gunpowder technology to its limits, refining the existing formulas and creating new uses for gunpowder.

Gunpowder reached Europe through the rich Silk Road trade. The chemical formula for gunpowder and the refinement process reached Europe in completed form by the late 13th century. Roger Bacon, a renowned early European alchemist (1214 – 1292), set forth the marvels of the world; among them he listed the ingredients of gunpowder. With the ingredients of gunpowder revealed European scientists, inventors and alchemists were ready to improve gunpowder.

European alchemists created corned gunpowder. Corned gunpowder contained the same chemicals as normal gunpowder but the refining process involved mixing the gunpowder into a wet substance and then drying the mixture. A German friar, Berthold Schwarz, is credited with inventing the first European cannon in 1353. Firearms which had been invented in China or the Middle East were improved upon by Europeans.

Advanced European metal work techniques allowed European metalsmiths to create stronger and more durable rifles; they also learned how to calculate the amount of force of the gas in the chamber of the gun. This knowledge help create guns that fired greater distances.

Europeans were still improving gunpowder a century after the Chinese had invented the first gun. The European advancements of gunpowder would reach China by a Portuguese ship in 1520 AD. The Portuguese introduced the cannon, improved rifles and other European advancements to the Chinese. Hundreds of years after the invention of gunpowder the Europeans had returned the substance to its origin and gunpowder's journey through Asia had come full circle.
http://www.monkeytree.org/silkroad/gunpowder/europe.html

http://firearmshistory.blogspot.ca/2016/07/black-powder-i.html
http://firearmshistory.blogspot.ca/2010/06/propellants-black-powder-ii.html

Gunpowder constituents
Charcoal
Saltpeter
Sulfur

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4671842/gunpowder-plot-1605-robert-catesby-guy-fawkes-houses-parliament/

Natural Philosophy to Science playlist
https://www.youtube.com/user/heterodoxism21/playlists?sort=dd&view=50&shelf_id=11

What was the gunpowder plot of 1605 and why did Guy Fawkes and Robert Catesby try to blow up the Houses of

Calligraphy, Ink, Dyes, Ochre, Pigments

Oak galls & ink > .

Paper - China > .

Seismometer - China > .

How to make Gall Ink and quill .
Weird and Wonderful - Scottish Plant Galls .
Iron Gall Ink - US National Archives .

Feather to Quill Pen ..
How to make a quill pen - [oversimplified] - Dan Snow's History Hit .

Materials and Techniques of Manuscript Production .

Making medieval ink > .

Tudor calligrapher
https://youtu.be/anuZV9BhcUc?t=16m56s
https://youtu.be/anuZV9BhcUc?t=33m14s

Tudor illustrator preparing paint
https://youtu.be/anuZV9BhcUc?t=33m30s

Earth Pigments ..
13th century - Ochre
https://youtu.be/DKk6md55wXQ?t=19m31s
https://youtu.be/DKk6md55wXQ?t=24m29s

Natural Pigments, Plant Dyes - ElQu >> .

Tudor - cloth painting, mixing pigment
https://youtu.be/madCyZtBHTk?t=40m9s

13th century - Textile industry & Woad
https://youtu.be/V4Igov-RM38?t=7m3s
https://youtu.be/V4Igov-RM38?t=13m8s

13th century - Gold thread
https://youtu.be/V4Igov-RM38?t=23m10s

The Alchemy of Color and Chemical Change in Medieval Manuscripts > .
Making Manuscripts > .
A Vault of Color: Protecting the World's Rarest Pigments > .

Inside the Mind of an Alchemist - Featuring Larry Principe - Bytesize Science > .
From Alchemy to Chemistry Object Theatre > .
Lavoisier: The Creation of Chemistry - The Fundamental Laws: Crash Course Chemistry #3 > .

Forest Plants, Forest Plants for Dyeing and Dyeing Wool >> .

Medieval manuscripts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKBJkf2xbqI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuNfdHNTv9o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WUpmG3ctxk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aDHJu9J10o

The Art of Illumination: The Limbourg Brothers and the Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry - The Met > .

Vellum, iron gall ink .

https://www.stinkyinkshop.co.uk/blog/the-history-of-printing-and-ink/

Iron gall ink (also known as iron gall nut ink, oak gall ink, and common ink) is a purple-black or brown-black ink made from iron salts and tannic acids from vegetable sources. It was the standard writing and drawing ink in Europe, from about the 5th century to the 19th century, and remained in use well into the 20th century.

The ink was traditionally prepared by adding some iron(II) sulphate (FeSO4) to a solution of tannic acid (C76H52O46), but any iron ion donor can be used. The gallotannic acid (= tannic acid) was usually extracted from oak galls or galls of other trees; hence the name. Fermentation or hydrolysis of the extract releases glucose and gallic acid (C6H2(OH)3COOH),[clarification needed] which yields a darker purple-black ink, due to the formation of iron gallate.

The fermented extract was combined with the ferrous iron(II) sulphate. After filtering, the resulting pale-grey solution had a binder added to it, (most commonly gum arabic) and was used to write on paper or parchment. A well-prepared ink would gradually darken to an intense purplish black. The resulting marks would adhere firmly to the parchment or vellum, and (unlike india ink or other formulas) could not be erased by rubbing or washing. The marks could only be erased by actually scraping a thin layer off the writing surface.

By mixing tannin with iron sulphate, a water-soluble ferrous tannate complex is formed. Because of its solubility, the ink is able to penetrate the paper surface, making it difficult to erase. When exposed to oxygen a ferric tannate pigment is formed. This complex is not water-soluble, contributing to its permanence as a writing ink.

The gradual darkening of the ink is due to the oxidation of the iron ions from ferrous (Fe2+) to ferric (Fe3+) state by atmospheric oxygen. (For that reason, the liquid ink had to be stored in a well-stoppered bottle, and often became unusable after a time.) The ferric ions react with the tannic acid or some derived compound (possibly gallic acid or pyrogallol) to form a polymeric organometallic compound.

While a very effective ink, the formula was less than ideal. Iron gall ink is acidic ranging from roughly equivalent to a lemon (pH ≈ 2) to that of a cup of black coffee (pH ≈ 5). In chemistry, pH is a measure of the activity of the (solvated) hydrogen ion, where a lower pH level indicates a more acidic solution. For this reason some makers of iron gall ink used crushed egg shells (which contain calcium carbonate (CaCO3)) to temper the ink solution acidity, bringing it closer to a neutral pH (pH = 7) value. Depending on the writing surface being used iron gall ink can have unsightly "ghost writing" on the obverse face of the writing surface (most commonly parchment or paper). Also any excess of ferrous ions remaining in the ink over years, decades, and centuries, could create a rusty halo around the marks and ultimately it might eat holes through the surface it was on.

Paper has its own special problems with iron gall ink. The iron-tannic pigment does not make chemical bonds with the cellulose fibres. The ink sticks firmly to the paper, but largely by mechanical bonding; essentially, the dried ink penetrates the spaces between the fibres and, after drying, becomes entangled in them. The process of decaying the writing surface is accelerated on paper when compared to parchment, doing the damage in decades or years that could take more than a millennium on parchment.

The acidity of iron gall ink is well known, but may also be somewhat overstated; while there certainly are instances of damage to historical documents, there are thousands of manuscripts, some of them well over 1,000 years old, written with iron gall ink which remain intact and legible.

Iron gall ink
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_gall_ink

How to make Gall Ink and quill - Dig for Victory > .

Leather, Parchment, Book Binding - arch >> .
Papermaking, Parchment, Papyrus, Manuscripts - ElQu >> .

Norse plant dyes > .

How to dye with natural dye > .
Forest Plants, Forest Plants for Dyeing and Dyeing Wool > .

Natural dyes and dyeing from woodland plants > .r

Norman England
By the 11th century, there was a greater need for texts due to Norman administrative and religious reforms. The development of universities also contributed to an increasing demand for texts; however, the method of creating books remained the same and scribes in monasteries continued to create these works by hand. This had the effect of making books incredibly expensive, and only the rich were able to afford them.

14th Century and beyond
There is evidence that block cutters and textile stampers were being used in early medieval Europe which could print letters and patterns onto fabrics. Woodblock printing had arrived in Europe in the 14th century from China, as had paper, and led to the development of printing patterns onto textiles. Woodblock printing involves carving patterns and lines into a block of wood and printing this onto paper. Most images were printed on cloth to be displayed on walls or on altars. With the increasing availability of paper after the 14th century, woodcuts became more widely available and more popular. This was a technique particularly used in Germany to produce religious scenes. This still remained a labour intensive task and the original wood blocks would need to be continuously replaced. The use of woodblock printing led to a new artistic style in medieval Europe where pictures had simple, thin lines which made printing easier. Other methods were developed by the 15th century which involved cutting lines into metal and printing from this.

In Early Medieval Europe therefore, printing was a laborious and expensive process that required skilled craftsmen. Producing printed material took time and complete books were very valuable although this didn’t matter to the majority of the population who remained illiterate. With the development of paper came a technological revolution in the 15th century: the printing press, which could now mass produce printed text.

In around 1440AD after a lot of time experimenting with different designs, Gutenberg created a printing press that was operated by hand. Gutenberg experimented with materials and made an alloy of lead, tin and antimony; this produced high quality books and proved to print very successfully. It was based on existing screw pressures and incorporated previous technologies; however this development included a matrix (a mould for casting letters) which is estimated to contain 290 separate letter boxes. His new technology enabled a quick way to produce very precise moulds.

The press worked by rolling ink over the raised surfaces of moveable hand-set block letters which were held within a wooden frame. This was then pressed against a sheet of paper and it made the creation of metal moveable type possible in large quantities. The metal type pieces were an advantage over earlier wooden block printing as they were much more durable and made the text more uniform.

As well as the technology, Gutenberg developed an oil-based ink which was more resilient than water based inks, inks previously used for handwriting tended to blur when used in the printing press. This ink was made from soot, turpentine and walnut oil and may even have included ingredient such as litharge (lead monoxide) and unknown plant extracts. Gutenberg also used both paper and velum as printing materials to improve the quality of printing.

https://www.stinkyinkshop.co.uk/blog/the-history-of-printing-and-ink/

Since taking over the business in 1988, Yoshioka has pivoted from synthetic dyes to traditional Japanese methods that draw extraordinary, rich colours from bark, berries, flowers, leaves and roots.
https://aeon.co/videos/sublime-colours-brought-back-from-oblivion-the-exquisite-effects-of-natural-dyes .

Chitin

Chitin (C8H13O5N)n is a long-chain polymer of a N-acetylglucosamine, a derivative of glucose, and is found in many places throughout the natural world. It is the main component of the cell walls of fungi, the exoskeletons of arthropods such as crustaceans (e.g., crabs, lobsters and shrimps) and insects, the radulas of mollusks, and the beaks of cephalopods, including squid and octopuses. In terms of structure, chitin may be compared to the polysaccharide cellulose and, in terms of function, to the protein keratin. Chitin has also proven useful for several medical and industrial purposes.

In its unmodified form, chitin is translucent, pliable, resilient, and quite tough. In arthropods, however, it is often modified, becoming embedded in a hardened proteinaceous matrix, which forms much of the exoskeleton. In its pure form, it is leathery, but, when encrusted in calcium carbonate, it becomes much harder.[2] The difference between the unmodified and modified forms can be seen by comparing the body wall of a caterpillar (unmodified) to a beetle (modified).

Agriculture
Most recent studies point out that chitin is a good inducer for defense mechanisms in plants. It has also been assessed as a fertilizer that can improve overall crop yields. The EPA regulates chitin for agricultural use within the USA. Chitosan is derived from chitin, which is used as a biocontrol elicitor in agriculture and horticulture.

Industrial
Chitin is used in industry in many processes. It is used as an additive to thicken and stabilize foods and pharmaceuticals. It also acts as a binder in dyes, fabrics, and adhesives. Industrial separation membranes and ion-exchange resins can be made from chitin. Processes to size and strengthen paper employ chitin.

Medicine
Chitin's properties as a flexible and strong material make it favorable as surgical thread. Its biodegradibility means it wears away with time as the wound heals. Moreover, chitin has some unusual properties that accelerate healing of wounds in humans.

Occupations associated with high environmental chitin levels, such as shellfish processors, are prone to high incidences of asthma. Recent studies have suggested that chitin may play a role in a possible pathway in human allergic disease. To be specific, mice treated with chitin develop an allergic response, characterized by a build-up of interleukin-4, expressing innate immune cells. In these treated mice, additional treatment with a chitinase enzyme abolishes the response.

Dye, Pigments, Ochre

Woad - medieval blue dye
t=7m
t=13m8s

Ochre
t=19m31s

Earth Pigments ..

Natural Pigments, Plant Dyes
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXYFDuJaCJL0ryoIH1fhXua8tD75EfVrR

Secrets of the Castle - Ruth, Peter and Tom at Guédelon
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-vRsHsClLJ5TaamXpl02RidkWGxe96TB

Glue & Resin

Pitch - resin - pine root magic > .

Resins, Tars, Natural Glues - Pine, Spruce, Birch - ID - anth >> .

The oldest known adhesive, dated to approximately 200,000 BC, is from spear stone flakes glued to a wood with birch-bark-tar, which was found in central Italy. The use of compound glues to haft stone spears into wood dates back to round 70,000 BC. Evidence for this has been found in Sibudu Cave, South Africa and the compound glues used were made from plant gum and red ochre. The Tyrolean Iceman had weapons fixed together with the aid of glue.

6000-year-old ceramics show evidence of adhesives based upon animal glues made by rendering animal products such as horse teeth. During the times of Babylonia, tar-like glue was used for gluing statues. The Egyptians made much use of animal glues to adhere furniture, ivory, and papyrus. The Mongols also used adhesives to make their short bows, and the Native Americans of the eastern United States used a mixture of spruce gum and fat as adhesives to fashion waterproof seams in their birchbark canoes.

In medieval Europe, egg whites were used as glue to decorate parchments with gold leaf. The first actual glue factory was founded in Holland in the early 18th century. In the 1750s, the English introduced fish glue. As the modern world evolved, several other patented materials, such as bones, starch, fish skins and isinglass, and casein, were introduced as alternative materials for glue manufacture. Modern glues have improved flexibility, toughness, curing rate, and chemical resistance.

Natural Resin for Glue Making

A natural resin is the sticky substance that seeps out of some trees and plants. Its purpose in nature is to protect the tree from invading insects and diseases. As the resin hardens over time and becomes waterproof, it will bind materials together. These properties allow people to use natural resins as a source of glue. There are two types of natural resins that are most commonly used to make glue: pine resin and birch tar, with pine being the easiest material to use.

About Pine Resin

Pine resin seeps from the tree anywhere the tree has been injured. It has a clear or slightly yellow look to it. It is often covered in dirt, bark and other debris which needs to be removed before the resin can be used as glue. Pine resin is not the same as pine sap. Sap is the sugar-based substance that feeds the tree. It runs up the interior of the tree from the roots out to the leaves. Natural resin originates from sap but is an entirely different substance.

It has been used as a glue since ancient times, including by the Egyptians in mummification. It is a thermoset glue, meaning it has to be heated to be used. As it cools, it hardens and binds. Pine resin (and most natural resins) are soluble in alcohol, not water, and when dry, pine resin is waterproof.

Making Pine Resin Glue

You can collect pine resin from a pine tree by scraping a bit of the bark until the tree seeps out a bit of the resin. Use an old knife to scrape and then collect the resin. Separating the resin from the debris can be done in any of three ways. You can boil it and as it heats, you can scrape the debris to the side, separating the pure resin from the debris. You can use a metal funnel with a very small opening in one end, through which the pine resin will drip while the debris stays in the funnel. Or you can boil the resin in a cloth bag. The resin will rise to the surface and separate from the debris. When using any of these methods, you can then create a ball with your resin for storage.

Mixing pine resin with charcoal, beeswax or a combination of the two helps to strengthen the glue and makes it less brittle. You can try different ratios to test what works best, but a ratio of 2 parts resin to 1 part charcoal works well.

Birch Resin Glue

Birch resin, located on the bark of birch trees, has been used as far back as the Roman Empire, according to an article in New Scientist. One method used to make birch resin glue involves an outdoor fire. To make the glue, collect strips of birch bark and roll them together until you have enough to fill a round metal container with a small hole punched in the bottom. A cookie tin approximately 12 inches in diameter will work. Dig a hole in the ground about the size of the can. Place a similar-sized can in the hole in the ground, and place the cookie tin full of birch bark on top, with the hole directly above the other can. Collect sticks and pieces of wood and place them around the cookie tin to make a fire which will heat the birch bark. You must know basic fire-making skills to use this method. Light your fire and keep it burning but not too hot for about 30 minutes. As the can heats, the resin will drip into the receptacle. When you notice that no more resin is dripping into the receptacle, carefully remove the cookie tin full of birch bark and then carefully remove the receptacle from the hole in the ground. This is then boiled down, which you can do in a double boiler on your stove, for a few hours until the resin is sticky enough to collect. You can collect it by swirling a stick around the inside of the receptacle and store it, hardened, on the stick.

Read more: Natural Resin for Glue Making | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/way_5761915_natural-resin-glue-making.html#ixzz1DiBoPxIe

Glue - Medieval

In an age when only natural chemicals were widely available, the environment supplied everything. Lean against the slightly injured bark of a conifer and you will discover the stickiness of sap, particularly of pine resin. Grind starchy plant material and add water, and you will discover the glutinous stickiness of starches. On and on the list of natural adhesives could go.

Collagen-based glues:
Land animals: hides and skins, tendons, cartilage, bones, teeth, antlers, and hooves (by-products of butchery and tanning)
Fish: skin, bones, heads, swim-bladders (isinglass, ichtyocolle)

Animal glues such as hide-glue are essentially unrefined gelatin, which can also be used as a binding agent in India ink (soot + glue). Gelatin was first used as an external surface sizing for paper in 1337 and continued as a dominant sizing agent of all European papers through the mid-19th century.

Hide Glue - playlist .

Casein-based glues (pdf):
Cheese glue, casein as binder in lime-ash flooring (video), (video in new window).

Albumin-based glue:
Egg yolk (tempura), serum albumin from blood

Starch pastes:
Wheatpaste (gluten proteins)

Gums:
Gum Arabic is collected from acacia trees, particularly Senegalia senegal.

Senegalia senegal
source of Gum Arabic

Resin (pitch) is an oleo-resin obtained by tapping the resinous sap of pines and other conifers, or by dry distillation (heating) of the wood and roots of pine. Rosin results from the solidification of fresh liquid resin by heating to vaporize the volatile liquid terpene components.

Other natural gums are derived from colloids in marine plants, though this source might not have been known in the Middle Ages: algin (brown seaweeds, particularly species of Ascophyllum, Durvillaea, Ecklonia, Laminaria, Lessonia, and Macrocystis)

Making pine resin to attach arrowhead to shaft.

Making Pine Pitch Glue and Cutler’s Resin.
new window: Making Pine Pitch Glue and Cutler’s Resin.

Ray Mears Uses Pine Pitch Glue to attach arrowhead.
new window: Ray Mears Uses Pine Pitch Glue to attach arrowhead.

Resins, Tars, Natural Glues - Pine, Spruce, Birch - ID - anth >> .

Chewing starchy plants to make glue: Ray Mears attaching fletching, Hadza.
Open in new window: Ray Mears attaching fletching, Hadza.
Links:

Explanation of Adhesive (between substances) and Cohesive (within substance) Forces .
A History of Fish Glue as an Artist's Material.

How Glue is Made.

Medieval Glues Up to 1600 CE (pdf). (includes table of properties).

Seaweeds Used as a Source of Alginates.

The Chemistry of Filled Animal Glue Systems.
History of Adhesives.

Primitive glue -- Ray Mears
https://youtu.be/Ik7GbPEqljg?t=7m
https://youtu.be/Th6EOlLK0DA?t=25m41s

How To Make Pine Pitch > .

How Neanderthals made the very first glue:
"The world's oldest known glue was made by Neanderthals. But how did they make it 200,000 years ago? Leiden archaeologists have discovered three possible ways."

Neanderthal 'glue' points to complex thinking: Traces of ancient "glue" on a stone tool from 50,000 years ago points to complex thinking by Neanderthals, experts say. The glue was made from birch tar in a process that required forward planning and involved several different steps. It adds to mounting evidence that we have underestimated the capabilities of our evolutionary cousins.

The tool, found in the Netherlands, has spent the last 50,000 years under the North Sea. This may have helped preserve the tar adhesive. Only a handful of Neanderthal tools bear signs of adhesive, but experts say the process could have been widespread.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-50131120 .

The Neanderthals That Taught Us About Humanity > .

Lime Kiln

. playlist .
Lime Kilns History, Uses, Locations and Ruins - RoGr > .

Calculating capacity (based on ratio of 10:3 tons limestone:coal):

60 tons of broken limestone fills 1385.4 cu.ft.

15 tons of broken bituminous coal fills 605.4 cu.ft.

At 56% of the weight of limestone (based on the atomic numbers), each of the 2 larger kilns would yield 25 tons of quicklime.

(Presumably, the BBC researchers found the figures for the capacity of both kilns at Morwellham Quay.)

Chemistry:

A lime kiln is a kiln used to produce quicklime by the calcination of limestone (calcium carbonate). The chemical equation for this reaction is:
CaCO3 + heat → CaO + CO2

This reaction takes place at 900°C (at which temperature the partial pressure of CO2 is 1 atmosphere), but a temperature around 1000°C (at which temperature the partial pressure of CO2 is 3.8 atmospheres) is usually used to make the reaction proceed quickly. Excessive temperature is avoided because it produces unreactive, "dead-burned" lime.

Because it is so readily made by heating limestone, lime must have been known from the earliest times, and all the early civilizations used it in building mortars and as a stabilizer in mud renders and floors.

Knowledge of its value in agriculture is also ancient, but agricultural use only became widely possible when the use of coal made it cheap in the coalfields in the late 13th century, and an account of agricultural use was given in 1523. The earliest descriptions of limekilns differ little from those used for small-scale manufacture a century ago. Because land transportation of minerals like limestone and coal was difficult in the pre-industrial era, they were distributed by sea, and lime was most often manufactured at small coastal ports. Many preserved kilns are still to be seen on quaysides around the coasts of Britain.
The common feature of early kilns was an egg-cup shaped burning chamber, with an air inlet at the base (the "eye"), constructed of brick. Limestone was crushed (often by hand) to fairly uniform 20-60 mm (1 to 2.5 inch) lumps - fine stone was rejected. Successive dome-shaped layers of coal and limestone were built up in the kiln on grate bars across the eye. When loading was complete, the kiln was kindled at the bottom, and the fire gradually spread upwards through the charge. When burnt through, the lime was cooled and raked out through the base. Fine coal ash dropped out and was rejected with the "riddlings".

Only lump stone could be used, because the charge needed to "breathe" during firing. This also limited the size of kilns and explains why kilns were all much the same size. Above a certain diameter, the half-burned charge would be likely to collapse under its own weight, extinguishing the fire. So kilns always made 25-30 tonnes of lime in a batch. Typically the kiln took a day to load, three days to fire, two days to cool and a day to unload, so a one-week turnaround was normal. The degree of burning was controlled by trial and error from batch to batch by varying the amount of fuel used. Because there were large temperature differences between the center of the charge and the material close to the wall, a mixture of under-burned (i.e. high loss on ignition), well-burned and dead-burned lime was normally produced. Typical fuel efficiency was low, with 0.5 tonnes or more of coal being used per tonne of finished lime (15 MJ/kg).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lime_kiln

Lime

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJpZsvYygF8&list=PLD3DC99A655C9618F&index=2&t=0s

Lime Kilns History, Uses, Locations and Ruins - RoGr > .

Limestone - quicklime - slaked lime
Need to neutralize acidic soil with quicklime
Slaking lime
Whitewashing privy

Lime Kiln - quicklime, lime mortar - archanth
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD3DC99A655C9618F

Guédelon & Construction
Medieval construction techniques - barn, castle, longhouse, town - archanth
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrYzzr8yja6Hg-KpTzAhRPje77jb5Y0kn
Seashell Lime Burn in Primitive Straw Kiln
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOxaOTUGuKo

What Type of Lime to Use for Tanning and Rawhide and Where to Get It (lime cycle)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B3y6iZPCzY

BuildCult and Quicky Episodes, SkillCult
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOxaOTUGuKo&index=1&list=PL60FnyEY-eJD588WR3MLBU8mm3WwtpWW0

BuildCult and Quicky Episodes, SkillCult
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL60FnyEY-eJD588WR3MLBU8mm3WwtpWW0

SkillCult - playlist page
https://www.youtube.com/user/1sustainablehedonist/playlists?sort=dd&view=1&shelf_id=0

Topic List
https://plus.google.com/103755316640704343614/posts/RG3ok4EATuL

Nowadays westerners waste gallons of water flushing away of one of the most useful chemicals of the Middle Ages.

Urine.

Urine comprises approximately 95% water, 2.5% urea (the ammonium salt of cyanic acid), and 2.5% other substances—metabolic wastes, excess sugar, minerals, and medications excreted either metabolized or unaltered. With an average NPK ratio of 11-1-2, urine also contains calcium, chloride, sodium, magnesium, sulfates, and phosphates.

A healthy individual produces sterile urine, though subsequent bacterial action releases alkaline ammonia, producing a useful chemical with a pungent odor.

Chief medieval uses of urine:

Leather – hair removal, tanning, softening

Dyeing – mordant

Fulling and laundry – chamber lye cleaning, bleaching

Gunpowder – KNO3 (potassium nitrate, saltpetre) used as oxidizer in combustion process

Agriculture – source of nitrate fertilizer

Diluted urine as fertilizer in (modern) garden > .
https://youtu.be/6DJloHh_ZYc?t=460 .
Urine as fertlizer ..

Urine - once useful, now "waste":

Hennig Brand, 1669
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/05/phosphorus-discovered-trying-turn-human-pee-gold/