Potash works
A potash works (
quartz sand it significantly reduced the melting point of the latter. To make potash the glassworks built potash huts or works in the vicinity, in which wood ash and vegetable ash was gathered by ash burners and initially washed in water and then vaporized; the whole process being known as leaching
.
Contemporary witness, teacher and local historian, Lukas Grünenwald, recorded the recollections from his youth in
Palatinate region:[1]
These
mother liquourwas then boiled on the stove, until only the valuable, white potash was left. This was sold for a high price to the glassworks.— Lukas Grünenwald, 1875
The consumption of wood in the process of making potash was extremely high, which is why the glassworks were frequently established in areas of extensive forest (hence the term
centners. Because one cubic metre
of wood (750 kg) only produced 1 kg of potash, this glassworks thus needed around 40,000 cubic metres of wood per year.
Even today the names of some settlements still recall the former potash works. For example, two hamlets in the municipality of Mainhardt, Germany, are called Aschenhütte.
References
- ISBN 3-924115-13-3, p. 116.
Literature
- Marianne Hasenmayer: Die Glashütten im Mainhardter Wald und in den Löwensteiner Bergen. In: Paul Strähle (ed.): Naturpark Schwäbisch-Fränkischer Wald. 4th revised and expanded edition. Theiss, Stuttgart, 2006, ISBN 3-8062-2033-6, pp. 108–128 (Natur – Heimat – Wandern).