Horse Chestnut oil and soap

Recently I have been looking into Horse Chestnut as a soap substitute after seeing the effectiveness of a soapy leaved plant in Australia that produces a vast amount of suds and being told be an aboriginal elder that keeping your skin clean is of vast importance as it is the largest organ in the body. If you don't keep it clean then illness can occur in other parts of the body.
This got me wondering how did people keep clean in the Uk before we could buy soap in the shops.

Have heard about Horse Chestnut's soapy properties I gathered some leaves in mid september and pulled them into large chunks and set them in warm water. Upon sqeezing the leaves after a few minutes I could see oil dropplets dripping into the water. The oil given off was very soft on the skin.
The next day i checked back to find the oil had all seaped out leaving the water a lovely hazelnut colour. Upon testing I found it a very nice hand wash.
My next step is to research how to make concentrate and produce soap.

From recent research I have found out that It greatly improves blood circulation and was once used to treat varacos veins, hardening of the arteries, phlebitis, leg ulcers, frostbite along with a variety of other vascular problems and horse chestnut also contains anti-inflammatory properties.

 http://www.herbwisdom.com/herb-horse-chestnut.html

Grimbo;s horse chestnut soap... - YouTube

Horse Chestnut is an astringent, anti-inflammatory herb that helps to tone the vein walls which, when slack or distended, may become varicose, haemorrhoidal or otherwise problematic. The plant also reduces fluid retention by increasing the permeability of the capillaries and allowing the re-absorption of excess fluid back into the circulatory system.

Not only does horse chestnuts inprove circulation but it also proves to be good for body washing as well as washing fabric(gently on wools and silks).

"In the past, horse-chestnut seeds were used in France and Switzerland for whitening hemp, flax, silk and wool. They contain a soapy juice, fit for washing of linens and stuffs, for milling of caps and stockings, etc., and for fulling of cloth. For this, 20 horse-chestnut seeds were sufficient for six litres of water. They were peeled, then rasped or dried, and ground in a malt or other mill. The water must be soft, either rain or river water; hard well water will not work. The nuts are then steeped in cold water, which soon becomes frothy, as with soap, and then turns milky white. The liquid must be stirred well at first, and then, after standing to settle, strained or poured off clear. Linen washed in this liquid, and afterwards rinsed in clear running water, takes on an agreeable light sky-blue colour. It takes spots out of both linen and wool, and never damages or injures the cloth." Wikipedia

chop some conkers and boil them for awhile and than use this water for washing

Making Horse Chestnut Soap

-Hit nuts with hammer

-peel nuts

-Slice nuts then put in boiling water

-let sit in water for 10 minutes or so

-soak in soapy water

Seem to take out more stains than the regular soap and much kinder than chemicals

Wherever I am is where I'm at...: Making Horse Chestnut Soap

grate all the horse-chestnuts to make a very smooth cream. Or put chestnuts inside a mixer and spin it fast but unfortunately the texture obtained is a bit more rough. If you have time or friends who would love to prepare their own soap, I would suggest you go back to the “old fashioned” method.

When you are done with the mixer – or with the grater – you can add some flowers to give  your soap a nice smell. The nuts don’t really smell like anything so I used a few desiccated lavender flowers.

You can use  a cap from a jar to shape the soap

Then either leave in the sun to dry or a dehydrator or put it in the oven at 100° and let it dry, turning it at least once.

Homemade Natural Soap – My number 100! « turningkitchentables

apotheblogary: Horsechestnut salve for varicose veins

Great guide on how to make chestnut salve(simple)

The Herb Society - Horse Chestnut In The Kitchen

All in all Horse Chestnuts seem very undervalued as a medical and cleaning resource.

great 10 piece compact survivial kit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttRFIvsuf4A&feature=relmfu

DIY and multipurpose blow gun

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjIUuvausnw&feature=relmfu

Slingshot Arrows

Take a slingshot such as a cobra and modify to fire arrows. Small portable and lethal enough to kill game the size of deer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGIcCRJGYug&feature=relmfu

Bola

The Bola is a primitive tool compromising of three lengths of cord and 3 objects tied to the end of each cord.
The benifits of this weapon is that it can be carried( doesnt require concealment) in urban areas without arousing suspision then used to hunt when you return out to an urban area.

There are many different types of bola, some with three weights and some with 5 or more. Some early Bolas only had one string and one rock and were used to kill Pumas.

Some things I have heard about Bolas:

"they need to be different weights so they spin at different speeds"

"one string sould be longer than the other two"

"the rounder and smoother the weights the better it will fly through the air"

"drill a hole in your weights so they don't fly off"

"3 leather bags full of steel shot and soft nylon braided 3/8 inch rope tied an equal distance (38 inches) from a central knot. I hold one ball in my left hand, swing the other two horizontal to the ground, and let the bola fly a little in front of the running bird. Just as I release the 2, I release the third with a slight flip to the right. They fly like a helicopter and will wrap up a 45 kg emu instantly. I don't know if I'm doing this right as I have never seen a Gaucho demonstrate, but I can catch a 35 mph emu without hurting him."

"The indians and matreros (outlaws) used the two weights type to break the telegraph lines. I passed many summers in the field with a cousin. The field keeper (the puestero) used part of a discarded grain sac to make two bags (roughly rectangles of 10 x 20 cm), filled them with gravel and tied with 1.5 metres of rope. It's a very simple boleadora, and it can be used to play with little risk (if you can avoid impacts on the head of your cousin, everything will be OK :-). If used near the house, you can put some grass inside the bag to soften the impact a little, or fill with grain. After the bags broke and without the possibility of repair (they lasted two weeks)."

"*The boleadora was not only a throwing weapon, but the Indians use them as well as a fencing weapon. And in that sense it was a really fearful, horrific one. In order to use the boleadora as a fencing weapon, they had to be standing. They held one of the balls between the big toe and the "index finger" of the foot; the other two balls were held on each hand from the chord. Then, they moved forward, slowly, step by step, moving the balls in his hand in a fast revolving motion. If you were attacked in this way, you were in trouble."

"The weights were usually covered in fresh leather that when dried would shrink to cover the weight snugly."(so as not to hurt so much if you hit yourself or to make a smoother surface to fly through air?)

Materials you could make them out of:

lead fishing weights

para cord

string

shoe laces

leather pouches full of sand

tennis balls

references:
http://www.flight-toys.com/bolas.htm

Hand Drills in Australia

I thought I might try to have a go at hand drills while Im out in Australia, so my first step is to look for the right wood to make the drill and the hearth out of.



It seems the best wood for both the spindle and hearth is the Grass Tree or Black Boy ( as it was found a few month after bush fires) scientific name Xanthorrhoea.

 http://www.survival.org.au/fire_woods.php
http://www.survival.org.au/fire_handdrillkit.php

How to make Fish Oil

I was watching an episode of Ray Mears Northern Wilderness in which he tells of how the natives of Vancouver island would cook up fatty fish like salmon or trout in an old canoe to produce a fish oil used in most cooking.
I think this could be a great way to make some nice fish cooking oil for home or when I go camping as oil is quite hard to come by in the wild.
I found this how to guide online and hopefully will manage to make some for my next camping trip.

1. • 1
     Cut the meat of a fish into 1-inch pieces. A fish that is high in fat will produce a better oil. Try using trout or salmon. The belly of the fish has the highest fat content, so use all of the belly meat.
   • 2
     Put the fish chunks into the glass jar, filling it about halfway full. Put the washcloths over the top of the jar, and secure it in place with the rubber band. The washcloth will let gases escape from the jar and prevent insects from getting inside. If a fly or other type of insect were to lay eggs inside the jar, the oil would be ruined.
   • 3
     Let the jar sit in the sun for 4 weeks. There will be liquid sitting on top of the fish. You will see fluid produced from decomposition and a thick yellow substance floating on top of the fluid. The yellow substance is the fish oil.
   • 4
     Take the washcloths off the jar so you can get to the oil. Skim the oil off the top of the liquid using a spoon. You can put the oil into a small plastic container of your choice. Whatever type of container you use, make sure it can be sealed.
   • 5
     Dispose of the contents in the jar. You can simply dump the remains on the ground or bury it in a small hole. Fish will not harm your soil or the environment.

 http://www.ehow.com/how_5110511_make-fish-oil.html#ixzz1wRb39IV3