Tag Archives: foxfire books

Early, surprising uses of oil

In The Titans by Ron Chernow, I came across the following:

Oil was put to myriad uses during the Civil War, treating the wounds of Union soldiers and serving as a substitute for turpentine formerly supplied by the South. Even on the battlefield, the use of kerosene refined from crude oil spread, and Ulysses S. Grant often sat in his tent, drafting dispatches by the flicker of a kerosene lamp.

Wait, wait, back up. Did it really say “treating the wounds of Union soldiers”?! I assumed it must have been so, but had no proof until I stumbled across The Foxfire Book, the first volume in a series containing “a wealth of the kind of folk wisdom and values of simple living” from times of yore. In addition to tips on hog dressing and moonshining, the book offers a chapter on “Home Remedies,” where I found the following:

BLEEDING
-Place a spider web across the wound.
-Apply a poultice of spirit turpentine and brown sugar to the wound.
-Apply lamp black directly to the wound.
-Use a mixture of soot from the chimney and lard.
-If the cut is small, wet a cigarette paper and place this over it.
-Use kerosene oil, but be careful not to add too much or it will blister the skin.
-Use pine resin.

There are a variety of such “recipes” under each of the subject headings below, but from here on out I will only share the oil-based recommendations.

CHEST CONGESTION
-Make a poultice of kerosene, turpentine, and pure lard (the latter prevents blistering). Use wool cloth soaked with the mixture. Place cheescloth on chest for protection, and then add the wool poultice.

IRRITATION CAUSED BY INSECTS
BEE STINGS – Place either turpentine, chewed tobacco, tobacco juice, kerosene, or a mixture of sugar and dough on the sting. Any of these will relieve the pain and draw out the poison.
BUGS–For head lice (cooties), shingle hair close and use kerosene.

INFLAMMATION
-To kill infection, pour some turpentine or kerosene mixed with sugar on the affected area.

NAIL PUNCTURE
-Put some old wool rags into an old tin can, pour kerosene over the rags and light. Then smoke the wound.
-Pour kerosene oil over the cut, or soak it in same three times a day. This will also remove the soreness.

SORE THROAT
-Make a poultice of kerosene, turpentine, and pure lard (to prevent blistering), and place this on your neck. In five minutes you will be able to taste the kerosene in your throat, and the cure will have begun. Then take two or three drops of kerosene oil in a spoon with a pinch of sugar and swallow this to complete the treatment.
-Put a drop of kerosene on a lump of sugar and eat it.

In an opening paragraph of “Home Remedies,” the authors write: “Some of the remedies undoubtedly worked; some of them probably were useless; some of them–and for this reason we advise you to experiment with extreme care–were perhaps even fatal.” With such a caveat, I include this advice on curing spider bites: “If bittem by a black widow spider, drink liquor heavily from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. You won’t get drunk, you’ll be healed.”

Reviving what was (almost) lost

The shift from the 19th to the 20th century was dramatic for its increased reliance on machines, which rang the death knell for the ancient art of blacksmithing.

“At the beginning of the 19th century, with the industrial revolution, the blacksmith craft had passed its peak. The increasing precision in dimensions of the milled iron stock fundamentally changed the appearance of finished works. Chamfering and texturing was supposed to recreate the old familiar look.

“The development of cast iron has to be considered as an additional factor contributing to the descent of blacksmithing, and the invention of new welding techniques (gas and arc welding) was the final major step towards the decline of the art of traditional blacksmithing.” (From The ABCs of Blacksmithing by Fridolin Wolf, Blue Moon Press, 2006.)

I keep an eye out for signs of the “old methods.” Here is a photo I took during a visit to Roosevelt University’s Auditorium Theater in Chicago. The building, constructed in 1887, is replete with hand-crafted balustrades.

The art of blacksmithing might have evaporated entirely, except for a few people like Francis Whitaker. Here is a Youtube of Francis Whitaker instructing others on how to make a wrought iron gate. There are important levels of initiation into the art — apprentice, journeyman, master. The way Francis Whitaker kept the craft alive was by visiting the old masters in the U.S. and Europe, and subsequently, passing his knowledge down to those eager to learn.

In 1966, just as the popularity of TV dinners were threatening yet another corrosion of people doing for themselves, the Foxfire magazine was born, a publication that began to revive ancient knowledge via interviews with residents in the Appalachian Mountains of Northeast Georgia. Numerous books and how-to publications have sprung from this initial effort.

But it appears a revival of this ancient art is underway. My niece who is currently attending CSU in Fort Collins tells me in her backyard, her roommate has cobbled together a blacksmithing forge. I hear the membership of the Northwest Blacksmith Association continues to rise. Such reports give me hope that all is not lost.