[Jewelry making - Article 00252] - Re: [Orchid] [Source] Lye

[Ian W. Wright]

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    Thanks to those who replied, both on and off the list. I was aware
    of the use of the term 'Lye' which I knew as Lye (Potassium
    Hydroxide) and Soda Lye (Sodium Hydroxide) although both these terms
    are seldom used in the UK where Caustic Potash and Caustic Soda are
    more common. However, the real reason I made the comment in the first
    place is that, as we are an international community, many of whom
    must translate the posts to their own language when they receive
    them, it would make sense to try to make our posts intelligible to
    all. In this case, the various posters were mixing up the two
    chemicals loosely termed 'Lye'. The original poster I think referred
    to Sodium Hydroxide which is manufactured from Sodium Chloride (salt)
    but then other posters described making Lye from wood ash which will
    produce Potassium Hydroxide - another chemical entirely. In this
    case, the two chemicals may have a similar effect but, in other
    situations, the reaction may be completely different. Where people
    talk about different chemicals as though they are the same, I think
    it is counter productive as, in some situations, using the wrong
    chemical may either not work or may indeed be dangerous. It is also
    the kind of thing which leads to much of the misinformation on the
    internet and in books which is perpetuated and leads people up blind
    alleys, causing them to lose confidence in the remainder of the
    information there. To illustrate, Some time ago I came across a
    reference in a 'how to do it' book which said that you can cut glass
    with scissors provided it is done under water. 'That is silly', I
    thought, but, nevertheless, I just had to try it out and,
    inevitably, ended up with a cut finger! So, incensed, I laboriously
    traced the source of this information back through three other
    previously well respected books written years earlier to one written
    in the 1700's - now we are heading back into the realms of alchemy!.
    However, what it showed was that people (authors) will happily steal
    and plagiarise information to fill their books or websites without
    checking whether the information is correct or, in this case, testing
    the method. As many are finding out now, information placed on the
    internet in any form never goes away - your emails are not only on
    the Orchid servers but in thousands of other machines - probably
    including all the search engines and advertising company spider
    servers, and will not be totally obliterated for hundreds of years!
    In that time, many will refer to your words and probably take them
    literally. So, if only for your own reputation, it is probably as
    well to try to make them as accurate as you can. 

Best wishes,
Ian
Ian W. Wright
Sheffield UK
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