Chapter 74 Extraction of Tallow Wax

Chapter 74 Extraction of Tallow Wax

The journey was paused, and the berries were collected in full swing. With strength in numbers, the berries were piled up on the ground into a "small mountain".

The Chinese tallow tree fruits are in small bunches, and the elderly and children sit on the ground and pick them one by one into the basket. It is very troublesome to pick them one by one, but fortunately there are many people and the speed is fast.

Some of the men continued to look for tung trees nearby. It was still early, so they collected as much as they could.

The fruits from the four Chinese tallow trees were picked one by one and put into baskets. The quantity exceeded everyone's expectations, filling up nine baskets. A basket can hold 4 to 9 kilograms of things, so there are probably more than 40 kilograms of Chinese tallow fruits.

Everyone had a smile on their face and picked up their baskets and returned to the team.

Lin Zisu, whose hand was still injured, could not do anything else except picking the tung oil fruit. But she knew how to process the tung oil fruit and remove the wax.

To extract the tung oil wax, you need to boil it with firewood, water, and filter it repeatedly. There is no water source nearby, so you need to find a place with water to get the wax.

Not long after, the people who were looking for the Chinese tallow tree nearby came back and didn't see any.

Lin Lizheng: "Forget it if you can't find it, just deal with these first. It's still early, let's find a place with water to stay."

Lin Zisu got in the car and looked at the time on the display. It was 3:11 pm. Everyone had been busy for nearly an hour.

Occasionally, you can see pedestrians in groups of three or four on the road. They walk by the roadside and stop to look at the passing group.

When there was only colorful afterglow in the sky, we finally found a ditch more than one meter wide. It was getting dark, and Lin Lizheng called the team to stop and stay here tonight.

There was a lot of water in the ditch. Lin Xianwen inserted a wooden stick into the ditch and estimated that the water depth was about 70 or 80 centimeters.

The adults were busy feeding the livestock, cooking, and boiling water. Everyone was busy with their own business.

When it was dark and everyone had finished their dinner, Lin Youcai explained the method of obtaining the wax and everyone took action.

Pour half of the small tung fruits picked from a basket into another empty basket. Carry half of the tung fruits to the ditch and put the basket into the water. Three men work together, two pull the basket, one pulls one side of the basket, and the other stirs the tung fruits in the basket with a stick to wash away impurities and use the water flow to wash away some black shells that were not picked cleanly.

Everyone washed very quickly. 9 baskets were divided into 19 washes. With many people working, the washing was done in a short time.

Put a few large iron pots to boil water, pour the Chinese tallow tree fruits into the pots to heat them, and boil the water. Put them into wooden barrels or basins, and rub them with wooden sticks while they are still hot. If the temperature is not too hot, rub them with your hands. If there are burlap bags with large gaps, put them in the burlap bags and rub them.

Lin Zisu took out her plastic drain basket, and Shen Xianglan rubbed it in the drain basket. When she was almost done, she turned the drain basket over and used a small wooden stick to scrape the tung oil wax that leaked out of the bottom of the drain basket into the basin.

Everyone showed their skills in removing wax. The tools used to remove wax were all rinsed with hot water, and the rinse water was collected in a large pot or basin. The outer layer of white tung oil wax was removed, leaving only the black kernel. The kernel was not thrown away, but boiled in a pot, and then poured into a basin to cool.

When the weather is cold, the water cools down quickly and a layer of white wax will float on the water surface. Remove the top layer of wax and collect it in a basin.

Wash the black fruit core and set it aside.

The next step is to filter repeatedly, filter out impurities with gauze, add water and continue filtering until the wax oil becomes clear and transparent.

The amount of wax produced by the Tung oil tree fruit exceeds everyone's imagination. More than 4 kilograms of Tung oil tree fruit can produce at least 100 to kilograms of white wax.

Everyone worked hard until after 10 o'clock in the evening, watching the liquid wax in wooden barrels and basins gradually cool, solidify and turn white at low temperatures.

Everyone had the joy of harvest on their faces. Although they didn’t know whether they could sell them for money, everyone couldn’t help but smile happily when they saw the finished products.

Most people are seeing white wax for the first time. The most common wax is made from pine resin. The color of pine wax is not white, but dark brown. If filtered well, it will be brownish yellow. Rosin wax produces a lot of ash, which will make the smoke everywhere, including in people's nostrils. The ash can be made into pine soot ink, which is very famous. Rosin is particularly easy to burn. It can burn without a candle wick, which is easy to cause a fire. Be careful when using it.

There is no bamboo in the north, and there is no mold on the road. Brother-in-law Shi Yong and Old Man Shi are carpenters. Lin Youcai suggested that they use local materials and make molds with wood. After the mold is made, they heat the tung oil wax to make candles. Everyone agreed that if they want to make money, they have to work hard on the appearance.

Shen Xianglan heated a piece of solidified white wax and soaked the hemp thread in the wax for a while. After it was soaked thoroughly, she clamped it with two sticks and hung it on a rope to dry, ready to be used as a wick.

Everyone added firewood to boil water, scrubbed the pots, buckets and basins, then rinsed and soaked them in hot water.

The baskets and baskets are also put into the ditch to rinse, and then put aside to dry.

The barrels and basins of wax were placed next to the big fire, under the watchful eyes of the people, so as not to worry about theft. Now that the weather is cold, people have to sleep in the car, and the inexpensive luggage will be moved out at night to make the car more spacious.

Lin Zisu was sitting on the small bed while her mother was removing the gauze for her. The wound had scabbed over, but it would have to wait for the scab to fall off before it could be completely healed.

When the wound was growing flesh and scabs formed, it was very itchy. Shen Xianglan took out a bottle of tea oil and applied it on the scabs.

Tea oil has anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effects. It is very good for eating and applying to wounds. I went to the countryside in my previous life and bought real tea oil for 120 yuan per catty. I bought 10 catties and spent 1200 yuan. I put 8 catties at home and 2 catties in my daughter's RV.

The main reason was that Li Ai didn't want it at the time, and she was a little unaccustomed to cooking with tea oil. Now Lin Zisu regretted it. At the beginning, my mother asked her to take 5 kilograms and put it in the RV, and she should have taken it.

Lin Zisu: "I haven't taken a shower for a long time."

Old Lady Wang: "Who has taken a shower? No one has! If you take a shower in this weather, you might catch a cold. There are no doctors on the road to treat you!"

Old Lady Shen: "Child, be patient. When the sun is bright and your hand injury is healed, you can wash it."

"I'm taking showers in the RV, how can I catch a cold!" Lin Zisu didn't want to talk about this topic anymore, so she turned to candles. "If I have dyes and floral essential oils, I can make scented candles. If I sell them to the women of wealthy families, they will definitely sell well."

Shen Xianglan: "The cost of floral essential oil is high. We can make a lot of money by selling floral essential oil alone!"

Lin Zisu: "Then work on the mold. Natural dyes are easy to get. If you work on the shape and color, it will definitely sell better than white candles! If you find the right consumer group, you won't have to worry about not being able to sell candles."

Old Lady Shen: "Su girl has a good mind. Rich families use a lot of candles. The dragon and phoenix candles used for weddings are so beautiful."

I've seen dragon and phoenix candles in TV dramas before. They can't be made without the right skills. The craftsmanship of the ancients is impeccable.

Lin Zisu didn't plan to make something so difficult, just something simple would be fine. She missed the days when she could shop online, and she wanted a silicone mold. If she had a silicone mold, it would be easy to make the shape.