While cleaning my barbecue grill, I noticed that the gray ash of the charcoal has the same feeling as whiting, also known as calcium carbonate (or chalk).
Whiting is sold in paint stores and is the basic ingredient in window putty. I mixed the ash with some linseed oil and I got working homemade putty! This reminded me of my grandfather’s old adage: “A little putty, a little paint, makes it look like what it ain’t.”
Robert J. Raynor
Merrick, New York