Ashes... ashes everywhere!

[MagicManICT]

Really... what do hearthlings do with all that ash that should be left in fireplaces, kilns, smelters... well, anything that burns? They let them blow away on the wind? Just brush them out onto the floor?

I say let us collect them in buckets. (Save me, nay US!, from burning bread....)

[Amanda44]

Yes, you are right, where is all that ash?
We should be able to collect ash from fireplaces, etc, good thinking!

[LadyV]

Blowing in the wind

More than likely used in soap and cleaning if not in helping your garden grow.

[Drakoth]

The methods of getting ashes in the game so far are a bit strange. Intentionally burning bread, putting bones in a kiln, or spamming firebrands. None of these really make sense to me, as ashes would be made in rather large quantities through a lot of the things we do in game. As a wannabe homesteader, I can fill multiple buckets with ashes after a winter of burning wood, and that's just with a single wood burning stove to heat the house. Not wanting to waste anything, I've done my research on the uses of wood ash, and I think they apply pretty well to haven and hearth. First, I think there are a few ways ashes could make sense.

Fireplaces and bonfires leaving a pile of ashes you collect after they burn out.
The ability to put blocks of wood inside the actual kiln and turning them into ash, or having the kiln accumulate ashes through being lit.
The ability to crumble, or, if that's too easy, grind coal into ashes. Or ashes just being another byproduct of producing coal in tar kilns after collecting the coal.

Now what will we do with all these ashes? Soap was a good start.
The primary usage of ashes is in farming and it can fit into already existing systems within the game. Ashes add nutrients and increase the Ph levels of soil, but thats the technical side of things. We already have compost bins, and ashes make a fine ingredient in compost. Just sprinkling ashes over crops can help the soil though. So perhaps ashes could be used as a method of improving quality or growth of plants, whatever is deemed as balanced and sensible. Since farming is sort of just a waiting game it might add another element to it for people to be able to sprinkle ashes over their farm once a day or something to make it grow better.
Other than in soap, ashes are very useful in cleaning tasks. Lye water was basically the first all purpose household cleaner. An in game representation of this would be similar to Polish the Silver, using a bucket of lye water to restore some of the wear from a symbel item, and perhaps even armor.
Ashes were also used to store and preserve food, such as the infamous Century Egg. Lye water was also used in some cooking and baking recipes.
Another way I've personally seen ashes used is to get rid of ants. Maybe ashes could be used by noobs without enough UA to get at anthills. I don't really see this needing to be implemented, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

Other relevant uses of ash that might give some ideas are in 15th century lime-ash floors, which you can find here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lime-ash_floor and also in concrete, particularly volcanic ash in roman-era concrete, which you can find here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_concrete. I've even heard of just plain compacted wood ashes being used as flooring in ancient buildings before houses really had floors, but I couldn't find a source for that. I could see ashes being a building material in some new buildings. It also melts ice, which could be useful for people in snowy areas. Also chickens take dust baths and I've seen people dump a bucket of ashes for them to use. The point is that ashes have a lot of uses and I'm a giant nerd.

[Drakoth]

Well, it looks like we both thought about ashes at the same time. Your post wasn't there when I first checked to write mine lol.

[Onep]

Ashes, ashes, we all fall down!

[Schattengaenger]

Quite some time since this was posted, but since it was a good idea here is a bump for consideration.

[MrPunchers]

When they hit critical mass they turn into those rainbow puffs that come outta the top of the stuff.

[shubla]

Also some more uses for ashes would be nice.
For example, throwing them into the field would provide a small quality bonus. You could throw ashes to the field once during the growth of the plant for it to be effective.

[DatSheep]

I agree with all this, have a belated bump