Burning Oyster Shells for Historic Cement: Trash to Treasure

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]It's springtime in the northeastern corner of Maryland, and I need to burn some lime for mortar, plaster, and maybe even some white wash. I'm pretty much out of the crush shells I've been burning for the past few years. This year, I really want to try burning oyster shells instead. You know, finding oyster shells shouldn't be too difficult. I mean, we are right on the Ches Bay. As it turns out, it was far more difficult than I expected. The only local source I could find wanted 50 bucks a bushel.

[00:00:32]>> You're a corrupt im.

[00:00:39]>> I decided to see what Facebook Marketplace had to offer amongst the suburban yepies selling their crafting supplies. I found exactly what I needed down in Glaster County, Virginia.

[00:00:51]$6 a bushel. That's much more reasonable.

[00:00:56]and it's only about 4 hours away. We can handle that.

[00:01:01]>> I got moving before dawn, said goodbye to the dog, and tried to wake up my traveling companion later.

[00:01:08]>> All right, let's go wake up this chucklehead.

[00:01:13]Hey, Jordan.

[00:01:15]It's about 4 gallon of tea and a bag of tobacco.

[00:01:24]That'll get me through the day.

[00:01:30]We up. Let's go. When's the last time you seen a Northeast one? But that's Christ. That's at least 20 [ __ ] years beauty. You ever noticed Billy?

[00:01:47]Like if there's beauty supply places, you're in like a part of the United States.

[00:01:54]Were >> it not for my companion, I believe I would be having the time of my life.

[00:01:58]>> Kill me.

[00:01:58]>> I know he means well, but he is quite possibly the foulest man I have ever met.

[00:02:04]>> We found the shells despite my severe headache. Oh man, these are exactly what I need. I am so excited for this.

[00:02:13]>> I suppose we'll load up a few bushels and head on home. I'd like to get back before I throw Jordan off a damn bridge.

[00:02:19]>> That's like with sports and stuff. It's like me and my brother, we watch the Ravens and the Orioles, but like hockey like that, we Philadelphia.

[00:02:28]>> We're crossing the bed.

[00:02:30]>> We Philadelphia cuz like we we ain't rooting for no mother DC.

[00:02:34]>> God damn boy. You just talking and never say nothing.

[00:02:41]>> I ditched Jordan in town and made it home. Felt good to be back on my native soil.

[00:02:53]Damn, these things stink.

[00:02:58]Better unload them right now or else I'll have every cat in the county living in the back of my truck in the morning.

[00:03:17]And now it's time to actually burn the oyster shells. For this first attempt, I'm going to use a barrel with both ends cut out of it. Same as I did for the crust shells. However, I have a suspicion that the oyster shells are bulkier and are going to require more than this. But it's worth a shot.

[00:03:47]I don't want to waste good quality firewood burning line. So instead, I'm going to just gather up whatever scraps I can find. Stuff I normally wouldn't burn in a wood ch and run with that.

[00:04:06]Whenever I he timbers, I'm always left with a lot of scrap to get rid of.

[00:04:13]The best way to get rid of these scraps is to recycle them.

[00:04:18]And I do that by using them in the production of lime.

[00:04:25]I also have a bunch of old cedar shingles that I need to get rid of. And this will help get the fire going pretty well, too.

[00:04:54]The most I can hope to burn at one time in a small barrel like this is half a bushel of shells. And even that's not guaranteed.

[00:05:07]I don't burn lime until sunset. It can generate a lot of smoke and I don't want to piss the neighbors off too bad.

[00:05:52]Well, we definitely get a little bit of slake lime, but not enough. I think I'm going to need some better fuel and a slightly different burning method.

[00:06:09]This time I will get that barrel good and hot before I add the shelves.

[00:06:52]All right. So, this looks a little better, but I don't think we're quite there yet.

[00:07:24]Looks like only about 50% of the shells were converted into quick line. That means we're going to have to make some drastic changes.

[00:08:01]I need the fire to burn much longer. And that means I need a bigger barrel.

[00:09:02]I see a couple of shelves fell through the great. So, I'm going to check them out and see what happens.

[00:09:20]That's disappointing.

[00:09:44]There are few things in this world more satisfying to me than slaking lime.

[00:10:13]The next batch turned out much much better.

[00:10:17]Now that I have quick lime, there are a few different options I have to prepare it for use.

[00:10:33]I can expose it to a little bit of moisture and end up with a hydrated lime powder.

[00:10:45]A that's beautiful. Oh man, beautiful.

[00:10:48]Beautiful.

[00:11:21]for an even finer product. I can run it through a simple window screen.

[00:11:43]I know a lot of historic masons preferred mixing their mortar straight from the quick lime.

[00:12:00]I do that myself once in a while.