Under the current conditions, bamboo skewers are not disposable; once made well, they can be reused repeatedly.
This presented another problem.
How should they clean the bamboo skewers after eating the mutton kebabs?
Boil them in hot water?
Add some alkali?
Where does the alkali come from?
Two days' journey east of 'South Stone Village', there is a mountain, where there are white powdery substances in the mountain crevices. Alkaline in nature, not a lot, but considering the small population here, it's completely sufficient.
How did he know it's alkaline?
It can be used to wash oil.
And it can be used to make soap, which of course is alkaline.
Now back to the production of bamboo skewers.
They require a lot of polishing.
How should the polishing be done?
Before this, how did they obtain those rough bamboo skewers?
Can stones split the bamboo? Can they split it?
Once split, can the shape be controlled? What if they're too thick? What if they're too thin?
