Posted: 3/30/2007 9:58:06 PM EDT
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most historians agree that modern sanitation, as much as anything else, has led to the rise of the western world (lower mortality and morbidity rates, thus more productivity and efficientcy, better standard of living). does anyone know how? has anyone tried? |
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Hello hileAnyway, I'll tell you right now it can be a pain in the butt, you'll need supplies: Sodium Hydroxide (lye) which is getting very hard to find and very expensive, because supposedly terrorists can use it to make bombs. Next you'll need quite abit of base oils, such as palm oil, olive oil, or rendered lard if you do your own butchering. After that you'll need some kitchen utensils and pots that you only use for soap making, and after that you'll need essential oils to scent your soaps (that can get very expensive). Next you really have to study to learn how much lye to oil mixture to use, you'll need scales and thermometers. There are website with formulas as a starting point, but you'll learn to tweek and adjust them. Next you have to stir your concoction for about an hour or so, then pour it into your selected mold (s). Then you wait two weeks to see if you got the whole thing right or not... If its too alkaline it will eat the skin off your bones h My little soap making adventure really, really, really made me respect my grandmom who use to flawlessly crank out soap and made it look so easy! hat There is good news! The soap you eventually learn to make, is better than anything you can buy! People will want it, and are willing to pay or trade for it! That really surprized me, in the end I would have maybe $1.50 in a bar, and people would pay $5.00 for it, I didn't even market it, just handed out some to friends, family and neighbors. Also, you can buy premeasured "kits" with the correct amounts of lye and oils which saves you a ton of headaches. Here is a link for the best soap kit on the market... The DVD is the kicker, it makes things alot easier than trying to read about how to make soap, and you can always reorder supplies from them. Good Luck! www.soapmaking.com/soapkit.htm |
RESURRECTION!  I need some basic lye or glycerin soap instructions. Currently I have come to own a large bucket of lye and a large bucket of pure liquid glycerin. I have searched but I still cannot find BASIC instructions for soap. From what I am reading I also need fat or oil to mix with the lye. What is confusing me is that glycerin is a by-product when rendering fat, problem is that I have the glycerin (liquid) and would like to use it in my soap. Fight Club hasn't helped  Later I'd like to incorporate essential oils but for now, I just need something to get my technique down. Can I use olive oil as opposed to lard? Feel free to IM but I'm sure others are interested as well. As soon as I work up a batch, I'll post an AAR. Thanks! |
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<OR>... you can go to those craft stores [Michaels, Rag Shop, ect...] and buy the blocks of glycerine soap base. My wife and I add different thing to the soap base after heating it in either the micro or flametop... Fine pumice or sanitised beach sand as an effective heavy dirt soap, Raw rolled oats as a good facial/hand soap, A touch of aloe or lanolin as a body soap. All of these are basically scent free, allergy free, and very economical to make. |
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Well Hello Again heLye and Fats (oils) are used together in cold-process soap making, and also in cooking soap. You need to measure pretty specific amounts of each, then heat them to the same temperature, and mix them together, and stir for about an hour or so... towards the end of stirring you can add your scented/essential oils. Here is a link to a pretty niffty site that explains the process: waltonfeed.com/old/soaphome.html Olive oil is tricky to work with, usually you'll end up using about three types of oils, combined into a mixture... you'll read all about it here Good luck and email me if you have any questions. |
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We did a bit of soap making last year for X-mas gifts ( says my wife) or for survivial skills ( says me). It can be a little tricky but of the 5 batches we made the all came out good and worked. The best was made with olive oil, I think it is called Castel soap. We also did some with lard and some with a mix of lard and cocconut oil. We also made some lip balm. again most of it was easy- but you need to follow the directions close. We got a lot of info and supplies from http://www.thesage.com/calcs/lyecalc2.php |
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I have made lye soap. It was a potential business endeavor that I scrapped. I still make it for myself though. Two good places to start are Brambleberry and Majestic Mountain Sage. MMS has an online lye calculator. For the poster who said wait two weeks and try it to see if you got it right, wait longer. There is no tweaking. Use the lye calculator based on the type of oils and weights, then let it sit for at least 6 weeks. The initial esterification (fat and lye turning to soap) happens quick but takes a long time to actually complete. If you successfully make lye soap you will love it. It makes you feel so much cleaner than store bought soap (which are actually detergents). It works great for shampoo too. Oh yeah, lye is fairly easy to find by in smaller quantities. Go the the hardware store and ask for Red Devil drain cleaner. It is straight lye in a one pound can. |