WTF? How To Make Soap..

[thetonic]

I searched the forums and the net and cant find anything comprehensive and easy.. Anybody with a recipe?... Or a link to something goood

[madthumbs]

Watch Fight Club?

http://standeyo.com/News_Files/Soap/Soapmaking.html

[kblood]

Watch Fight Club?

http://standeyo.com/News_Files/Soap/Soapmaking.html

Lol :D I immediatly thought the same thing. Sounded somewhat simple.

[thetonic]

Thanks for the link.. Id prefer to not use lyposuction fats..
:D

[kblood]

Thanks for the link.. Id prefer to not use lyposuction fats..
:D

Yea, that would seem preferable to avoid, but seems to me that lyposuction fats ought to be replaceable with any kind of fat, which can usually be bought by the bucketload.

And when on the topic of lyposuction fats, it seems these can actually be used to make new neuron cells with, and maybe many other cells in the body. So it is probably not just being stored as garbage anymore. My guess is that it is actually something that there is a market for, although hard to tell how much the market would need.

[madthumbs]

Right, body fat may be better suited to other global issues such as ...

http://www.theyesmen.org/agribusiness/vivoleum/event/

[deliciously_fresh]

Here's a book:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Natural-Soap-Book-Making-Vegetable-based/dp/0882668889

Some sites:
http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/soapmakingbasics/a/sm101.htm

http://www.ejabs.com/blog/2007/01/soap-making-basics/

I hope this helps. :)

[madthumbs]

Doesn't anyone question whether soap is good for us? I don't use soap at all, but I do use detergent (shampoo). I don't see any reason to use soap (which leaves yucky film) when I can spread the lather from shampoo to my pits and private parts. Shampoo is certainly not better than soap for the environment as SLS is a major toxin. Animals don't use or need soap (unless they live like humans), why us?

[thetonic]

Doesn't anyone question whether soap is good for us? I don't use soap at all, but I do use detergent (shampoo). I don't see any reason to use soap (which leaves yucky film) when I can spread the lather from shampoo to my pits and private parts. Shampoo is certainly not better than soap for the environment as SLS is a major toxin. Animals don't use or need soap (unless they live like humans), why us?

The soap i use could be substituted for shampoo as well as a billion and one other uses like toothpaste , laundry soap, dish soap, car wash etc etc.. I just want to know how to make it myself .. Do you have to question every fuking thing anyone does on this forum? I s that how you get your kicks?

[cloudgazer]

Take ashes and mix them with fat of some kind. Either animal fat or vegetable oil.

Then you will have soap.

[cloudgazer]

wait, here, from http://www.thefarm.org/charities/i4at/surv/soapmake.htm

Basic Method When There Are No Stores!
[This write-up was taken from one done by Marietta Ellis concerning the soap-making practices of colonial America, with the tense mainly changed from the past into the present.]

Saponification is a very big chemical word for the rather complex but easy to create soap making reaction. Saponification is what happens when a fatty acid meets an alkali. When fats or oils, which contain fatty acids are mixed with a strong alkali, the alkali first splits the fats or oils into their two major parts fatty acids and glycerin. After this splitting of the fats or oils, the sodium or potassium part of the alkali joins with the fatty acid part of the fat or oils. This combination is then the potassium or sodium salt of the fatty acid. As we said at the start, this is soap.
Soap Making Takes Three Basic Steps
1.Making of the wood ash lye.
2.Rendering or cleaning the fats.
3.Mixing the fats and lye solution together and boiling the mixture to make the soap.
First Let's Make The Lye
In making soap the first ingredient required is a liquid solution of potash commonly called lye.

The lye solution was obtained by placing wood ashes in a bottomless barrel set on a stone slab with a groove and a lip carved in it. The stone in turn rested on a pile of rocks. To prevent the ashes from getting in the solution a layer of straw and small sticks was placed in the barrel then the ashes were put on top. The lye was produced by slowly pouring water over the ashes until a brownish liquid oozed out the bottom of the barrel. This solution of potash lye was collected by allowing it to flow into the groove around the stone slab and drip down into a clay vessel at the lip of the groove.

Some colonists used an ash hopper for the making of lye instead of the barrel method. The ash hopper, was kept in a shed to protect the ashes from being leached unintentionally by a rain fall. Ashes were added periodically and water was poured over at intervals to insure a continuous supply of lye. The lye dripped into a collecting vessel located beneath the hopper.

[Use whatever you have available or can make.]
Now The Fats Are Prepared
The preparation of the fats or grease to be used in forming the soap is the next step. This consists of cleaning the fats and grease of all other impurities contained in them.

The cleaning of fats is called rendering and is the smelliest part of the soap making operation. Animal fat, when removed from the animals during butchering, must be rendered before soap of any satisfactory quality can be made from it. This rendering removes all meat tissues that still remain in the fat sections. Fat obtained from cattle is called tallow while fat obtained from pigs is called lard.

If soap is being made from grease saved from cooking fires, it is also rendered to remove all impurities that have collected in it. The waste cooking grease being saved over a period of time without the benefits of refrigeration usually become rancid, so this cleaning step is very important to make the grease sweeter. It will result in a better smelling soap. The soap made from rancid fats or grease will work just as well as soap made from sweet and clean fats but not be as pleasant to have around and use.

To render, fats and waste cooking grease are placed in a large kettle and an equal amount of water is added. Then the kettle is placed over the open fire outdoors. Soap making is an outside activity. The smell from rendering the fats is too strong to wish in anyone's house. The mixture of fats and water are boiled until all the fats have melted. After a longer period of boiling to insure completion of melting the fats, the fire is stopped and into the kettle is placed another amount of water about equal to the first amount of water. The solution is allowed to cool down and left over night. By the next day the fats have solidified and floated to the top forming a layer of clean fat. All the impurities being not as light as the fat remain in water underneath the fat.

You may have observed this in your own kitchen. When a stew or casserole containing meat has been put in the refrigerator, you could see the next day the same fat layer.
Finally The Soap Making Can Begin
In another large kettle or pot the fat is placed with the amount of lye solution determined to be the correct amount. This is easier said than done. We will discuss it more later. Then this pot is placed over a fire again outdoors and boiled. This mixture is boiled until the soap is formed. This is determined when the mixture boils up into a thick frothy mass, and a small amount placed on the tongue causes no noticeable "bite". This boiling process could take up to six to eight hours depending on the amount of the mixture and the strength of the lye.
Soft and Hard Soap
Soap made with wood ash lye does not make a hard soap but only a soft soap. When the fire is put out and the soap mixture allowed to cool, the next day reveals a brown jelly like substance that feels slippery to the touch, makes foam when mixed with water, and cleans. This is the soft soap the colonists had done all their hard work to produce. The soft soap is then poured into a wooden barrel and ladled out with a wooden dipper when needed.

To make hard soap, common salt is thrown in at the end of the boiling. If this is done a hard cake of soap forms in a layer at the top of the pot. As common salt may be expensive and hard to get, it is not usually wasted to make hard soap. Common salt is more valuable to give to the livestock and the preserving of foods. Soft soap works just as well as hard and for these reasons the colonists, making their own soap, did not make hard soap bars.

In towns and cities where there were soap makers making soap for sale, the soap could be converted to the hard soap by the addition of salt. As hard bars it will be easier to store and transport. Hard bars produced by the soap maker were often scented with oils such as lavender, wintergreen, or caraway and were sold as toilet soap to persons living in the cities or towns.

Hard soap is not cut into small bars and wrapped as has been familiar. Soap made by the soap makers is poured into large wooden frames and removed when cooled and hard.

The amount of soap a customer wants can be cut from the large bar. Soap is sold usually by the pound. Small wrapped bars were not available until the middle of the 19th century [nor maybe shortly after the end of the 20th].

[numbersix]

I remember doing this in a chemistry lesson many (35) years ago !
As already mentioned Potash (Potassium Carbonate ) is extracted from wood ashes by dissolving a large quantity of them in water and filtering off the clear solution.
The clear solution containing the potash is concentrated down by boiling over a fire. As this is fairly caustic a cast iron or stainless stell pot should be used.

Fat (eg from your barbeque drip tray ) is then added to the potash solution and heated for a while and soft soap is the result.
Alternatively, caustic soda or washing soda (sodium hydroxide or sodium carbonate ) can be substituted for potash to get hard soap.
Steel or cast iron should be used - never aluminium, wood, or glass as caustic soda will attack or even dissolve these !!

On a different note I have a book somewhere which shows how to make aspirin from willow tree bark (which contains salicylic acid), coffee substitute from acorns or dandelions and a few other useful recipes
If I find it I will put them on this thread!!

[khamedra19]

One poster suggested making a primitive 'soap' which is a combination of ashes and oil. I've never experimented with such a thing, but I have made many a batch of bar soap in my life. In fact, I used to make and sell all sorts of handmade body products, including soap. I can give the OP a few pointers.

You can make soaps using different types of vegetable oils: olive, jojoba, almond, apricot kernel, shea butter, cocoa butter, coconut, palm (make sure you get the refined one), vegetable shortening, and beef tallow. The liquid oils result in softer soaps that are much more moisturizing. The solid oils (which are cheaper) create harder soaps that last longer and can be used for other purposes. It is common practice to combine certain ratios of soft and hard oils. Doing so allows you to control the hardness, color, and degree to which the soap will bubble. Beef tallow is probably the most economic as many butchers give it away for free. However, be warned that the final product is foul smelling. You can avoid this is you can find rendered beef tallow. This is just cow fat that has been refined and had smelly 'impurities' removed.

You can also add any number of herbs and essential oils to give your soap different herbs and essential oils give soap various healing properties. I am not so certain how true that is because the lye (Which is a key component of soap--even the liquid ones) reacts with everything it comes into contact with and may cancel out any beneficial properties of soap additions.

I'm not sure if the OP wants to make a primitive ash lye/oil soap or something a bit more refined. If the OP is interested in the latter, then the following things are needed:

-Lye (Red Devil brand is the best)
-Oils of your choice
-Two candy thermometers
-Two stainless steel bowls (one for the oil and one for the lye)
-A stainless steel spoon
-A plastic pitcher (to hold the lye/oil mixture)
-Rubber gloves (Because if the lye gets on your skin, you will have had a bad day)

One more thing, soap making is a labor intensive process that requires a great deal of patience. However, it's hihgly rewarding and can be a meditative experience. Have fun.

[thetonic]

One poster suggested making a primitive 'soap' which is a combination of ashes and oil. I've never experimented with such a thing, but I have made many a batch of bar soap in my life. In fact, I used to make and sell all sorts of handmade body products, including soap. I can give the OP a few pointers.

You can make soaps using different types of vegetable oils: olive, jojoba, almond, apricot kernel, shea butter, cocoa butter, coconut, palm (make sure you get the refined one), vegetable shortening, and beef tallow. The liquid oils result in softer soaps that are much more moisturizing. The solid oils (which are cheaper) create harder soaps that last longer and can be used for other purposes. It is common practice to combine certain ratios of soft and hard oils. Doing so allows you to control the hardness, color, and degree to which the soap will bubble. Beef tallow is probably the most economic as many butchers give it away for free. However, be warned that the final product is foul smelling. You can avoid this is you can find rendered beef tallow. This is just cow fat that has been refined and had smelly 'impurities' removed.

You can also add any number of herbs and essential oils to give your soap different herbs and essential oils give soap various healing properties. I am not so certain how true that is because the lye (Which is a key component of soap--even the liquid ones) reacts with everything it comes into contact with and may cancel out any beneficial properties of soap additions.

I'm not sure if the OP wants to make a primitive ash lye/oil soap or something a bit more refined. If the OP is interested in the latter, then the following things are needed:

-Lye (Red Devil brand is the best)
-Oils of your choice
-Two candy thermometers
-Two stainless steel bowls (one for the oil and one for the lye)
-A stainless steel spoon
-A plastic pitcher (to hold the lye/oil mixture)
-Rubber gloves (Because if the lye gets on your skin, you will have had a bad day)

One more thing, soap making is a labor intensive process that requires a great deal of patience. However, it's hihgly rewarding and can be a meditative experience. Have fun.

Thankyou for the tips Khamedra19!.. I am trying to make a bar soap that is a medium hardness with only native plant oils to my midwest region of the US.. Olive oils and coconut oils would be nice im sure, but i want this soap to be ruff and ready cowboy style soap that gets the job done and only with local non animal derived ingredients...

[madthumbs]

Add Pumice?

[madthumbs]

I searched the forums and the net and cant find anything comprehensive and easy.. Anybody with a recipe?... Or a link to something goood

Do you have to question every fuking thing anyone does on this forum? I s that how you get your kicks?

Just an FYI: The instructions I found came up on the first page of a google search. I could question that, but I'll leave it alone. ;)

[craven dark]

go down to Boots, they have it ready made:p

[gracimusic]

My grandma used to make soap with pig fat, perfum and caustic sosa. I always remember her doing the washing up with that soap. And it seemed to work! I don't know exactly the process but she would let the mixture to dry and then make blocks.

[thetonic]

Just an FYI: The instructions I found came up on the first page of a google search. I could question that, but I'll leave it alone. ;)

I never said i was going to use the formulas / recipes you provided did i madthumbs?...

You could go ahead and question that yes, its obvious that you are only interested in grazing the surface if you pick the first link on google you find;)

[thetonic]

The fooking 'How to Make Soap' thread.... :D


more recipes appreciated

[thetonic]

On a different note I have a book somewhere which shows how to make aspirin from willow tree bark (which contains salicylic acid), coffee substitute from acorns or dandelions and a few other useful recipes
If I find it I will put them on this thread!!

Waiting on that link buddy....:p

[tom bombadil]

Try to google itsnoteasybeinggreen

It has loads of good advice on such things, and if you ask a quizzer, then it is answered by knolageable folk.


Tom

[homebrew1973]

Survival books suggest vegetable fat/oil mixed with charcoal or burnt wood.

[krakhead]

Make it out of bacon!

http://blacktable.com/bacon030515.htm