Home Made Soap from Wood Ash and Lard

[Gary350]

Heat 2 gallons of water to 120 degrees. Stir in 2 gallons of wood ash or enough ash to make the water a little thick, let it stand for 15 minutes.

Put your Lard in a double boiler heat slow until it melts. Hold the oil temperature at 120 degrees F.

Pour the water off the wood ash through a piece of cloth to strain out unwanted solid material. Put an egg in the water to see if it floats. If the egg does not float remove the egg then boil off some of the water until the eggs floats. Do not crack the egg shell. Your looking for a good floating egg not a submarine.

Weigh 40 ounces of 120 degree Lard in a deep bowl. Slowly stir in 15 ounces of 120 degree lye water into the 120 degree lard by hand with a large spoon or whisk. Measurements are by weight not by volume. When it appears the 2 liquids have mixed then mix at medium speed with an electric mixer. Continue to mix and check the temperature with a thermometer. When the temperature drops to about 100 degrees the liquid will start to get thicker.

Don't let the liquid get too cold it will be to thick to pour into soap molds. Pour into about 15 molds 3/4" x 2" 3"standard soap bar size. In a few minutes when it cools a little bit the soap will become solid. Put all the soap molds inside of a Styrofoam ice chest to keep warm so they cool very slow for 24 hours.

After 24 hours dump the soap bars out of the molds. Place the soap bars on a screen wire drying rack for 1 month to cure.

After 1 month the soap should be ready to use.

You can add herbs and spices to get the fragrance you like. Stir 1/4 cup of very fine chopped Rosemary into 1 cup of 120 degree oil for 15 minutes. Strain out the Rosemary. You can do the same thing with other herbs. Allspice, cinnamon, basil, nutmeg, cloves, cilantro all make a nice fragrant soap too.

If you want Organic soap use all vegetable Crisco instead of Lard.

[valley]

Sounds interesting and fun. Have you done this yourself?

[Gary350]

Photos of home made soap. OK so I give up.........pics are not showing up like they should? Click one and it will show up.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... 698&type=1



https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... 698&type=1

[applestar]

Wow you have some interesting molds! The sheep one is cute in this color and the mermaids are amazing -- they'd look great in a "sandstone" or "marble" scheme.

[rainbowgardener]

I do like the molds. The dark flecks are bits of wood ash? Could you add extra moisturizers? Coloring?

I've been making soaps, but not really homemade because I use melt and pour soap base and just fragrance it with my herbal oils.

[Gary350]

The dark specks in the soap are tiny pieces of Rosemary sliced and dices into tiny little pieces then mixed into the soap just before pouring into the molds.

I made another batch of soap yesterday this time I put Rosemary and water into the kitchen blender on high speed for a few minutes then poured it through a coffee filter to remove all the rosemary pieces. Then I mixed the lye into the green rosemary water. Then mix the water into a 48 oz can of Crisco. It starts out White, then green, then brown, then yellow, now it is off white color.

There are several ways to make soap. The recipe is,
48 oz or Lard, or Crisco, or vegetable oil, or bacon grease heat to 120 degrees.
16.20 ounces of distilled water.
6.5 oz of Lye,........ACE HARDWARE store sells LYE in 16 oz bottles.

Slowly sprinkle the lye into the water stirring all the time (outside not inside the house). It will generate heat and get very hot about 175 degrees and producing choking vapor. When the water cools down to 120 degrees slowly pour it into the 120 degree oil stirring all the time. Stir for about 5 minutes with a whisk it may change color. Then use the kitchen electric mixer on medium speed and keep checking the temperature. The electric mixer will help to cool the mixture when the temperature drops to about 90 degrees the mixture will start to become thick. Pour the soap into the molds before it gets too thick to pour. I put the molds in an ice chest for 24 to 48 hours to let them cool slow and become hard. After they become hard remove the bars from the silicone molds. Place the bars on a wire rack to cure for 1 month.

Crisco is probably the best oil to use. Off brand shorting works good too. Lard works fine too but takes about 2 days to get hard enough to remove from the molds. You can add color if you want but I have never tried that.

I remember my grandmother telling me how to make soap from wood ash 50 years ago so I had to give it a try last week.

[ElizabethB]

My Grandmother made soap from wood ash and pork lard. She called it lye soap. I like your molds. Did you ever read the Clan of the Cave Bear series? In one of the books the heroin accidently spills mammoth lard and water into the campfire ash and invents soap.

Thank you for sharing

Happy New Year

[valley]

Wood ash, in your description is for the Lye. I have seen the leaching of lye from ash.

I think it would be fun, exciting to make and use soap. I have in my memory someone in a tub with a bar of home made soap. She was getting such lather. You could see the soap had been sliced from a crock. The bars were close to 2" thick X 3" wide and 8 or 10" long with a curve from the shape of the crock it had set in before being sliced.

Our cheese rings, I remember had the shape of of a porcelain pan, I still have the pan. The folks could make great useful things and had fun doing it.

Richard

[DoubleDogFarm]

Something to remember.

Here lies Gillian, still and placid;
Who added water to the acid.
Clever Jane did as she oughter;
Added acid to the water.

Always add acid to water and never water to acid. Gloves and eye protection are in order.

Eric

[rainbowgardener]

We are of course talking about lye, which is extremely basic, not acid. Does it work the same for bases?

[applestar]

Is it because the water is a larger amount and the concentrated caustic liquid could be splash up and out, whereas if you add the caustic liquid TO the larger volume water, it would be immediately diluted into the volume of water?

[evtubbergh]

Acid reacts with water in an exothermic reaction, I.e. it gets hot. When adding water to a lot of acid it might react quickly and get very hot or even boil. When you add the acid to the water you start with only a small amount that you gradually increase thereby controlling the reaction.

Is this soap nice to use? I try to use pure soap for certain things like washing clothes because I'm very sensitive but sometimes I wonder if soap-free is better for washing my skin.

[Ozark Lady]

Homemade soap has been on my "want to try" list for years!
I have all the stuff. But, just never mustered the courage.
Thanks for posting this and reminding me, to try it!
I think leached lye would be less scary for me.