I'm a DIY, trying to be as much self sufficient as I can.

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Cquence

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Hi everyone,

I'm a DIY, trying to be as much self sufficient as I can.
(I even make my own paint, beauty products, still working on having my own fruits and veggies, etc. )
We have lots of wood my dad chopped himself.
It keeps me nice and warm during winter.
My goal is to make soap from the ashes!

I'm already planning on planting more trees to provide me with some more wood. Still thinking about what species would fit my need best, since I have some other requirements then only to burn it for soap. Still investigating on this.
Hope I'll make lots of new friends over here and learn a lot about making my own soap!
 
welcome to the forum! Some of us do render our own fat (lard, tallow), but I don't think anybody here makes their own lye on a regular basis. You may want to check with historical reenactment societies for tips on that one! I remember reading somewhere that the best wood for making lye for soap is oak, and that you reduce it until it is strong enough that when you dip a feather in it, the feathery parts (not the thick quill down the middle) dissolve.
 
Cquence, how long do you plan on waiting for the trees to mature sufficiently to cut them down and use them as firewood? Also how much space do you have for planting? That will probably have a greater impact on which species you choose. You'd want a fast growing tree in the beginning if you don't have any at all that are suitable for harvesting now.

Here's some info about ash lye leeching, including some information about what burns to created the whitish ash: http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_ashlye.html

But I suggest you do some research on trees in general in reference to hardiness (water needs, etc.), space needed per tree, maturation time, sap production (I'm thinking a very sappy tree like pine might not be the best choice), etc.

Oh, and Welcome to the forum!
 
I have a 900m2 piece of land where my house is on, not so much of a garden. Looking to keep maybe a cherry and an apple tree and some chicken underneath the trees. There are now some old cherry trees I wish to cut who are to old to give proper cherries, and a walnut, that is performing well, but I don't like the taste of walnut, so maybe I'll remove that one too. Still have a lot stock on oak and maple wood for my stove.
With my dad there are also several trees, birch, cherry, plum, apple, peer, hazelnut, some other species I can't recall the name of.
So we already have some future stock on that as well. Some of those trees are old, and can be harvested if we want to. But since we still have a large stock of ready to go firewood, we won't be doing this now.

I also have a 4300m2 land that I want to keep 2 horses on during good weather. This is where I want several trees on for
* Harvesting wood
* Providing the horses with shelter from hot sun and rain/wind (they will also get a wooden shelter, but I wanted some additional options and a more interesting field, then just a plain boring pasture. And certain species of leaves and twigs are healty for the horses.
* So very important is that the trees aren't toxic for the horses.

I think I'll plant some of these Hornbeams (I think they're called that in English).
There are a native species here, are good for birds and insects, aren't toxic for horses, they can eat leafs and twigs if they want, a hard wood that grows pretty fast. You can plant it as a solitairy tree or as a hedge, you can harvest from the tree without removing it completly, as it grows multiple stems. If this would be a good tree for soapmaking, this will definitally be among the trees I will plant.

Big plans, I know, I'm trying to run some mini farm or something. But I'm patient :) and things are going great at their own pace.
 
Thank you everyone for welcoming me!

@dixiedragon, at the moment I'm living as a flexitarian, meaning I used to eat meat, but I'm really cutting down on that. My goal is to be almost-vegan (I don't have a better name for it).No meat, no honey, no milk, but still my own eggs, and also continue to use wool from friend who have sheep (they need to be shaved anyway). So I will try to also only plant based fats, I can buy some different kinds of fat at the health food store I guess.
I have the ashes anyway if I save them during winter. Soap making will fit perfectly in my vision and lifestyle. Not just making soap as a hobby, but as part of a bigger idea, if you know what I mean.

Maybe it sounds like I'm all weird, but to me it makes perfect sence to work less, be able to live with less, and be more connected to nature and understanding the processes of making things.

Maybe there aren't many people doing this, or having the same ideas on soap making as I do, I still feel I can learn from this forum. I've already found some useful information!

@earlene
That is a very interesting website, with a lot of useful information on that subject! Thank you.
 
Cquence, I'd love to read about your experiences and results with your endeavors to make and use potash. So many things I've seen have not done enough follow-up posting to explain what happened and how it all worked or didn't work. There are a lot of things online about how to make potash and even how to make soap with it. But when it comes to how the soap turned out, what it looked like over time, etc. that stuff seems to be missing. Same goes for what the potash is like to use, how well it performs, what it looks like, etc. I'd love to see your progress in this. I doubt I will ever do it myself (I'm 68 after all, and don't burn wood anymore), but there are so many people who show and interest, it would be great to have information about the ongoing use and documentation of such an endeavor that can be shared with others as needed.

I am also a non-meat eater who has no problem with eating eggs, milk, cheese, and using wool (or lanolin) because no animals need to die for the wool or the eggs. Well, maybe eggs could become chicks or ducklings (I don't like duck eggs, but eat them when visiting family who have ducks) but I have not drawn the line with eggs. My only exception to meat is anchovy paste in Caesar dressing. I do love a good Caesar salad and although I do have a good recipe for vegan Caesar dressing, it's not usually an option in most restaurants.

Regarding make good soap without animal, YES you certainly can. 100% Olive Oil soap has been around and used exclusively by many people for a millenia and it makes a very hard bar of soap. Cocoa butter is a hard oil that you can use to help harden all veggie oil soaps, as well as a few other hard oils/butters. Some people don't like to use palm, so if you don't, no worries. Palm is not required to get a nice bar of soap either. I think you will have a lot of fun working out a formula that you like; it can take several tweaks and tries to get what your skin likes most, but the process is really fun.

How wonderful your life sounds to me.
 
Welcome! If I were you, with removing the old cherry tree(s) and the walnut, I would not burn those trees! They're really valuable as lumber. If you know of any local furniture maker, they might be very, very interested in them.
 
Not really, my dad is a retired woodworker, still doing some work for me and my brother and for his own home, but he doesn't have the machines that would be needed to properly saw a tree of that size properly to make planks/wooden plates for use in furniture making etc.

If I needed to hire a person who has a machine to do this for me, it would mean a lot more work for us in the first place (either get a mobile machine capable of doing this, or moving the tree trunk as a whole), and it wouldn't make us money, it would probably cost us money, because the cost of having something like that done, is way to high compared to the selling price of cherry wood.
If the wood is good for outdoor use, and of good quality then it might be considered, because the prices of those wood varieties are way higher.

Anyway, thanks for the suggestion, but I'm pretty good informed about this, since my dad has the right connections.

@Kittish

This might be different depending on location I guess? Cherry trees are very common over here.
And I'm not saying it isn't good quality wood, it's just not very lucrative to do so.
 
Welcome! If I were you, with removing the old cherry tree(s) and the walnut, I would not burn those trees! They're really valuable as lumber. If you know of any local furniture maker, they might be very, very interested in them.

I second this! Check out woodworkers and wood turners also.

ETA - my mom's a wood turner so it's not all about the type of wood. For example, bolls (those big round knots on trees) are like GOLD for wood turners, from almost any type of tree. Another good piece is a crotch piece - you get neat grain patterns from where the branch divides.
 
If you look into using hickory, walnut, ash trees or oak you'll have a lot more potassium remaining- corn cobs work very well also. Rain barrel water is ideal as it is already soft. You might consider as well that your resulting soap will be soft and ugly if you don't salt your soap. See to it that if you test the strength with an egg that it's not floating too high- Best of luck and PLEASE be very careful! My sister still carries 65 year old scars from home-made lye- it's nothing to toy with.
 
Howdy from Colorado, Cquence!

Welcome.gif

If you don't mind my asking, where are you located?
 
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@FannieFinch: thank you for the useful information on the wood types. I know I have to be careful, I use a potato the size of an egg instead of an egg itself to test with, since I have more spare potatoes then eggs. I know it should float so you can see a little bit peeking out, not too much. I use soap to clean & to wash hands. I never use soap on other parts of my body anyway.

@dixiedragon I bet there is way better quality of wood on the market over here, since we are located in an area with lots of wood to offer. This isn't lucrative to do ourselves for this type of wood. Also considering the investment and extra work that has to be done in order to get the wood worked on properly, isn't worth it. So I'm just keeping myself warm with the trees that are too old, I can make soap from ashes, then fertilize the garden with the left overs, seems like a pretty good deal to me.

By the way I'm from Belgium.
 
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