Recipe Critique (mechanic's soap)

Hey guys! I’m finally getting around to attempting a second batch of soap. I decided I wanted to take a stab at trying to create a masculine mechanic’s soap. The recipe for the soap itself is the same as my first batch since it came out as well as it did. I’m not sure how the additives will play out, however:

9.6 oz. Coconut Oil (30%)
8.0 oz. Palm Oil (25%)
6.4 oz. Olive Oil (20%)
3.2 oz. Cocoa Butter (10%)
2.8 oz. Castor Oil (8.75%)
2.0 oz. Almond Oil (6.25%)
32 oz. Total Fats
4.74 oz. Lye

The amount of lye above is with zero superfatting. I’m planning on adding Lanolin and heard that since it’s a wax it works well as a superfat on its own.

At trace:
Add 1 ¾ TBSP Activated Charcoal
Add 3.2 oz. Kerosene (10% of total fats)
Add 1.6 oz. Lanolin (5% total fats)

So what do you guys think? Does this seem like a solid recipe or am I careening headlong into the maw of doom?

or am I careening headlong into the maw of doom?

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Too funny! I just might start using that phrase.

The recipe looks great, but just so you know, Lanolin has a SAP number of .076 and should be included in your calculations up front. The 'superfatting at trace' debate has been discussed several times here on the forum and was finally decided definitively by Dr. Kevin Dunn in his experiments on several handmade soaps in his lab. His results can be read here: http://cavemanchemistry.com/LyeDiscount-Dunn.pdf Basically the conclusions were that it is futile to assume that a certain oil/fat will remain unsaponified as the lone superfatting oil in your soap if you add it at trace. This is because the lye is still very active and alive at trace (as high as 80% or more) and will react with whatever it can saponify no matter what. If it were me, I would just calculate however much lanolin you want to use in your formula up front, and then set your superfatting level for your entire batch at 5%.

Other than that, everything looks good to me.


IrishLass

I read it to my husband and he noted that kerosene is a good solvent for cutting grease, as I'm sure you know. So I really want hear how this turns out.

Thanks Irish Lass! Answers like yours are why I come here. ;-)

Pepsi- I'm not sure when I'm going to be able to get around to getting this batch whipped up, but you can expect a play by play and probably a smattering of pictures.

I made one a few times. I made mine with 100% coconut oil and superfatted with coconut oil and added some fine ground pumice as well and no fragrance. I colored it to a light grey color. I still have about a half of a bar left. I thought it worked well but it was a slow seller so I dropped it. When I tested this soap I gave 14 bars away to different garages and oil change places and only got feedback from 2 of them, at least the feedback was good from both.

Bruce

Paulmitic said:

Pepsi- I'm not sure when I'm going to be able to get around to getting this batch whipped up, but you can expect a play by play and probably a smattering of pictures.

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Excellent I'm all a quiver waiting!

So, here it is. I think it's safe to say that I got a little cocky. My first attempt at making soap went really well, so I think I might have played it a little "fast and loose" this time around. Some mistakes were made. Honestly, I think my biggest problem was that I followed directions I found spread all across the internet without applying common sense to them. Essentially, I drove into the lake because my GPS never told me to turn.

So, this is my mechanic's soap. Originally, I wanted the bars to be as black as I could make them, but I never found a good metric for how much activated carbon to use. I bought some aquarium grade carbon because it was so much cheaper, and then poured some in a ziploc bag and beat the daylights out of it with a hammer. Fun Fact: Activated carbon gets messy. In fact, when I was done I poured it into a cheap plastic mixing bowl, and it seems it will never be clean again. The carbon particles get lodged into the tiny creases and cracks of the bowl and refuse to come out despite scrubbing, soaping, and repeated washing.

Also: Kerosene. I wanted some as a degreaser. I read online that you want roughly 10% your total fat content by weight. I made 32 ounces of soap, so 3.2 ounces of kerosene. It turns out, that's kind of a lot. Especially when you consider that I also read that fragrance should come to about 1.5-2.0 ounces per 30 ounces of fat. So, all of that to say, my soap smells like it's one stray spark away from bursting into flame. (And, actually... It might be. I should test that.)

The soap is a lot softer and stickier than my first batch was. I'm hoping that as I let it cure it'll continue to harden and hopefully the smell will evaporate to the point that it doesn't stink up my entire kitchen. It was definitely a learning experience, so I think perhaps I'll approach things a bit more studiously in the future.