A Couple Pics, Nothing Special...

[Guest]

just a question on clove oil...

I love cloves and the scent of cloves but as far as I know it is a very sensitizing Essential oil?

I'm going by this website one of my favorites on EO's...

http://www.essentialoils.co.za/essential-oils/index.htm

in what strength do you use it? I also like the smell but has always been careful of clove for that reason.

 

[donniej]

Donnie: That is awesome, the soaps look wonderful. I am always very impressed with how you make your soaps. Do you keep the EO's in a refrigerator or do you go through that much?

Thank you!
I don't refridgerate the EO's but the building is reliably in the low to mid 70's. I expect this EO will last me a couple months.

 

[donniej]

Donnie,how are the wires attached on your cutter,& what is it they're tensioned with? I have half a plan formulated,but was thinking I'd have to drill holes for wire,use washers,it's all in the too hard basket for now,but I've co-opted a metal worker who's interested to have a go so the brains ticking away again!

On the "top", the wires pass through holes drilled in the tubing and are simply twisted together.

On the "bottom" turn buckes are screwed to the tubing. The wires are then twisted to the other side of the turn buckle. I use small turn buckles (3/16" I think), I got them from Home Depot for <$2 each.
They work pretty well to tension the wires.

 

[Rosey]

Hey donnies, are you going to move to something where you can pull out the trays like a bakers rack? I'm just thinking that if you make batches and you need the one on the bottom, that's going to be a drag if I'm thinking right. You have to pick them up right to move them?

 

[donniej]

Hey donnies, are you going to move to something where you can pull out the trays like a bakers rack? I'm just thinking that if you make batches and you need the one on the bottom, that's going to be a drag if I'm thinking right. You have to pick them up right to move them?

The trays do need to be picked up to get to the bottom but I don't think it's that big of a deal... but I guess I have the benefit of being in pretty good shape 8)

I thought about the bakers racks but they're usually aluminum and lye reacts very poorly with aluminum. Plus the trays are solid so they won't vent nearly as well as the open grate type that I'm using now.

What I'd really like to do is to get stainless steel racks and make my own trays. The trays I'd make would be made of "expanded" stainless steel, expanded means it's a diamond pattern grate. Stainless angle iron would need to be spot welded around the edges to give the expanded metal sufficient strength. This would be perfect..... but stainless isn't cheap! So I'm using plastic, which is simply very good.

 

[cwayneu]

OMG! The EO, the soaps, the log molds, and the cutter are all unbelievable. If your molds were a little wider, they could double as coffins. And that cutter... as Tim Allen would say, "Just add a 300 HP engine to that baby and I'm sure you could cut 50 bars.". Bwa Ha Ha Ha Ha...

 

[gekko62]

Donnie,how are the wires attached on your cutter,& what is it they're tensioned with? I have half a plan formulated,but was thinking I'd have to drill holes for wire,use washers,it's all in the too hard basket for now,but I've co-opted a metal worker who's interested to have a go so the brains ticking away again!

On the "top", the wires pass through holes drilled in the tubing and are simply twisted together.

On the "bottom" turn buckes are screwed to the tubing. The wires are then twisted to the other side of the turn buckle. I use small turn buckles (3/16" I think), I got them from Home Depot for <$2 each.
They work pretty well to tension the wires.

Cool,thanx Donnie

 

[gekko62]

OMG! The EO, the soaps, the log molds, and the cutter are all unbelievable. If your molds were a little wider, they could double as coffins. And that cutter... as Tim Allen would say, "Just add a 300 HP engine to that baby and I'm sure you could cut 50 bars.". Bwa Ha Ha Ha Ha...

hmm funny you should say that.Not quite a 300hp engine,but the willow way commercial cutters use some sort of hydraulics system.

Hey donnies, are you going to move to something where you can pull out the trays like a bakers rack? I'm just thinking that if you make batches and you need the one on the bottom, that's going to be a drag if I'm thinking right. You have to pick them up right to move them?

Donnie,pleaseplease make sure to stick to safe manual handling with all those huge moulds & curing trays won't you?Must look after your back.:wink:I say this cos Ive recently done myself quite a nasty injury doing something I knew I shouldn't,thinking oh it won't hurt just this once.Silly me!

 

[LJA]

And another great batch of soap and EOs by donnie "Go big or stay home" J....lol
I'm curious to try biodiesel soap.

 

[donniej]

I'm curious to try biodiesel soap.

It's funny you mention it because it's been a long tiem now since I've made the raw glycerin soap. It's great stuff but without tweaking the recipes, it tends to be too soft and dark for a mass market product. It's unfortunate because it's still one of my favorite soaps!

 

[tincanac]

Wow have never seen EO's in such a big container. Am drooling over your trays though.

....

The trays are super nice. They're just bread racks, if you're friendly with a grocer, food store or restuarant you can probably get a few from them. I see them behind McDonalds all the time and despite the temptation, I bought these from the manufacturer :wink:

I also got expired plastic bread trays from a grocery store - they're perfect and stack on top of each other really nicely. It's a perfect soap drying rack! Dare I say it - great minds think alike?

 

[donniej]

What do you mean by expired?

 

[tincanac]

the grocer no longer feels that they are pretty enough to use as in-store bread racks, they have reached their "expiry" date. I have odd choices in metaphor I admit! He chucked 'em out, I asked for them - voila - soap racks!

I dont mind them, so they're a bit scratched, and they're not exactly trendy colours anymore - my soap aint complaining!

 

[donniej]

I found someone on ebay selling ones that sound about the same. They're *a lot* cheaper than what I paid (wholesale) for the new ones, so I'm taking a drive to pick some up this weekend. With any luck I'll have more space... so I can crank out some more soap. I gotta be ready for the holiday

 

[gekko62]

I used to work in a small wholesale artisan bakery,we had racks that the bread trays'd fit into,sloping towards the front.(Spose they'd be like the ones in stores thinking on it).Stainless too.Praps checking out 2nd hand shop fittings places would be the go.
A note on the trays.If they have a brand name on em,that company owns em for life! We used to have 'raids' where the rep from a particular company would do the rounds of all other bakeries,rounding up their trays.Bit silly really cos no-one was 'stealing',it's just the way things go,drivers just pick up all the crates from delivery addresses,no biggie,they all do it. So we'd be like,quick! Stack those to the back,the tt guys coming tonite! Make him work for em! :twisted: That guy was a real a-hole

 

[georgiastray]

Wow, donnie...all I can say is, "I'm impressed!"