A little help, please. Bushcrafter’s River Bar.

[hushnel]

One group of my friends are the Florida Bushcrafters, we get together a half a dozen times a year to camp and paddle the wilderness areas of Florida, on these occasions I like to give out, what I call, party favors, like home made tent lamps, ceramic rod knife sharpeners, ferro rod fire starters, I’ve made up decals and last time, Inuit Thumb Thimbles. As a goof I want to come up with a Bushcraft bar of soap. I’ve seen posts on this forum that indicate that certain oils will allow lather in salt and brackish water, I would like to add this to the soap. The rest is just goofy, it should have the slightest aroma of bacon and it would be cool if it looked like Spam®. I’m not entirely sure how to achieve that but I figure I could make up a batch of reddish soap the day before then run it through a meat grinder just before I start the second batch of white and add it in at trace. Like all things worthy of fabrication it may take a couple of tries.

I welcome all advice and criticisms, particularly concerning the basic eco kind, brackish water soap bar “o)

Some of the motley crew.

 

[Sunny]

coconut oil is what we use in our salt bars usually, so I would try that. What we do is use a high superfat (or lye discount) because coconut is pretty drying on its own.

there are definitely bacon fragrance oils you can purchase and red or pink colorants you can buy to get that spam look!

 

[dieSpinne]

Keep in mind that if you will be bathing in seawater, you are going to want a nearly 100% coconut soap.

Also, the fragrance of Anise is said to be animal neutral and covers up "Human Stink". Many hunters in this part of the country use the EO when they go out into the field for a few days to hunt. The scent of Bacon is likely to be funny, but won't really do much in the way of "Bushcraft".

 

[ericllucas]

The rest is just goofy, it should have the slightest aroma of bacon and it would be cool if it looked like Spam®.

Search this forum for "Bacon". I had a series of questions about making a bacon-scented bar of soap. I also asked about making a doe-urine scented bar of soap.

I like the idea of making it look like Spam®. I wouldn't bother making it smell like Spam®. Bacon is good, well, its always good. Anyway, Spam® is rather greyish with white flecks. I would think the shape will be easy to make, but the coloration and variegation will be difficult to match. It would be fun to try, though. I thought of making soap look like beef jerky, but that would be too thin. Making it look like Slim Jims® might be possible, but again, it may prove too thin. Making it look like a nice one-pound deer stick / sausage might be more viable.

Do let us know how it goes, and as always - upload pictures!

 

[hushnel]

Thanks for the input.

I would think the shape will be easy to make,

I figured I would just use a spam can as a cookie cutter "o) wood smoke or cedar would be good but the bacon just seems a little more appropriate.

 

[hushnel]

The scent of Bacon is likely to be funny, but won't really do much in the way of "Bushcraft".

Yeah, that's pretty much the purpose, most of us are hunters but not when we are out practicing wood craft skills. Mostly along the lines of plant identification, friction fires, and minimalist gear and survival techniques. You know just basic woods bumming "o)

Thanks for that info, I'll surely keep that in mind for when I do need to camouflage my scent.

 

[ericllucas]

I figured I would just use a spam can as a cookie cutter

Exactly. In fact, you could clean out a few dozen cans and just use them as a mold. You could present the soap in the can, too. Now if you need recipes for all that Spam, do let me know. Spam, eggs, eggs, spam, and spam.

wood smoke or cedar would be good but the bacon just seems a little more appropriate.

Would the intent of the scenting to make a man smile or to mask his scent in the field? I can tell you from experience living with men in the field, most scented soaps give away a position so easily. I could smell Ivory in the woods fifty yards away, easily. Irish Spring is a beacon in the woods that screams "Human here!" If you're wanting to mask smells, go with unscented or look for something appropriate to where they will be hiding, olfactory-wise. If you are in the backwoods of Southern Florida, may I suggest Moldering Everglades Muck or Brackish Beach Delight?

 

[hushnel]

I like the moldering Everglades Muck, but this project is more along the lines of a novelty. I use an unscented soap when I'm hunting. The farm we just bought I can tag deer and turkey sitting on the back porch "o)

 

[Fragola]

I am not bushperson, but I don't think you can realistically achieve such a strongy scented soap to mask a human.

Thinking of a possible flavor ... There was a discussion about using liquid smoke to scent soap. Not sure if it was actually tried in practice, but it maybe worth a try.

 

[Sunny]

http://www.naturesgardencandles.com/can ... e-Oil.html


http://www.saveonscents.com/product_inf ... _id=202567


http://www.saveonscents.com/product_inf ... ts_id/4825


http://www.saveonscents.com/product_inf ... ts_id=4830


http://www.naturesgardencandles.com/can ... em/rf-2025


http://www.brambleberry.com/Anise-Essen ... P3829.aspx

 

[ericllucas]

Thanks for the links, Tasha. You made it so easy...

 

[hushnel]

Thanks Tasha, some good ideas there. I'm thinking that the fresh cut grass would be pretty cool, if not for this project maybe the next.

I'm not concerned about masking the human scent for this project. Usually when I am hunting I don' t use any scented soap at all and after I have washed I assume the local scent of the area I'm hunting in. In Florida smoke works well, the game animals smell it often enough to not be alarmed by it and it masks very well.

 

[Sunny]

the dirt FO is really cool too if you ever get around to it, I haven't used either one myself but received a bar with dirt + grass FO in a swap (hollllaaaa Tegan) and it's REALLY realistic.

 

[hushnel]

Yeah, I can imagine, it's crazy to clean up with something that smells like dirt, I like it "o)