another 100% CO question

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Guspuppy

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Are all 100% CO soaps ready to cut within hours or is it just salt bars? Seems like last time I made laundry soap I waited 12 hours and a lot of it crumbled to bits. Which didn't matter for laundry soap so much but I want actual bars out of this batch.
Thanks!

ETA: Unrelated but what did I do wrong with this equation? I did the length x width x depth x .4 to figure out how much oil to use to make a slab 1.25" thick. Well, somehow it came out WAY too much. I suspect my slab is 1.5" thick at least (if not 2", won't know until I get it out of the cardboard box) and I had enough extra to almost totally fill a 1-lb loaf mold!
 
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Um, would be helpful if you'd post your calculations! How can I or others help you if we have no idea what your mold dimensions are? Also need to know what kind of soap you're making. If it's a salt bar or something else with bulky additives, the 0.4 rule of thumb doesn't work.

Cut 100% CO soap when it's ready. There's no absolute number to rely on. My 100% CO soap is usually ready to be cut sooner rather than later, compared to regular bath bar recipes, but it's not as fast as salt bars. That said, I've had one batch that wasn't ready to be cut for a day after making it.
 
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ETA: Unrelated but what did I do wrong with this equation? I did the length x width x depth x .4 to figure out how much oil to use to make a slab 1.25" thick. Well, somehow it came out WAY too much. I suspect my slab is 1.5" thick at least (if not 2", won't know until I get it out of the cardboard box) and I had enough extra to almost totally fill a 1-lb loaf mold!

If you're talking about salt bars, you probably did what I did and didn't count on thr salt increasing your volume. I always keep an extra mold handy for any leftover batter to be poured into.
 
My 100% CO soaps with a 20% S/F are usually finished gelling and ready to be unmolded and cut within about 6 hours after pouring the batter into my mold.

In regards to your soap overflowing your mold, ditto what Artemis said- if you're talking about salt bars, the salt will cause the volume to increase. Also- although the L x W x D x .4 doesn't account for it, your water amount plays a part to a certain extent, too. If it helps, the following equations are what I have written down in my notes when using different water amounts (they originate from a fellow soap-maker on another forum who was able to figure them out when using different water amounts in their soap):

H x W x D x .38 if you are using a ‘full water’ amount
H x W x D; x .4 if using a 33% lye concentration;
H x W x D x .436 if using a 40% lye concentration


IrishLass :)
 
Oh sorry! Forgot to add all that info. It was just dish/household soap, no additives. 100% CO, 0% SF. The box size was 10x7x1.25" deep. Times .4 at 30% lye concentration, gave me 35 oz oils. As I was using a cardboard box, I didn't actually overflow the mold, I just thought it was far deeper than 1.25". (I had cut the box itself to be about 3" deep) HOWEVER, I just now lifted the freezer paper up out of the box and measured the side, and actually, the soap is a little lopsided with one side being only 1" thick and the other only 1 1/8th". Clearly, my eye is not a reliable estimator of thickness. LOL! So over the surface area of a 10x7" box, the amount of batter I put into the extra loaf mold would probably have made the whole thing exactly 1.25" thick. Sorry about that, I should have waited to ask that question until I had the soap out of the mold!

I ended up cutting it just now too, it was a little soft at only 4 hours old, but being a slab I was able to carefully cut it without damage, and now I can go to bed and not worry about it. :)

Thanks for the answers, and especially thank you IrishLass for those specific numbers for water amount!

ETA: the reason I wanted a slab and used the higher water amount for this household use soap was that I wanted to do this month's challenge but I also wanted to make a soap I actually needed. It all worked out!
 
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When I use it for making laundry soap, I have to cut it within hours. If I make it late at night and end up leaving it until the next day because I am too tired to stay awake, I always end up with very hard, difficult to cut soap. Then breaking it into uneven chunks so I can grate it up becomes a real hassle.

I never made the stain sticks, but just a paste of 100% CO oil soap (I make laundry butter, which is just like a paste) gets out old oily stains unbelievably well.
 
Sounds like you're back on track -- that's good. I'm relieved the amount of soap you made is about right for what you wanted.
 
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