Cutting loaves made with only hard oils (lard and tallow)

[beelinegardens]

Hi there!

I am a somewhat beginner soap maker, and make my soaps with only local oils, which means they are made with a 50/50 tallow and lard blend. Because these are such hard oils, I mostly pour them into individual molds so I don't have to deal with cutting them into bars. My recipe also includes beeswax and honey.

I have made a hot process soap without the beeswax and honey that I have been able to cut into bars from a loaf from without much problem, but so far when I have tried cutting bars out of a loaf from my cold process soap it has been too brittle or crumbly and does not cut easily or nicely. I know that honey/sugar can make soap crumbly, so I plan to try a cold process soap without the honey and see if that helps. Should I omit the beeswax as well to make cutting easier?

Are there any other tips that anyone might have in how to be able to cut a cold process tallow/lard soap loaf into bars without it being too brittle or crumbly? I would love to be able to use honey in the recipe still. Would it be as easy as adding more water? I am currently using 300g of water, 130g lye, 500g tallow, 500g lard, 1 tablespoon of honey and ~7g of beeswax per recipe.

Thanks everyone! The bars I make from individual bar molds from this recipe have been really nice, but I love the look of square bars cut from a loaf, and I think it would make my soap look a lot less like biscuits when they are done like they currently do Any advice is appreciated!

 

[lsg]

Nice soap! I have never used a combination of just lard and tallow; but I am assuming that it would be very hard to cut into bars.

 

[TheGecko]

If you're using all 'hard' oils, then you don't need to add beeswax.

I ran your recipe through a Soap Calculator and your Water and NaOH is slightly off, but it's close to about a 31% Lye Concentration (w/5% SF). You should ALWAYS run your recipe through a Soap Calculator and a 33% Lye Concentration is a good place to start.

I'm going to guess here that you cut your HP loaf a lot sooner than you cut your CP loaf. This would be normal since HP soap is fully saponified when it is pour into molds and you only have to wait until the soap cools. With CP soap the saponification process takes about 24 to 48 hours in total, but you can often cut your loaves after 12 to 18 hours. But you are using all 'hard' oils when means you need to cut your loaves sooner...like you would do with a Salt Soap because of how quickly it hardens. You want to start testing the firmness of your soap within a couple of hours of pouring. As soon as it feels like cheddar cheese, you want to unmold and cut.

 

[AliOop]

Your soaps are very pretty, and I don't think they look like discs at all!

The post above pretty much covers my thoughts on the lye concentration, beeswax, and cutting time, so I won't pile on there.

However, I do need to question your thought that honey or sugar makes soap crumbly. I don't agree with that at all. Any form of sugar makes soap more soluble, definitely not brittle or crumbly. Since you don't have any bubble-making oils in recipe (such as coconut or babassu), you need the sugar or honey to help the soap lather more easily. If you are going to omit or reduce anything, as @TheGecko says, it should be the beeswax. A soap made from 50/50 lard/tallow will be more than hard enough without beeswax.

 

[BWt]

Hi @beelinegardens. Your soap is lovely. Am also new soaper who loves beeswax in soap. Could you try significantly reducing (but not eliminating entirely) the amount of beeswax and adding honey instead of sugar? It would be in keeping with the name on your packaging. Hopefully the more experienced soapers will weigh in on this thought.

 

[Blue1969]

Hi, I find that cutting my 100% tallow loaves after 5 to 6 hous, makes the cutting easier and prevents crumbling. Never used lard, so I am not sure how this would influence it? With big slab molds I normally cut after about 9 to 10 hours.

 

[Jorah]

Hi there!

I am a somewhat beginner soap maker, and make my soaps with only local oils, which means they are made with a 50/50 tallow and lard blend. Because these are such hard oils, I mostly pour them into individual molds so I don't have to deal with cutting them into bars. My recipe also includes beeswax and honey.

I'm going to be making honey soap this summer, and this thread has certainly inspired me. Nice work!