Drag mark cutting CP soap with soft oil

[Steph0104]

Hello guys, recently, I made a batch of CP with below recipe:

Total oil weight ~600 g (yield 9xxg soap)
super fat 10%
Rice bran oil 50%
Olive oil 50%
fragrance 50g
water 228ml
NaOH 80 g

I pour them into silicone mould and unmould it after 1 week and it hardened a bit.
Now another 1.5 week has passed and I start cutting my soap, but it's still too soft!
It has drag marks over my patterns. The bottom is like balmy/ thick paste texture and would stick to my knife and fingers.
I cut 2 bars and stopped coz i dun want to ruin the patter of whole batch.
Those 2 bars do dry up a bit after 1, 2 days I cut it.
What should i do with the rest of the bar? I am afraid if i don't cut them up they won't be able to dry up.
But if I do, i will ruin the pattern on every bar.

Plus, is there any tip I can make a firm CP bar with clean and tidy cut next time i make another batch? Thanks!!!

 

[Anstarx]

First of all SF at 10% is really high! Unless it's a salt bar or brine soap I usually SF at 5% and only go 8% at max. Considering you only have soft oils in your recipe, the high SF will only make your soap softer and stickier, especially at the bottom where it gets less air flow.

I would recommend using sodium lactate or some sugar to make it harden faster next time. Sodium lactate especially can help with drag marks a lot. I use sodium lactate at 1tsp/ppo oil and the same amount of syrup. I was able to unmold and cut a 100% olive soap within 3 days.

For this batch, I'd say you cut it and let it dry properly. The drag marks can be erased later by carefully trimming. It will take some soap away and takes some time and effort but it can be done.

 

[Steph0104]

Thanks a lot! So do you mean adding both sodium lactate and sugar, or either one of them? Do I add them to the lye solution, or dissolve in the water before adding NaOH?
And sorry I am new here, what does ppo mean?

 

[cmzaha]

ppo mean per lb of oils

 

[Anstarx]

Thanks a lot! So do you mean adding both sodium lactate and sugar, or either one of them? Do I add them to the lye solution, or dissolve in the water before adding NaOH?
And sorry I am new here, what does ppo mean?

I use both. sodium lactate make soap unmold faster and can help the texture. Sugar makes the soap batter trace and hardens faster and can also boost lather but too much can cause overheating. You can use either or both depending on your choice.
Sodium lactate is pretty versatile, I've added in lye, in oil, at trace and all worked fine. I make my own sugar syrup and add it to oil before blending so I don't forget about it.
Like cmzaha said, ppo means per pound of oil. I actually don't really use pounds and oz when calculating and prefer grams instead so 1tsp/ppo is about 1% of your oil weight.

Also, I forgot to mention your water. You are using 1:2.85 water lye ratio with an all soft oil recipe and that can cause problem too. When I just started I used a 1:2.3 ratio which is good enough for beginners. I mostly use 1:2 ratio these days. Too much water will slow down trace time and hardening speed, also make soap soft and sticky and take longer to cure.

 

[shunt2011]

I would add salt or sodium lactate to harden the soap. I generally use Sodium Lactate in all my batches at 1 tsp PPO and am able to unmold at 12-18 hours. Salt can be dissolved in your water at 1 tsp PPO before adding the lye.