Great Grandma's "Turpentine" Soap.....stain stick

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Thank you for this. My stepmother taught me how to remove stains with bar soap. Really, all you have to do is rub the stain with the bar soap untill it gets really hot from the friction. I have removed black shoe polish out of khaki pants this way, and that was just plain ol store bought bar soap. Can't wait to make it with turpentine! I bet it'll be a breeze and lots less elbow grease.
 
I made this with turpentine and tested it on a dingy sock. I rubbed the bar on the sock then rubbed the sock until it got hot. WOW!!
 
This an old thread and sounds interesting. The recipe has been erased. Anyone make this soap?
 
Hi.. All the comments are so very interesting. And am tempted to try it out but unable to find the recipe. :-(
 
Since the OP's recipe is no longer posted how about this one

2.2 ounces (weight, not volume) sodium hydroxide (lye crystals)
6 ounces (weight, not volume) distilled or purified water
1 lb lard
1.6 oz turpentine (can use turpentine substitute or kerosene)

Stir lye into cold water. Let stand until just warm. Melt lard and cool to about 100 degrees. Pour lye water into lard and stir or stick blend to light trace. Add turpentine and stir to full trace. Pour into molds and insulate or oven process as usual. A tube mold makes a great stain stick shape. Unmold and cut. Let cure as usual.


Directions for Use:

Dampen stain with plain water. Rub stain soap into stain thoroughly. Let stand from 5 minutes to a couple of days. Wash as usual.

I've never tried it but I'm curious. This recipe is a direct copy and was originally posted on HomeStead Garden forum by Serena. I'd like to give credit but not sure I'm allowed to post a link.
 
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Wait a minute people. Turpentine for washing clothes?

My washer/dryer comes with a warning about washing oil and solvent affected items due to problems like....fire.

My oil paint teacher also says it's a big no - no.

Anyone here that can speak to this safety issue?
 
Anyone here that can speak to this safety issue?

I'm curious as well and would be cautious before making this soap. As a word of warning, my Mom caught the house on fire once washing an ink stain out of her nurse's uniform using *cough* gasoline *cough*. I don't know what she was thinking but the fumes found their way to the pilot light on the furnace and BOOM!

Luckily she wasn't hurt and the boom was small but the fire department was needed and there was a LOT of smoke damage.

That was gas and not turpentine .. and it wasn't saponified either so I dunno how making soap with turpentine would change the chemical effects.
 
Wait a minute people. Turpentine for washing clothes?

My washer/dryer comes with a warning about washing oil and solvent affected items due to problems like....fire.

My oil paint teacher also says it's a big no - no.

Anyone here that can speak to this safety issue?

I have washed many loads of work clothes with asphalt and solvent on them with no problems.
 
I would think that any flammable fumes from the turpentine would have long evaporated during the cure. I also have washed many loads of work clothes with diesel/gas/solvents and never had any issues.
 
And keep in mind the amount of turpentine that would end up in the fabric is really very small. It's not remotely the same thing as what MzMolly's mom did!

You could also probably substitute something like sweet orange essential oil, which is also very good at loosening up heavy grease, adhesive residue, and similar gunk, or mineral spirits (not mineral oil).

Lest one assume sweet orange EO is safer than turpentine, think again -- the flash point is roughly 115-130 deg F for sweet orange EO vs roughly 95 deg F for turpentine. Not a great difference as things like that go.

edit: Here are other threads in which Mike talks about using solvents in soap:

I have made petroleum soaps....ones with mineral oils, petroleum distillates, and hydrocarbons like kerosene. These products don't saponify but you can add between 10-20% of the total weight of your oils without harm. I mix them in at trace. I would imagine the petroleum jelly would make a very moisturizing bar. Source: http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=7114

The kerosene smell dissipates quickly once you rinse your hands or the article of clothing in the case of the stain stick. No additional fuss is needed with the kerosene. Just pour it in to your melted oils. It's flammable, but not explosive like gasoline or turpentine, which I heartily do NOT recommend using. Just keep it out of the reach of children like you would with other chemicals. It's the same stuff they used to fill lamps with. For stain sticks, just make up a 100% lard or palm batch. Use soapcalc/soapmaker etc.... to determine lye for 0% superfat. Add 1.6 oz kerosene for each pound of melted oil, add your lye, and stick blend to a thick trace.....you want a heavy trace to minimize the chance of curdling. Then I pour it into a mold, I don't bother insulating. When it's set up, I cut the soap into butter sized sticks. These will remove soaping oils, and they're dirt cheap to make.... You can always label them with "petroleum distillates" and be perfectly correct. If you want something odor free that will sub for the kerosene.....go over to the art supply section and look for odorless turpentine substitue....."petroleum distillates" is still the correct label. Turpenoid is what I buy, and it doesn't compete with fragrance oils. Basically, these stain sticks are nothing more than a homemade version of Fels Naptha.....it uses the same products to cut oils. Source: http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=10966&page=3

and yet another edit: Here's a similar recipe by another SMF poster:

"...a recipe from my great grandmother that dates back to the 1920's...."
1 can of lye
½ cup of kerosene
½ cup borax
½ cup sugar
5 pints washed, melted grease
2 pints water
Source: http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=15719

And one more edit: The flash point of kerosene is roughly 100-150 deg F.
 
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Aw geez. Never thought about turpentine/kerosene residue on clothes/skin.
I started making soap with the intent of having a healthy product. So, until a real live bona fide chemist tells me that lye neutralized turpentine, I'm going to skip this soaping project. I gave up Shout and other products for the same reason.

(a little off topic, but now someone says Borax is a danger??? I haven't looked into that)

Anyway, I'm lucky to know the deputy fire marshall of our city, and he can't speak to whether or not a homemade soap with turpentine being used on clothes would be an issue. But (of course) he said wouldn't recommend it.

As for you lucky people who have washed tons of laundry with all sort of flammable stuff on it.....(myself included, I oil paint occasionally), he said to stop it! He had 3 fires in 2 years due to chemicals in the wash....that chemicals often take several washes to remove, if ever, and all of that contaminated lint gets clogged up in the vent pipe, and that is often how the fire starts. That....and storing contaminated articles in unventilated areas, especially small laundry rooms, basements, where gases build up.

I'd forgotten about needing the dryer vent pipes cleaned out. Gotta put that on the list of things to do, along with the gutters. Drat.
 
My mom always added turpentine to my dads work clothes for umpteen years. I have used it for stains but not in the house...took the article of clothing outside and poured it on out there and rinsed with the hose...just to be safe.
 

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