Hot Process and cutting

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mommycarlson

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Okay, I have two different topics. I made my first hot process soap last night. It turned out okay, but this morning I realized that I did it with a lye concentration instead of with 38% water as percent of oil. I probably should have used a 38% recipe? It cooked pretty fast, and did not make the full hour it was supposed to be in the crock pot. Also, one website said to stir and one said not to. I stirred. I'm not sure if I did it right or not. I also had some spices I was going to add and forgot them. I did remember the EO's and the Jojoba, so I sprinkled some of the spice mixture on top of the loaf. I unmolded and cut it this morning, it's a much different texture than CP, it's just like my first batch that I had to rebatch.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated. I don't know that I'll be in a hurry to do HP again but it would be nice to have some ideas.

Now, my second issue. Cutting. I have one of those cutters with the wooden handle, not a spackle knife like I've seen on some videos. I bought a miter box because I was having trouble cutting my soap straight. I always measured and marked but ended up with the bottom end being fatter. So I thought the miter box would solve my problems. Not so much, my bars are still uneven no matter how hard I try to get them cut straight. I think my cutter flexes, I tried watching it as I cut and it seems like the cutter even with limited area still goes crooked when I cut, plus the blade flexes and I end up with fat spots right in the middle of a bar. Any suggestions?

Thanks everyone!
Beth
 
You can put spacers in the vertical part of the mitre box where the blade goes so the blade is tight in the vertical part and can't flex.
I hope I have explained this well enough so you can understand.
 
^^^ What penelopejane said.
Then I use the 4" wide scraper with a thick non flexing scraper part. They are available at Lowe's, The Home Depot etc here in the States.
If you don't have a mitre box you can use a home made box and saw your own cutting channel.

Feel free to pm if you have lot's of ??'s
 
Thank you for your responses. I went to Home Depot today and they did not have any of the stiff scraper things, only flexible and stiff ones that weren't wide enough. I'll keep looking. I do like the idea of putting a spacer in my miter box, it's a new wooden one and was really a good price. That wire one looks great, a little spendy for me :) I'll have to mention the spacer to DH, he will be thrilled to have another project :)
 
I would check your local restaurant supply store or even Bed, Bath & Beyond for the stiffer, wider cutters like Susie linked. I got a wavy cutter at the local Restaurant Depot. The second pic Susie linked looks like a dough scraper to me.
 
I already have a wavy cutter, I have the same problem with it being flexible. I have one of those dough scraper things too, but mine is bent, perhaps it was because I also used it to scrap wallpaper off years ago :???: I'll look again, maybe Walmart has stiff scraper. We don't have any of those other stores here in our town. I did find one on Amazon so that may be what I order. Thank you!
 
Oops, didn't realize you already had a wavy cutter. I kinda hate mine because I always cut wonky bars with it. My dough scraper has a much stiffer blade (couldn't bend it if I tried) but so far I haven't used it for cutting soap.

Do you happen to have a wire cheese cutter? I used one of those for years and cut much straighter with it than a blade style cutter.
 
I bought my wavy potato cutter from a restaurant supply. I could not bend it if I had to. Ditto my bench scraper. Too stiff for me to bend. But I bought the one that you can cut veggies with specifically.
 

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