How different oils effect soaps - how to determine which oils are doing what?

[RogueRose]

Each soap I have made has had a number of different oils in them and I am wondering if anyone makes any soaps with only one oil or with something like a 5% for superfatting.

I'd like to make soaps to compare the qualities of each oil, so I guess the recipe should be the same for each batch, but changing the base oil.

Has anyone done this to see how each oil acts? I would be doing small batches which may present a problem, can 50gram batches be made?

Any thoughts or info are appreciated!

**I made a post for the different values of all the oils in the soapcalc program. It is on this thread:
Oil Values

 

[DiddlyO]

This has been done by a few people, google single oil soaps and you will find them

 

[lsg]

Here is a link with a chart that might help:

http://www.soap-making-essentials.com/soap-making-oils.html#.U_nnhK0d85s

 

[gibbylet]

If you haven't seen this it's good at describing the oil properties when it comes to soap making
http://www.summerbeemeadow.com/content/properties-soapmaking-oils

I haven't seen anything about trying a 1 oil soap though, and from what I've read I'm guessing I might stick with a 3 oil mix for testing, keeping the first two olive and coconut for instance, and trying out a number of other 3rds to see what that did. If I was feeling bold maybe olive oil plus a second oil for testing purposes...

 

[Susie]

I, personally, would not go under 16 oz of oil, as any tiny errors with the weights affects the soap quite a bit.

Also, if you make 100% Olive oil(aka Castile) soap, it is going to take months to cure.

Shortly after I made my first batch of soap, I read somewhere(and I can't find it now, but will look when I wake up more) that other than Castile, soap should ideally contain brittle at room temperature oils(coconut/PKO), solid at room temperature oils(lard/tallow/palm), and liquid at room temperature oils(olive/hemp/almond/avacado/etc). I have stuck with that vague recipe with the addition of castor, and now sugar for bubbles and been happy with it. I tried making soap with 5% more exotic oils and butters, with no noticeable improvement to me. YMMV, though.

 

[Relle]

I haven't seen anything about trying a 1 oil soap though, and from what I've read I'm guessing I might stick with a 3 oil mix for testing, keeping the first two olive and coconut for instance, and trying out a number of other 3rds to see what that did. If I was feeling bold maybe olive oil plus a second oil for testing purposes...

This has been done on the forum and here is the link
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=31215