How do you know when your lye water is ready?

[LatherMeUp]

When you make lye water from wood ash, the resulting water that leeches the lye. Don't you boil it after that? How long? How do you know when the lye is ready to combine with the fat for saponification? Thanks.

 

[thefarmerdaughter]

potash can be made, but why? damp wood ashes are caustic. Its not something I would enter into lightly. I'm not trying to scare you but, Please arm your self with as much info as possible

 

[Seifenblasen]

This may be of interest to you:

http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_ashlye.html

But I do agree with the farmerdaughter, it is not something you should try unless you have a good grasp of chemistry. (Could be fun as a science project). The finished product will mostly likely be quite harsh.

 

[LatherMeUp]

Don't you all use lye to make your soap?

 

[Seifenblasen]

Yes, but most of us use lye that is 98 plus percent pure NaOH. Making your own lye water from wood ash results in mostly a POH solution with a lot of impurities.

 

[LatherMeUp]

Oh. No store bought lye for me. . Looking for the old ways.

Found this though: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5373

Thanks for the help.

 

[Seifenblasen]

Oh, I guess I wasn't much help!

To be honest, one of these days I want to try making my own lye solution just to have the experience, but I don't think I will ever give up the food-grade NaOH I buy. I applaud your conviction. Please do share with us with your results as I am very interested to know.

 

[Bicycle808]

Oh. No store bought lye for me. . Looking for the old ways.

Found this though: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5373

Thanks for the help.

I thoroughly and sincerely respect your ambition.

I'd just feel remiss if I didn't mention that, in the old days, the old ways didn't always produce consistent/reliable results. I'm willing to bet you already realize that, and as a true adherent to the old ways, you're willing to live with a truly old-timey bath product. OTOH, if you're hoping to produce soap in such a way as to allow you some control in creating specific properties and effects, food-grade lye is cheap and very consistent.

Even with my new-fangled ready-made, bought-not-built lye, most of my friends/family feel like my CP soapmaking smacks of smug Luddism as it is.

good luck; please do let us know how it all turns out!

 

[crafter]

I haven't tried the "make your own lye" method... yet.

That's a big variable to throw in soap making. What kind of ashes are you using? Red oak, pine???

That harkens back to great soap that would peel the hide off some body.

A good project to undertake seems to me.

 

[booboo]

I tryed it some years back but failed, the water did not even have a hint of a sting to it! I read somewhere apple wood is the best. I would love to hear the results of your experment!

 

[new12soap]

I believe the lye that you get from ash will be "potash" or potassium hydroxide, not sodium hydroxide. There is no way to guage how caustic it is or how much of it is needed to saponify your oils. The resulting soap is very soft and gooey, and they had to heavily salt the soap in order to make it firm enough to use. It was often very slimy and harsh with little or no lather. It was also quite common to be burned or blinded by lye.

For myself, I will stick to my new-fangled ways and use that computer thingie and the inter-webs and the rest of the modern conveniences that make life and soapmaking so much safer.

Good luck to you.

 

[Seifenblasen]

I tryed it some years back but failed, the water did not even have a hint of a sting to it! I read somewhere apple wood is the best. I would love to hear the results of your experment!

Did you use the egg float and/or chicken feather test?

This is another good article of making soap the old fashioned way.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/modern-h ... fzfre.aspx

 

[thefarmerdaughter]

For myself, I will stick to my new-fangled ways and use that computer thingie and the inter-webs and the rest of the modern conveniences that make life and soapmaking so much safer..

I second that!

I understand wanting to make things from scratch. There are many home products that I make. I enjoy it, I can control ingredients, it reduces waste, it cuts down on my living expenses, I could go on and on... I've thought about making my own lye. According to a book I own a person can make both potash and sodium hydroxide. But I would rather focus on learning to make great soap first. If i need to use "modern" methods to get a good grasp on the basics, thats fine by me.

 

[booboo]

I tryed it some years back but failed, the water did not even have a hint of a sting to it! I read somewhere apple wood is the best. I would love to hear the results of your experment!

Did you use the egg float and/or chicken feather test?

This is another good article of making soap the old fashioned way.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/modern-h ... fzfre.aspx

I tried both and then a hydrometer, if I remember right I was not consistent enough in flushing the water back through the woodash.
I would like to give it another go one day maybe when the snow comes, as I said I would love to hear your progress
I was going to say that you may find someone with experiance on a homesteading forum?

 

[louiet]

In the "good old days" they worked way too hard sometimes. Yes, run water through ashes and then boil it down to half a cup. Lets say you have two five gallon buckets. Drill a bunch of 1/8 inch holes in one and line the bottom with 6 inches of hay. push that down some. Pack that bad boy hard with ashes. Cycle 2 gallons through that. Boil all that comes out down to half a cup. Or, you can stand and stir all day boiling off water. Your choice. Even then, it might not be strong enough. Close but, it might surprise you that it has to be stronger.

I aim for 3/8 cup of concentrate from 1 gallon of lye water. Start somewhere.

 

[kdaniels8811]

I made my own lye years ago and the soap was really harsh - as in take the skin off your hands. I also rendered my own pig and beef fat with a little chicken thrown in. The quality of soap I make today is so much better in terms of gentleness, consistency and ease. I applaud the efforts but realize you have no control over the harshness of the finished product. Mine used to eat holes in clothing! Good luck. I am thankful for some of our modern conveniences.