I apologize if this has been addressed before, but I've read posts on borax until my eyes have crossed and didn't see an answer. I would like to add borax to make HP bar soap, mostly for it's possible water softening ability. I've seen varying amounts for CP soap mentioned but not HP. Anyone have a suggestion for a good amount PPO, or a percentage of oils to use? I would be adding it dissolved in liquid after the cook. Should I try the same amount as for CP? And if so, how much would that be? I would like to try it for water softening, not necessarily for mechanic's soap or any heavy duty cleansing. I have seen old recipes (that I can't remember where) that used pretty small amounts of borax, so I just wanted advice so as not to use too much.
How much Borax for HP bar soap?
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artemis
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My notes say 1.1 oz per pound of oils. That's information I gleaned from things Earlene has said. If you search for blacksmith, you might find the thread. As for CP vs HP, the recipes aren't really any different from each other, except for amount of water, so I don't think you need a different amount of borax for HP.
See this link in the blacksmith soap thread for a detailed breakdown of how much Borax I use in the soaps I have made using Borax and why I used the amounts I did.
The recipe I originally used as my inspiration was in a book I borrowed from my local library. I don't recall exactly which book that was, but I think it was the Norma J. Coney book, The Complete Soapmaker (1997 - first paperback edition).
Since that blacksmith soap thread, I have made still more soap for my brother, using the Borax and pumice combination, since that is what he prefers. I seem to like 2.3 grams of Borax per 1000 grams of oils. If you convert that to ounces, you will find that is really not a lot of Borax.
There is another Borax soap recipe online that I have seen, but it uses cups as the unit of measure, which is not good for soapmaking. Weight is far more reliable when making soap. Also it uses 58 times more Borax than I use in my Blacksmith soap and a tad less oils. I have no idea how that much Borax affects the soap, as I have never used that much in bar soap. This a link to it if you want to read more.
The recipe I originally used as my inspiration was in a book I borrowed from my local library. I don't recall exactly which book that was, but I think it was the Norma J. Coney book, The Complete Soapmaker (1997 - first paperback edition).
Since that blacksmith soap thread, I have made still more soap for my brother, using the Borax and pumice combination, since that is what he prefers. I seem to like 2.3 grams of Borax per 1000 grams of oils. If you convert that to ounces, you will find that is really not a lot of Borax.
There is another Borax soap recipe online that I have seen, but it uses cups as the unit of measure, which is not good for soapmaking. Weight is far more reliable when making soap. Also it uses 58 times more Borax than I use in my Blacksmith soap and a tad less oils. I have no idea how that much Borax affects the soap, as I have never used that much in bar soap. This a link to it if you want to read more.
