My soap bars are pitted.

[PJ Oleham]

I got a soap cutter! Yay! Except, I am wondering if I am unmolding and cutting my soap too soon is why I am getting little pits in the soap as I cut it. I am unmolding and cutting at about 24-30 hours. Is this too soon? My first couple of batches I cut at 3 days, those had no pits, then read where others were unmolding after 24 hours, so I followed by unmolding and cutting with my new cutter after just one full day in the mold.
Question is: Can cutting too soon (even with a cutter) cause those little pits in the bars? Or could my cutter wire be the cause? Any clues? Thanks in advance! -PJ

 

[SweetHoneyHandmade]

Hi I don’t have an answer for you but I was hoping you could post a photo? I’m also new and I haven’t come across this issue yet

 

[Obsidian]

Wire cutters can cause little bumps, is this what you are seeing?

 

[Micchi]

The one downfall of wire cuttersn imo, is that they do make the soap look super bumpy. Planing fixes the issue, if you're going for a smooth and polished look.

 

[Susie]

I just started using a wire cutter (just today, in fact), and I cut 5 batches with not one pit or bump. I did take the time to wipe the wire periodically. Why are y'all getting pits and bumps? Do you have stuff like glitter, lavender buds, or other "things" in or on your soap that is being dragged through?

 

[earlene]

Perhaps it is the gauge of the wire and/or the tension of the wire? Both thickness of the wire and tension of the wire certainly matters when cutting anything. Increasing tension prior to cutting creates a cleaner cut, in my experience.

Perhaps it is specific to certain ingredients, including certain fats? I would not be surprised to get bumps in soap with added exfoliants, and non-tempered shea butter definitely causes bumps. But it does seem likely that a smaller gauge wire on a wire cutter would be less smooth than a larger gauge wire.

NB.
Larger gauge wire is has a smaller diameter than a smaller gauge wire. (I know, it seems counter intuitive.)
Of course, decreasing tension of the wire is advised for storage in between uses.

 

[dibbles]

To me, pits means depressions. Bumps protrude. Are the pits throughout the soap or just on the outside? If you are using a silicone mold, you could be seeing silicone rash caused by overheating. A picture would help.

 

[dixiedragon]

Pics please. I am having a hard time imagining how a wire cutter would cause pits. I'm more inclined to think your soap had small bubbles or holes that slicing revealed.

If you had debris on the wires, it could be dragged through the soap, causing scratches.

 

[DeeAnna]

Photos would be helpful -- I'm not really sure what you mean when you say you have pits in your soap. Here's what I have encountered in my soap making --

When I cut my soap with a wire cutter, the cut surfaces are bumpy. I think the bumps are caused by tiny lumps of slightly harder soap that pop out of the surface of the soap during the cut. I don't see these bumps when the soap is cut with a blade because I think the blade smears the lumps flat, but I nearly always see bumps on the soap when I cut it with a wire.

The first image of an ivory colored soap shows the bumpy surface after being cut by a wire. If I don't want the bumps, I plane a thin shaving off the cut faces and that solves the problem.

I think it's also helpful to cut the soap when it's firm like colby cheese -- not soft like brie and not hard like aged cheddar. And also tighten the wire so it makes a definite musical note when it's plucked like a guitar string. But even when I take my own advice, I still see the bumps.

I also sometimes see small holes too that are caused by air bubbles in the soap. This is caused when air gets beaten into the soap and most of the time I think it's how I use my stick blender. This is a (mostly) preventable problem -- don't whip air into the soap.

The second image of a golden colored neem soap is a closeup of what this looks like. This soap was cut with a wire and then planed, so you don't see bumps anymore, but the tiny craters from the air bubbles remain. The white spots are probably air bubbles that aren't cut open. The bubbles aren't nearly as obvious when you look at the real bar -- I've really blown this image up so you can see the detail.