Realistically, how long after pour is 'too late' to CPOP?
- Thread starter Noodge
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Yes, you can "oven process" the soap after it's saponified. I'm fairly sure this can be done even on well-cured soap, but I've not tried it. Here's my write-up that covers a couple of ways of doing this -- https://classicbells.com/soap/rescueOP.asp
artemis
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Soapish has a video on YouTube in which she OPs cut bars of soap.
rainycityjen
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This is genius. It makes a lot of sense.
I’ve used the oven approach with freshly cut bars with some success. It doesn’t seem to work as well for me when the soap is made using a relatively high lye concentration, for example 37% vs 33%.
Todd Ziegler
Circle Z soaps
What would be the purpose for doing this? I smell some knowledge to be learned here.
If your soap has partial gel or didn't gel and you want to be able to unmold, bringing it to gel after the fact will help. Gel also makes most colors more vibrant in my experience. I gel all my soaps.
Todd Ziegler
Circle Z soaps
I gel all of my soaps but I didn't know you could do it after the fact. I did a very extensive search for information about gelling and I never ran across this bit of information. In fact I have been writing a short piece on gelling that I plan to post in the beginning section. I have more soap testing to do before I post it because I want to be able to post actual results from test batches.
I don't know why but I love putting my soap through the gel phase. It is my favorite part aside from the first cut of a new batch. It is a geek thing lol.
On the whole, gelling soap increases the vibrancy of colors...think matt vs gloss. It also shortens the saponification process...in HP, saponification is do in just a few hours, in CP, saponification can easily takes 18 to 24 hours (or more). CPOP or other ways of 'forcing gel' (wrapping the mold in blankets, using a heating pad) can cut the process in half.
"...I gel all of my soaps but I didn't know you could do it after the fact. I did a very extensive search for information about gelling and I never ran across this bit of information...."
It's a problem solving technique, not something you'd want to do as a routine thing. I know about it and have done it, but I only use it once in a great while. IMO, it's in the same skill set as rebatching -- techniques that can come in handy, but aren't strictly necessary.
Also, I also don't think this method is widely known or used. I've only seen it discussed here. Which is why you might not have run across it elsewhere.
It's a problem solving technique, not something you'd want to do as a routine thing. I know about it and have done it, but I only use it once in a great while. IMO, it's in the same skill set as rebatching -- techniques that can come in handy, but aren't strictly necessary.
Also, I also don't think this method is widely known or used. I've only seen it discussed here. Which is why you might not have run across it elsewhere.
