Cleaning the Planet--One Filthy Hippy at a Time!

[MindFreeza]

Hi, my name is Kurt. I just started some experiments in soap making with amazingly positive results. I will hopefully soon have a plentiful supply of hand-crafted soap ready for sale and/or barter at my local farmers' market. I figure that quality soap may line my pockets with a little fiat 'n turnips in the short-term, but in the long-term the ability to manufacture soap could be a valuable asset to any social group. (Remember kiddies: pachouli+b.o.=pachouli+b.o.)

Has anybody here ever made soap using potassium hydroxide leached from wood ash? Any tips/pitfalls would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[sharqi]

Is potassium hydroxide the same as lye? I've never made lye, but I've read a lot about soap making, and it seems fairly easy, and interesting. What's your source of fat? I have not made soap yet mostly because I've been warned about the caustic nature of it until it's hardened, and warned to NOT ever make soap with a kid around. Since my kid is around 24/7, I won't be making soap for many more years.

If you live anywhere near central Illinois, I have a winter's worth of hardwood ashes I'd like to trade for some finished product.

carey

[Guest]

Hello Carey. Well, potassium hydroxide (KOH) is different from sodium hydroxide (NaOH), which is lye. I have been making soap with sodium hydroxide, which is pretty cheap and available online (http://www.aaa-chemicals.com). Potassium hydroxide is what you can get by letting water run slowly through hardwood ash (so sez teh intertubes). I want to experiment a bit with the wood ash method because wood is a readily available local material, whereas FedEx boxes are not an indigenous species.

Soap making is fun and pretty easy. As for the caustic nature of lye water, I personally like the mad scientist feeling I get every time I don my rubber gloves and goggles. Makes me cackle madly a bit, scares the shit out of the cats. Definitely not something you can do with kids. Unless you're making soap with kids, which would get two birds stoned at once. Maybe a basement with a locked door or a garage? As long as there is plenty of ventilation---the lye + water reaction releases toxic vapor, as well as quite a bit of heat. I splashed some lye water on my skin a couple of times and lived to tell the tale. The first time it happened I had white vinegar ready just in case, and the second time I just rinsed my arm under some running water. Both times it left a little redness which went away in a day or so. I think the only real danger would be getting the stuff in your eyes.

My two main sources of fat have been unbaptized orphans and my wife's ass...........
I am a cook, so large chunks of beef fat are an occasional windfall. Chopped up into teeny bits, into the big ole stock pot, boil the b'jesus out of it, strain it, cool it, refrigerate it, and voila! lovely white-chocolate-looking pure tallow! I have also used olive oil and coconut oil mixed with a touch of rosemary essential oil. Lovely stuff.

I am currently washing a herd of hippies in New York's Hudson Valley in order to fulfill my community service obligations as mandated by the Judicious Auspices of Virtuous Endeavor of Her Majesty's Royal Mounting Inquest of the Most Ancient Order of the Crooked Sabre's Brigadier Court, so Illinois would be a bit far for a swap. Here are a few sites which were helpful to me:

http://www.soapguild.org
http://www.teachsoap.com
http://www.brambleberry.com(best lye calculator, IMO)
http://www.thesage.com

YouTube has a pretty good selection of instructional videos.

?--kurt--!

[MindFreeza]

Hello Carey. Well, potassium hydroxide (KOH) is different from sodium hydroxide (NaOH), which is lye. I have been making soap with sodium hydroxide, which is pretty cheap and available online (http://www.aaa-chemicals.com). Potassium hydroxide is what you can get by letting water run slowly through hardwood ash (so sez teh intertubes). I want to experiment a bit with the wood ash method because wood is a readily available local material, whereas FedEx boxes are not an indigenous species.

Soap making is fun and pretty easy. As for the caustic nature of lye water, I personally like the mad scientist feeling I get every time I don my rubber gloves and goggles. Makes me cackle madly a bit, scares the shit out of the cats. Definitely not something you can do with kids. Unless you're making soap with kids, which would get two birds stoned at once. Maybe a basement with a locked door or a garage? As long as there is plenty of ventilation---the lye + water reaction releases toxic vapor, as well as quite a bit of heat. I splashed some lye water on my skin a couple of times and lived to tell the tale. The first time it happened I had white vinegar ready just in case, and the second time I just rinsed my arm under some running water. Both times it left a little redness which went away in a day or so. I think the only real danger would be getting the stuff in your eyes.

My two main sources of fat have been unbaptized orphans and my wife's ass...........
I am a cook, so large chunks of beef fat are an occasional windfall. Chopped up into teeny bits, into the big ole stock pot, boil the b'jesus out of it, strain it, cool it, refrigerate it, and voila! lovely white-chocolate-looking pure tallow! I have also used olive oil and coconut oil mixed with a touch of rosemary essential oil. Lovely stuff.

I am currently washing a herd of hippies in New York's Hudson Valley in order to fulfill my community service obligations as mandated by the Judicious Auspices of Virtuous Endeavor of Her Majesty's Royal Mounting Inquest of the Most Ancient Order of the Crooked Sabre's Brigadier Court, so Illinois would be a bit far for a swap. Here are a few sites which were helpful to me:

http://www.soapguild.org
http://www.teachsoap.com
http://www.brambleberry.com(best lye calculator, IMO)
http://www.thesage.com

YouTube has a pretty good selection of instructional videos.

?--kurt--!

that last post was me...still getting used to this new Apple IIGS...damn cassette drive keeps jamming...Frogger!!.......

?--kurt--!