[Ansteorra] need source for real lye soap

[mikea]

On Thu, May 06, 2010 at 03:15:56PM -0500, Stephanie Suesan Smith wrote:
> Well,the problem is you need fire, ashes, lye, a large kettle, and all day
> to make it.  It would cost several hundred dollars to do all that for one
> bar, once.

Fire: Use stove.

Ashes: See lye, below.

Lye: Buy at store.

Kettle: Any large glass or iron cooking vessel. Stainless steel also may
        work; I am given to understand that aluminum is _NOT_ a good
        choice.

Fat: Bacon and hamburger drippings, chilled so that the fat rises to the
     top. Ditto mutton fat, if you can get it. Remove the solidified
     fat, add to the far jar or can until you have enough. Cooking oil
     may also work: it's a fat, too.

All day: for small batches, maybe an hour or so. Until it's "done",
certainly, as you want all the lye to have reacted. A slight excess 
of fat is a good thing.

If you absolutely insist on doing it as it was done in AD 1300, then
yes, fire, wood ashes, a large iron kettle, and all day, but the state
of the art has advanced since then, and current technology changes the
list to stove, lye, oil and/or other fats, and a time depending on the
size of the batch.

I suspect that the lighter fats and oils will make liquid soaps, and the
heavier (denser, longer-chain, higher melting point) fats will make more
solid soaps. That's just conjecture, but if it's true, then you'll want
to raise the proportion of beef/mutton/pork fat and tallow.

-- 
Mike Andrews        /   Michael Fenwick    Barony of Namron, Ansteorra
mikea at mikea.ath.cx  /   Amateur Extra radio operator W5EGO
Tired old music Laurel; Chirurgeon; SCAdian since AS XI