SC - soap

[marilyn traber]

a hard white soap: 6.5 lbs rendered fat, 1 can commercial lye, .5 cup
sugar[to make it lather, thats what it says, don't blame me...]

render the fat, grind it finely then place in a shallow pan and put in a
warm oven[250-300*f] pouring off the liquid fat periodically. the whole
process should take a half an hour. strain the resulting liquid through
cheesecloth to remove any crunchy bits. next place the fat into a pot with
an equal amount of water and bring to a boil. Pour the fat off the top and
discard the sediment.

Next, buy a container of flake lye, there are various brands available.

Use only enamel or stainless steel pots. next, it mentions that you add the
lye to the fat and some recipes are not specific, but there is a temperature
guideline for the people who have not grown up making soap, and therefor
don't do it by rote.

sweet lard 85*f, lye solution at 75*f
half lard, half tallow 110*f, lye soln at 85*f
all tallow 130*f, lye soln at 95*f

now, i know people have mentioned on the list they just pours 'em together
and stirs, but since the article also mentions this chart comes off the
package of lye, how about giving it a try in the interest of safety-chemical
caustics combined with organics can have drastic exothermic reactions...we
dont need to lose members of the list for trying to recreate a medieval
soaper who presumably was trined to make soap by the seat of his pants and
probably knew how to figure the temperatures to do it safely...

dissolve sugar in 1 cup very hot water, add this to 4 cups warm water. now
empty a can of  lye slowly into the mixture and stir. the lye will heat up
on contact with the water  and cause fumes therefor it should be done
outside or in a well ventilated place. it is also a good precaution to have
on hand a glass of vinegar in water to sip to stop  coughing or to wash
drips on the skin.

as the temperatures of both liquids reach those speecfied, pour the fat into
the lye in a thin stream, stirring constantly. when the mixture approximates
the consistancy of honey, pour the liquid soap into a shallow pan or box
that has been lined with a cloth wrung out in cold water. score the soap
when slightly hardened. when set cut into squares/unmold and store.

note- it should cool and harden slowly, it says that you can set it out
under blankets to insulate and retain the heat or  since this is a self
sufficiency book, slide it under a woodstove used for heating and that it
should take several days to cure before cutting/unmolding.

margali




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