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I got the idea from a post that DeeAnna made. I don't know if the soap works any better. In fact, I sort of doubt it. It just seems like a good way to get trace going evenly. The stearic acid seizes everything so quickly that not much can be done past the point of adding it with lye - at...

My latest shaving soaps have been very similar to what Lee has documented here. However, I have been combining the lye with the oils first, and then when they are thoroughly mixed, I add the stearic acid. It seems to make for a more homogenous end product in my opinion.

Let me see if I understand what you quoted. Is the study saying that the fatty acids saponify in a different ratio at different temperatures?

I would guess that the order has to be a good size to justify the extra work. Of course, with a power grater and the right equipment, the process could go fairly fast, especially if your store large amounts of grated soap ready to melt. Hmm, this might be useful to keep scents fresh in my...

I saw that, but like you mentioned in that thread, time was a factor they didn't discuss and it really is important to know that in order to understand the meaning a bit better.

TEF posted this link in another thread: http://cavemanchemistry.com/LyeDiscount-Dunn.pdf It seems to verify that the fatty acid profile of the superfat is not the same as the initial oils used - at least for the 3-4 combos that were tested in this article. It seems to support...

Interesting. How do you add scent to an already made soap?

I've noticed that many seem to choose a favorite shaving soap by scent. I've also seen the overwhelming attention paid to color and shape with regular bar soaps. There seems to be very little attention paid to the attributes of different formulas. It's mostly praise for scent and color. All...

All of my pH tests have been take from the center of a fresh cut. I don't doubt that different formulation will react with lye slower or faster, which is why I agree that pH testing is useful only if you are dealing with a soap you've made and tested before. When I first started this, I was...

What has stuck with me most during this experiment was that there was no zap after 48 hours on the 10% lye-heavy soap, yet visually, the soap was so different that I instantly would have known something was not right (if this wasn't an experiment). The soap was so hard and so brittle that it...

Just as doing a pH test to all your batches will give you information, and a lot more than a lick will. Though, the "only takes 2 seconds" does have merit. :)

I was a biology major and I don't remember that one coming up, but then again, it was over 40 years ago.

This make sense to me, but it also reinforces my thoughts on zap testing being pretty much worthless (pH testing a known formula isn't much better in my opinion). Since, I'm waiting six weeks or more before using the soap, what possible purpose could putting my tongue on it serve? I already...

Thanks for the explanation of the theory, Lee.

So, the acceptable limit is 1 part per trillion, interesting. So, the zap test is no where near accurate for determining safety of a soap.

True, it may still have a very small amount of lye in it, but with the pH falling as low as it has, I'm betting it would be a barely measurable amount. After 48 hrs, it obviously had lye in it, even though it did not zap. The pH was quite a bit higher and that has to be from the lye. I'll...

I did the 1-week pH tests and got this result: 5% SF Soap - pH 10.38 -10% SF Soap - pH 10.26 I calibrated the pH pen before testing. I also checked a previously tested soap to see if I got the same reading - I did. The lye-heavy soap is definitely no longer lye-heavy. I washed...

The book looks like it would be a good one to have even if it doesn't give the answers I'm looking for.

That analogy is not hard to follow, but it doesn't explain the chemistry that I was hoping to find. I've always been a person who like to know why. That does not explain why or how it happens - just that it does. How did someone initially determine this? I can understand that the lye...

I probably just don't understand saponification and how it works. I tried to research this before bringing this up, but I can't find anything on the web that discussed the chemistry, explaining how the different fatty acids are saponified at approximately the same rate, with the explanation. As...