Antique Soaping Information

[Saipan]

Not sure if this is the correct place, so move if needed.

Does anyone know what was typically used for soap molds before silicon and plastic?

I'm guessing wood, with freezer type paper.

I'm interested in what an old factory would have used.

 

[DeeAnna]

Factory soap molds in the 1800s and early 1900s were wood or cast iron or a combination of both. No, they didn't line the molds. The molds were typically quite large.

Remember the soap made in factories was generally not made with a cold process method ... or even hot process as we handcrafters do it.

 

[shunt2011]

Most of the soap made in the early years was more of a gel soap and poured into barrels as to make hard soap they would have needed to salt it out and salt was usually better used for other purposes (animals, cooking etc). However, those that chose to salt it out would pour it into a wooden frame until it hardened and then would cut it after that.

They wouldn't have had freezer paper back when my grandmother was making soap or before.

DeeAnna was faster than I.

 

[penelopejane]

Syrians use the concrete floor. I guess they originally used a tiled or even timber floor.

 

[kmkieva]

Crafting traditional olive oil soap in Nablus

Here's a link to traditional olive oil soap:

 

[DeeAnna]

Oops. I should have been more helpful. What I was thinking of were the factories in Europe, England, and North America that made bar soap in the mid to late 1800s. Other countries and other times are different. By the molds being "quite large" I should have explained the molds in some of these factories would hold upwards of 1200 pounds (550 kg) or so.

 

[Obsidian]

When my grandmother made soap back when I was in grade school, she used a wooden slab mold lined with a plastic bag.

 

[KristaY]

My dad remembers watching his mother make soap when he was a kid. He doesn't remember much of the ingredients or process just that she cooked it in a big pot then poured it into a wood tray that his dad built out of scrap lumber. Unfortunately she died when I was about 14 so I never got to see her soaping method. I wouldn't have understood it then but I'd be fascinated by it now!

 

[DeeAnna]

My grandmother's lard soap was poured into a wooden fruit crate lined with newspaper. I would think the soap would have stuck to the newspaper, but it didn't. She left it in the crate until it was firm and then cut it into large rough chunks for use in the laundry. For some reason she left a spoon stuck in the last batch of soap she made in the late 70s; my sister-in-law still has the chunk of soap with the spoon in it.

 

[Saipan]

My grandmother's lard soap was poured into a wooden fruit crate lined with newspaper. I would think the soap would have stuck to the newspaper, but it didn't. She left it in the crate until it was firm and then cut it into large rough chunks for use in the laundry. For some reason she left a spoon stuck in the last batch of soap she made in the late 70s; my sister-in-law still has the chunk of soap with the spoon in it.

Well, my grandmother used wooden fruit crates as well, and I see you are from Iowa, makes me think it was a common practice here.

Cleaning out my Aunt's house last year I actually acquired 20 or so of these crates.

 

[SleepingDogsLye]

Here's a link to traditional olive oil soap:

Found a video of what looks like the same factory.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWmFMDr7y0U[/ame]

Interesting process.

 

[fatpigeon]

That is SO COOL!!