Curing and Storage Question

[not_ally]

Cenz, I am always cross-posting and ETA'ing. I spend way too much time here ..

ETA (had to do it, you know, I like to cure the soaps on a rack for the initial part of the cure. I don't think I am going to put them in the boxes until that part is over.

 

[kumudini]

Ok, I need names for the best suppliers of the baseball storage boxes. I am running out of shoe boxes. lol

Edit: I was called away from the computer for a couple of minutes and it seems my question was answered before I posted it.

That's because I had the same question before you and not_ally is really fast at answering
Thanks B, I visited a website that I have no other use for except the boxes which I might end up buying someday. I just don't have enough space to store 190 boxes at the moment.

 

[not_ally]

K, I am hoping that those boxes are flat until you undo them/take up v. little space. I live in a 1 BR apt ...

 

[shunt2011]

K, I am hoping that those boxes are flat until you undo them/take up v. little space. I live in a 1 BR apt ...

Mine came flat and I had to put them together. I don't cure my soaps in them. I wait till cured/wrapped/labeled. Just use little stickies with their fragrance and date on them so I know what's in them

 

[KristaMarie]

I've been dying to get baseball card boxes, but am having a hard time justifying the expense. It's so much more fun to by oils and EOs!

 

[cm4bleenmb]

bad to store soap on cardboard?

I thought I saw something about it not being a good idea to store your soap on cardboard, but haven't been able to find it again--I'm assuming it was on this forum since it's pretty much my main source--and I could be remembering it wrong. Does anyone have any input on this? Pro or con?

 

[MorpheusPA]

I thought I saw something about it not being a good idea to store your soap on cardboard, but haven't been able to find it again--I'm assuming it was on this forum since it's pretty much my main source--and I could be remembering it wrong. Does anyone have any input on this? Pro or con?

Cardboard can get a little greasy, retain scent, or get those little flecks of soap left over from cutting on them which then solidify and adhere (seemingly getting harder than any fingernail could ever manage).

You can get around that by putting wax paper on the bottom (and sides if you want) and simply changing the paper when you change the soap that's in there. I can't say the scent retention of cardboard has ever been noticeably bad to my nose, but the grease marks? Absolutely!

I store my finished soap in 1020 seedling flat bases that have cracked or gotten a hole in them and can't be used for sprouts any longer. But in my case, I generate a few of those per year from the annual starting process.

 

[not_ally]

Morpheus, not sure how to describe this, but does the cardboard extract scent from the soap? I don't mind if the boxes retain some, but not if it means the soaps don't smell as strong as they would stored in some other way.

 

[TwystedPryncess]

There was something here somewhere on these boards about someone storing their soap in the cardboard shipping mailer they got it in, and *if* I remember right, possibly some other type of cardboard boxes that they may have suspected speeded up DOS of the soap. I am on my mobile though, it's 2 a. m., and I'm being lazy and just running off memory. Not sure where that thread is, and I'm too brain dead to find it atm.
Not sure if any/all cardboard is a playing factor, as that post scared me away from cardboard completely, but it would be nice to hear from some of you ladies if you have been able to keep your stuff successfully in the BBC boxes without DOS at least 6 months or more. Right now I just have been expanding with yard sale shelving or Harbor Freight plastic shelving and, well, ya know, that one room is only so big.

 

[shunt2011]

I can honest.y say that I have been storing them in the baseball boxes for over 4 years now and have never had a problem with scent transfer nor have I ever had DOS. They are stored in a relatively cool room that is fairly dark. I've left soap in the boxes inside a plastic storage container all winter and still perfectly perfect soap.

 

[MorpheusPA]

Morpheus, not sure how to describe this, but does the cardboard extract scent from the soap? I don't mind if the boxes retain some, but not if it means the soaps don't smell as strong as they would stored in some other way.

Nope, it just picks up a faint odor of what's in the box. And to my nose, it's really very faint and I'd call the scent "soapy" more than anything else.

It's nothing that kills the scent in the soap, and nothing I would think would transfer to anything else.

 

[cm4bleenmb]

There was something here somewhere on these boards about someone storing their soap in the cardboard shipping mailer they got it in, and *if* I remember right, possibly some other type of cardboard boxes that they may have suspected speeded up DOS of the soap. I am on my mobile though, it's 2 a. m., and I'm being lazy and just running off memory. Not sure where that thread is, and I'm too brain dead to find it atm.
Not sure if any/all cardboard is a playing factor, as that post scared me away from cardboard completely, but it would be nice to hear from some of you ladies if you have been able to keep your stuff successfully in the BBC boxes without DOS at least 6 months or more. Right now I just have been expanding with yard sale shelving or Harbor Freight plastic shelving and, well, ya know, that one room is only so big.

That sounds like it might be the same one. I suck at searching the forum . . . and then I get distracted by all the other great stuff that comes up . . .

It made me curious because I didn't understand why cardboard should cause DOS. It's a cheap and easily obtained storage option, and I found that the thin cardboard that separates the two layers of cans in a case of beer is a good fit for the wire cooling racks I repurposed to soap curing, so I'm glad to see that this didn't immediately garner a slew of "OMG. Don't ever set your soap on cardboard!" responses.

 

[TwystedPryncess]

The culprits were, if I remember, more the postage mailers than anything, so mayhap thick cardboard. Someone else (but don't quote me) might have thought bare wire racks might have attributed to DOS as well. But of course a lot of other factors can attribute as well, and who knows on a case by case basis what other factors could have been involved in the OP's cases at any given time. Personally I would love to store my stuff in baseball card boxes with thier packaging idea on a pic in the box, so when ready I could package as needed. Let them rest naked. Although in the last month or so I haven't had time to make any soap. Bleh.

 

[DeeAnna]

Some types of cardboard and paper will release acids and other chemicals over time. These fumes come from the paper fibers themselves as well as the glue in cardboard. They can cause discoloration and other damage to materials that touch the paper/cardboard. I store my soap in cardboard "flats" but I always, always line the flats with clean, lint-free cotton toweling.

This quote of mine might be what some of you are remembering:

"...I had given some bars of soap to a friend some time ago. When she showed me the bars recently, I was really embarrassed to find some of the bars were completely orange and smelled funky -- they obviously had a bad case of rancidity. I scooped up those bars and brought them home (I'm afraid I didn't give her the courtesy of asking!). I frantically dug out the corresponding samples in my "bone pile" and compared them to hers. The ones from my bone pile were fine. She had stored hers in an old cardboard box. I know some types of cardboard can offgas acid and other chemicals from the glue and paper. I'm guessing that was the problem...."

Source: http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=45657

ETA: Yes, metals can and do cause DOS. My apologies to the owner of the attached photo -- I do not have your name to give credit to! I have also seen this on my own soaps that have been wet and in contact with metal.

 

[TwystedPryncess]

Yay!!! Thanks so so much for finding this! :clap: