Easy to make wood mold.

[DWinMadison]

That sounds like a great idea!

I have some at home. When we get back from Orange Beach I'll post pics. If you are planning to use them and building your own molds, I'd plan on adding 1/3" a 1/2" in width to all dimensions to accommodate for their thickness. These would work fantastically with your mold design.

Be sure to use a straight-edge like a ruler and be slow and patient in making your cuts.

 

[alongsoak]

Great idea! I've been thinking about doing this for a while. I might get going on this during Christmas break as a holiday gift to myself.

Thanks!

 

[dwolanin]

Hey guys, I made one of Beachy's molds tonight! Here is a picture of and I will be making another for the silicone mold underneath it LOL. Thank you so much for putting this tutorial up! It was simple and clear. Thank you Thank you~

 

[JustBeachy]

Hey guys, I made one of Beachy's molds tonight! Here is a picture of and I will be making another for the silicone mold underneath it LOL. Thank you so much for putting this tutorial up! It was simple and clear. Thank you Thank you~

Nice job. I agree, it's a really easy mold to make and it's great when it comes time to unmold. Glad to be able to help out.

 

[welsh black]

That's fantastic. I'm going to get my son to make one for me, !!

 

[ngian]

Very nice idea JustBeachy with the way that this mold was assembled.

I did mine the other day and overall I'm pleased apart from the fact that I need a screw driver to umold: http://frames.imagedit.net/index.php?fID=156

I might alter mine to be like yours...

Nikos

 

[JustBeachy]

good looking mold. I looked at something like that before I built mine.

I've been getting some PM's about increasing the size of the mold. While it could easily go up to a five pound mold, I've thought up a different design to make a "multi-loaf" mold that would still fit in a standard oven. Thinking of one that would work as either a 6 lb or 12lb mold. I'm hoping to slow down on life stuff a little this weekend and may put one together. If so I'll post some more pics/instructions.

 

[Dahila]

I have a question (my hubby is going to make one for me) 3 pounds of soap or 3 pounds of base oil. With water and lye 3 pounds become more. Is your measurement including water or it is for 3 pound of complete soap? I hope you do understand what I am asking )

 

[JustBeachy]

I have a question (my hubby is going to make one for me) 3 pounds of soap or 3 pounds of base oil. With water and lye 3 pounds become more. Is your measurement including water or it is for 3 pound of complete soap? I hope you do understand what I am asking )

Perfectly. Just had this discussion in a couple of PM.

The mold in this thread is designed to make a 3lb loaf of soap. The base recipes I use in this mold, have a little over 33 oz of oils. I measure in grams so it's 956.75 to be exact. Estimated finished volume is 48 oz, or 3lbs.

 

[Luckyone80]

How did I miss this thread?!? I bought one of these exact type of molds off of E-Bay back in October and I love it! I do need to make the modification though and add the brackets to the bottom b/c I have had my bottom come loose during banging out airbubbles so that is a fantastic fix!

 

[abc]

This is a great thread! I think it should be a sticky... :clap: JustBeachy!!

I'm going to run to Lowe's to get a 1x4, 1x3 and 1x5 at some point. Hopefully I can get one standard mold and one tall and skinny mold out of the three pieces of wood.

 

[JustBeachy]

This is a great thread! I think it should be a sticky... :clap: JustBeachy!!

I'm going to run to Lowe's to get a 1x4, 1x3 and 1x5 at some point. Hopefully I can get one standard mold and one tall and skinny mold out of the three pieces of wood.

Cool, I was going to make a tall and skinny next, but a couple of people have asked about a bigger loaf mold. I just got back home from grocery shopping, and stopping by lowes. Grabbed some stuff to make a 6 to 12 lb mold. If it works out I'll post the instructions and materials.

 

[Dahila]

So I need to change the measurement , and thank you so much JustBeachy u are a peach.

 

[ngian]

So there is an update on how the wooden mold fastens based on JustBeachy's mold.

The only problem now is that if the mold is full of soap [35cm(L) x 9cm(W) x 8cm(H)], the soap must be damaged around 1cm inside at the Height of 7,5cm so as for the stud to let the L bracket free to open the side part of the mold and furthermore the whole mold.

I might go to a smithery with these brackets and ask if they can be cut in a "U" shape (have the last hole opened till the end of the bracket), so as for the stud to always stay inside.

Nikos

 

[JustBeachy]

No need to cut the bracket. Counter sink the bolt head into the mold so it's flush. Then set the bolt into the side of the mold with contact cement. The bolt would then become a mounted stud and can stay inside the wood at all times. Just release the wing nut and let the side fall.

Never mind. I just looked at your original mold pics and that wouldn't work with this design. That's one of the reasons I stayed away from using hinges. I find the simplest solutions/plans usually work out the best. Yours is still a good design though and cutting the L bracket to allow it to slip should work.

 

[JustBeachy]

So I need to change the measurement , and thank you so much JustBeachy u are a peach.

You are more than welcome. Here's the dimensions for a 4lb and 5lb mold, using this design.

The end pieces remain the same size. You would need to cut three pieces for the sides and bottom.

For a 4 lb mold , make these 16 1/4 inch.

For a 5lb mold make these 19 1/4 inch.

Screw placement remains the same.

 

[JustBeachy]

So I made the block mold today. I'll post dimensions and instructions later tonight when I slow down. I'll have to take it apart and measure it all. I tend to just build these in my head. It's crazy around the house today.

But here's a pic of the mold assembled. It's designed to be a block mold for making 2 to 4 three pound loafs. So either a 6 lb or a 12lb mold. I wanted something that would still fit in my oven so I can CPOP.

 

[JustBeachy]

So yesterday was just a bear of a day, so I never got around to posting directions for this mold. My apology's. It's very similar to the other mold, with just a couple of changes. I used something Dahila mentioned as an idea for the single loaf mold. While it wouldn't work on the single, it worked great on the multi-loaf block mold. I was a little worried about just screwing braces in for bottom support, seeing how the mold could get up to 12 lbs of batter in it.
So thanks Dahila.

Ok, supplies needed.

1@ 1x8x 4ft,
1@ 1x6x 4ft

4@ 5/16 x 10 inch bolts.
4@ 5/16 nuts
8@ 5/16 flat washers.

The Lowes I went to was out of these 5/16 bolts, so I bought all thread, acorn nuts and just made my own. If you go this route, you will need a hacksaw. Cut the all thread to a length of 9.5 inches long. Put the threadlocker ( good up to 300F) and screw on one of the Acorn nuts and put a flat washer on it. It will set up pretty quick. This just keeps the Acorn nut from coming off when you're taking the mold apart. Set these aside once you're done.



Ok, now that you have made the bolts, or if your Lowes has a better ordering manager than mine, and you have the 10 inch bolts, lets cut some wood.

You need to cut 3 pieces of the 1x8 for the sides and bottom. Then you'll need 2 pieces of the 1x6 for the ends.

3 @ 1x8x 13 1/4"
2 @ 1x6x 7 1/8"

Once they are cut, lay out one of the side pieces, 1x8 ,and measure for the holes you need to drill. Here's a pic of the measurements, which I thought would be easier than trying to type it out.Now we're ready to drill. Put the side piece you marked on top of the other side piece. I highly recommend you clamp these together, because you want the holes pretty exact. Using a 5/16 drill bit. Drill four holes in the side pieces.

 

[JustBeachy]

Now once the drilling is over, it will assemble like the single loaf mold. I've found though, it goes a little easier if you put the bottom bolts in , lay in the bottom board, then put the sides bolts in, followed by the side pieces.

 

[JustBeachy]

Now you can use it like the other mold. You don't have to completely disassemble it, the bottom slides out. The bottom is also able to take a lot of weight and banging the mold for air bubbles won't cause a problem, due to the bottom bolts





So for anyone who wants to make 2 to 4 loafs at a time or up to 12 lb finished capacity, this should work really well. Total cost was around 20 bucks. This could easily be lengthened to either 16 1/4 or 19 1/4, which would take it up to a 16 or 20 lb mold.

For anyone who needs it, the inside dimensions are

L 10" x W 7 1/8 x D 5 3/8