Just found Grandmother's soap recipe

[DeeAnna]

I get the feeling that people are sometimes using "lye" when they mean solid NaOH and other times people are saying "lye" when they mean lye solution where solid NaOH has been dissolved in water.

Please spell it out in unambiguous words, so the rest of us don't have to wonder what you mean.

 

[penelopejane]

I don’t think it would change the recipe much to leave out the Oil of Sasafras.
Personally, given what we now know, I’d leave it out.

No matter where I calc this it comes out at 2-3 % sf. I will do a very small batch as written, and as a HP, just to see. then I will balance it a bit to get 5% SF.

I use less than 2-3% SF in all my soap. I measure carefully but even at 0% SF there is a margin of error because NaOH is not 100% pure. So it will always be above 0% if you follow any soap calf and measure carefully.

 

[slipperybubbles]

If I did this correctly, this is the front and back cover of a booklet of all the uses of Lewis Lye, and, as expected it has soap. As I read it, I found the recipe that my Grandmother wrote in her cookbook, is almost verbatium to what is printed here. I also has variations such as pine tar. I will load the pages if I can get it figured out. This version was copyrighted in 1954.

 

[slipperybubbles]

GREAT!, it looks like it worked, so here goes,,,

 

[slipperybubbles]

I did make it as per recipe, 1st CP, then HP, both turned to soap , of course, I colored them to help me ID then,(getting quite a collection of soap I am trying out). They seemed to work as well as the other types I have made, except, the HP did take quite a bit longer to trace, could be the water amount I used. I will try the HP in a few days to see what qualities it may have. I made 2 1/4 sized batches for the testing. OH, OH, OH, I did have a bit of change in the 2 batches, 1st one was with lard/drippings, as She would have used, I did not have enough for both, so I used clean rendered beef tallow in the 2nd batch.

 

[Bar Blender's]

I think you're getting it now. This is for the Lard soap recipe, the rule of thumb ratio is a estimate, range of 30-40% lye solution to fats/ oils. I don't use the rule of thumb for other soaps because of the various oil types.
using: 1. Lard, 2.purified water, 3. Sodium Hydroxide. Let's say you have a lb of Lard. You melt down a pound which is 16 oz .You might score an ounce or two more in liquid volume, so 17-18 ounces. You apply the rule of thumb ratio. (1 part lye, 2 parts lard) let's say 7-8 ounces. However, You have to make your lye. No calc..np. Apply rule of thumb ratio. This will be about 5 ounces of water to 2.5 ounces of sodium hydroxide after it's saponified I add sea salt before pouring. I hop this helps, didn't mean to make you work so hard lol. Just use the calculator if this still doesn't make sense or if you doubt it. However, if you ever stranded in the wild and have to hunt for your food and make your own soap keep my ratio formula in mind.

 

[Tara_H]

Fascinating, thanks for sharing! Interesting that it says to line the box with cotton cloth, I've never heard of that before.

 

[Jersey Girl]

GREAT!, it looks like it worked, so here goes,,, View attachment 54976View attachment 54976

Thank you for sharing this. It was so interesting to read! I especially love the part that says soap should not bite the tongue when aged. LOL I guess they were doing the zap test back then to!

 

[Becky1024]

GREAT!, it looks like it worked, so here goes,,, View attachment 54976View attachment 54976

Wouldn't it be great if we all could make our soaps at less than one cent per bar!!!

 

[Andy7891]

very cool- I'm trying to better understand the different classes of fats as presented in the book. It is a great read- I love learning about soapmaking and always seem to learn something very valuable from every book I come across. This is awesome, thanks for sharing slipperybubbles!

 

[Marsi]

thank you for sharing

i like the old recipe and the booklet

I think you're getting it now. This is for the Lard soap recipe, the rule of thumb ratio is a estimate, range of 30-40% lye solution to fats/ oils. I don't use the rule of thumb for other soaps because of the various oil types.
using: 1. Lard, 2.purified water, 3. Sodium Hydroxide. Let's say you have a lb of Lard. You melt down a pound which is 16 oz .You might score an ounce or two more in liquid volume, so 17-18 ounces. You apply the rule of thumb ratio. (1 part lye, 2 parts lard) let's say 7-8 ounces. However, You have to make your lye. No calc..np. Apply rule of thumb ratio. This will be about 5 ounces of water to 2.5 ounces of sodium hydroxide after it's saponified I add sea salt before pouring. I hop this helps, didn't mean to make you work so hard lol. Just use the calculator if this still doesn't make sense or if you doubt it. However, if you ever stranded in the wild and have to hunt for your food and make your own soap keep my ratio formula in mind.

when i put your example into a soapcalculator
it is lye heavy

Just use the calculator if this still doesn't make sense or if you doubt it.

i like my skin the most (its the skin im in )
so i check other peoples recipes
whether i doubt them or not

this was the result of using a soapcalculator with your numbers
16oz of lard
2.5 ounces of sodium hydroxide

your example of your method has a negative superfat of more than -10

 

[violets2217]

your example of your method has a negative superfat of more than -10

Bored at work and reading through this post cause it is soo interesting!!! I also plugged the recipe into the calc and @ 16oz lard & 2:1 water/lye ratio it is indeed an -11% SF. But what confuses me if the "gaining of and ounce or so in liquid volume"!?!? Because @ 18oz lard & 2:1 water/lye ratio it has a 1% SF. But how does one gain ounces in liquid volume? So I measure a pound of lard and melt it... when I measure it again in melted form it is still going to weigh 16oz, no? And believe me when I make soap next time I will measure again after melting just to see for myself, because I'm pretty sure I've never measured after melting hard oils.

Sill love this post!!

 

[AliOop]

But what confuses me if the "gaining of and ounce or so in liquid volume"!?!?

I think you missed the words "liquid volume" - she is talking about a volume measurement, not a weight measurement.

If she is correct on that point about a given weight of lard varying in volume depending on whether it is liquid or solid (I honestly don't know if it is, but will assume she is correct), this is a good example of why one must stick to weight measurements when making soap.

 

[TheGecko]

Would parchment be the closest match here?

Freezer

 

[DeeAnna]

My grandmother didn't use cotton cloth; she lined her peach crate mold with several layers of plain ol' newspaper from what I remember.

I don't recall the paper sticking to the soap, which is what I'd think would happen. I can't tell you what tricks she used to keep it from sticking. I was really little when I "helped" her make soap.

Either parchment paper or freezer paper would be a good modern alternative. I've used parchment paper in an pinch and it works fine. Freezer paper is cheaper and works even better.

 

[Tara_H]

Either parchment paper or freezer paper would be a good modern alternative. I've used parchment paper in an pinch and it works fine. Freezer paper is cheaper and works even better.

Thanks - yeah I wasn't asking what people use these days! I was wondering what was the closest modern equivalent. I don't think we even have freezer paper here, I've only ever heard of it on this forum...

 

[Marsi]

cotton cloth resists caustic soap
good cotton cloth is strong enough to hold the weight of a large batch
the weave of cotton cloth peals away from the surface of soap and i like the texture

 

[Misschief]

Thanks - yeah I wasn't asking what people use these days! I was wondering what was the closest modern equivalent. I don't think we even have freezer paper here, I've only ever heard of it on this forum...

You might know it as butcher paper.

 

[Relle]

You might know it as butcher paper.

I don't know about Ireland but the butcher paper we have here in Oz you couldn't use for lining of moulds. Butcher paper is exactly that, it's paper, as soon as it gets wet, forget it. Believe me if I could have used it I would have, we use to buy it by the ream for our shop. FYI, for Aussies.

 

[Misschief]

I don't know about Ireland but the butcher paper we have here in Oz you couldn't use for lining of moulds. Butcher paper is exactly that, it's paper, as soon as it gets wet, forget it. Believe me if I could have used it I would have, we use to buy it by the ream for our shop. FYI, for Aussies.

Interesting. Here, butcher paper is almost the same as freezer paper - one side is coated, the other side isn't.