Lye Vendor Comparisons?

[Susie]

Sure! You mean the bottles from NG when I get them? And I assume you me the "recycling number"... or am I missing something?

Thanks!

Scooter

That's exactly it! Thanks!

 

[Susie]

I took a look at my NaOH from Nature's Garden and it says, "2 HDPE."

I usually buy from the Lye Guy as he's here in NYS, but I had an order to place at NG so I picked up some NaOH to make the shipping worth it. Personally, I'm not crazy about it--the larger prills are nice, but the first bottle had some hard white chucks that I assume was carbonate. It would not dissolve and had to be strained out--I've never had to bother with that when purchasing from the lye guy or ED.

EDIT: I don't see any difference in the quality of the finished soap--just not a fan of straining caustic solutions.

Thank you!

I do not like straining caustic solutions, either. Thank you for the heads up.

 

[ibct1969]

How much soap do you make?

I ran out of sodium hydroxide today and intend to buy more. Most of the threads on lye that I have found on the forum reference where to find brick and mortar retailers or the cheapest option. I don't really care about either of those metrics.

Having only bought from Camden Grey thus far, I wondered at the difference in quality and formulations (microbeads, crystal, flake, etc). I have not had much issue with flyaway beads, but I scoop rather than pour. I used the SO's lye from Texas Natural Soap Supply (local to us), and was disturbed to have little floaters on the surface of my solution. It more wary of re-stocking my own from just anywhere.

I know that a lot of you like The Lye Guy. I am totally willing to order from him and pay the $20 shipping fee if that is the best option, but was considering trying something other than beads. Bramble Berry and Wholesale Supplies Plus have flakes. They also have the advantage of allowing me to put some "fun" items in the box. I just have the (possibly unfair) perception that WSP/Crafters' Choice is of lesser quality.

Does anybody have any experiences, positive or negative, to share regarding lye that they have used from other vendors?

Do you need it in bulk? I am a hobbyist so I don't need to buy a lot of lye at any given time. I get mine at my local Lowes. https://www.lowes.com/pd/Roebic-Laboratories-Inc-32-oz-Drain-Cleaner-Crystals/4751600

But if you need to buy it in bulk it seems that the recommendations above are just perfect.

 

[DeeAnna]

...My current lye storage is a 3 gallon bucket with a desiccant tub inside....

The way this reads, I take it that you are putting the desiccant directly with the loose NaOH? If I'm reading your explanation correctly ----- please don't do that.

NaOH (or KOH) is a powerful desiccant in its own right -- MUCH more powerful than the safer chemicals normally sold as desiccants -- silica gel, calcium sulfate, calcium chloride, etc.

When put together in the same space, NaOH will absorb any water out of the "official" desiccant as well as any water vapor in the space. The "official" desiccant will never be functional as long as it and the NaOH are in the same container.

The way to use an "official" desiccant is to package the NaOH in an air-tight container and then put that container in a second air-tight container. Put the desiccant in the SECOND container -- the desiccant is always OUTSIDE the NaOH containers. It should never be directly in contact with NaOH.

The "official" desiccant has the job of dehumidifying the air in the second, outer container. No container is absolutely perfectly air tight, so the desiccant is an extra layer of protection to keep the air dry around the inner containers of lye.

 

[makemineirish]

The way this reads, I take it that you are putting the desiccant directly with the loose NaOH? If I'm reading your explanation correctly ----- please don't do that.

NaOH (or KOH) is a powerful desiccant in its own right -- MUCH more powerful than the safer chemicals normally sold as desiccants -- silica gel, calcium sulfate, calcium chloride, etc.

When put together in the same space, NaOH will absorb any water out of the "official" desiccant as well as any water vapor in the space. The "official" desiccant will never be functional as long as it and the NaOH are in the same container.

The way to use an "official" desiccant is to package the NaOH in an air-tight container and then put that container in a second air-tight container. Put the desiccant in the SECOND container -- the desiccant is always OUTSIDE the NaOH containers. It should never be directly in contact with NaOH.

The "official" desiccant has the job of dehumidifying the air in the second, outer container. No container is absolutely perfectly air tight, so the desiccant is an extra layer of protection to keep the air dry around the inner containers of lye.

I am sorry if I was unclear in my storage procedure. It was a passing comment on the space-efficiency and functionality of packaging from different suppliers. Here is are a couple of photos. I have a three gallon bucket with gamma lid. There is a container of dessicant from Lowe's inside. Any purchased lye is placed in the bucket while still in the container that it was shipped in. The dessicant and lye are in individual containers that both reside in the bucket.

It is for this reason that I was excited that NG and LG packaged their lye in 2lb bottles. It is likely that the dimensions would allow me to fit more more containers into the storage bucket.

 

[DeeAnna]

WHEW! Thanks for explaining! I think you have a point there -- I can put four or five 2-pound containers of lye from The Lye Guy into the bottom of a 7 gallon bucket. (Just a taller version of a 5 gallon bucket.) A few more will fit on top along with the desiccator canister, although the lye containers have to be tilted slightly to fit under the lid. You might only get one layer of containers in a 5 gallon bucket.