I just could not get the ugly 1000 caves of horror pine tar soap out of my head. The entire process haunted me.
It's still soap and will be used but I had to have another go. This time I made a smaller batch but still had to deal with the can of sticky pine tar. Instead of trying to scoop or pour the thick sticky mess I boiled water in a big saucepan, turned off the burner and set the can of pine tar in the water. After about 15 minutes it was removed, dried and after the top was removed wrapped the can with a paper towel and poured the wonderfully thinned pine tar into my soap pot on the scale. Eeezy peezy! No muss, no fuss. I went with full water and when everything was ready I used my trusty, long handled, heavy duty, special soap maker's plastic spoon (set of 3 - $0.99 - Dollar Store) to stir. Slowly adding the lye the only way to describe the result would be to call it mannerly. For a while I wondered if it was going to thicken and stirred a bit faster. That did the trick. It slowly came to trace (3-4 minutes) and easily poured into the mold; wrapped it up and left it until the next morning. It was almost cool in the morning and cut easily. It was firm, not soft or hard and after a few days on the hearth it is doing great. I feel a lot better now. This is the first time in years that I've used a spoon instead of my SB but the spoon was the right tool for the job. I just might make a big batch again. Thank you all for your input.
It's still soap and will be used but I had to have another go. This time I made a smaller batch but still had to deal with the can of sticky pine tar. Instead of trying to scoop or pour the thick sticky mess I boiled water in a big saucepan, turned off the burner and set the can of pine tar in the water. After about 15 minutes it was removed, dried and after the top was removed wrapped the can with a paper towel and poured the wonderfully thinned pine tar into my soap pot on the scale. Eeezy peezy! No muss, no fuss. I went with full water and when everything was ready I used my trusty, long handled, heavy duty, special soap maker's plastic spoon (set of 3 - $0.99 - Dollar Store) to stir. Slowly adding the lye the only way to describe the result would be to call it mannerly. For a while I wondered if it was going to thicken and stirred a bit faster. That did the trick. It slowly came to trace (3-4 minutes) and easily poured into the mold; wrapped it up and left it until the next morning. It was almost cool in the morning and cut easily. It was firm, not soft or hard and after a few days on the hearth it is doing great. I feel a lot better now. This is the first time in years that I've used a spoon instead of my SB but the spoon was the right tool for the job. I just might make a big batch again. Thank you all for your input.
is fugly a term you use in America?
