Skunk fat soap
- Thread starter Taxidermy Lady
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Taxidermy Lady
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Lol! I can't afford a new hobby!
Fascinating!
I look forward to your further adventures with skunk oil soap!
Do let us know if you make mixed oil recipes, how they turn out.
I suggest you keep at least 2 bars from each batch and careful documentation for comparison purposes. One bar from each batch, just to watch over time to see how it fares in terms of deterioration, or discoloration or odor changes or development of rancidity, etc. The other bar to test periodically for performance (lather, feel to your skin, etc.) including how they compare to each other. And please let us know how these experiments go. It is truly fascinating.
Incidentally, I found this regarding the saponification value of skunk oil: American Druggist and Pharmaceutical Record
And this: The National Druggist
And there are others, all quite hard to read with my elderly eyes.
You will see two or even three different SAP values listed in some references, though, so that may not be of much help.
One says: Skunk oil has a saponification or Koettstorfer number of 189.32.
Another gives a range of what looks like 196 to 207.xx (hard to read due to poor quality copy)
Anyway these SAP values are for KOH only and not for NaOH, and they are from the early 1900's, so not sure how helpful that is for you other than as an historical interest.
But if you continue the research, perhaps you can find more information to narrow it down for the NaOH saponification value.
I am sure as a taxidermist, you may have be better able to hone your search parameters than I for the animal in question.
Also there are numerous references you can find giving instruction on how to do your own SAP value testing experiments. I probably wouldn't go that far myself because I wouldn't necessarily want to purchase the necessary equipment, but you may find that of interest at least.
I look forward to your further adventures with skunk oil soap!
Do let us know if you make mixed oil recipes, how they turn out.
I suggest you keep at least 2 bars from each batch and careful documentation for comparison purposes. One bar from each batch, just to watch over time to see how it fares in terms of deterioration, or discoloration or odor changes or development of rancidity, etc. The other bar to test periodically for performance (lather, feel to your skin, etc.) including how they compare to each other. And please let us know how these experiments go. It is truly fascinating.
Incidentally, I found this regarding the saponification value of skunk oil: American Druggist and Pharmaceutical Record
And this: The National Druggist
And there are others, all quite hard to read with my elderly eyes.
You will see two or even three different SAP values listed in some references, though, so that may not be of much help.
One says: Skunk oil has a saponification or Koettstorfer number of 189.32.
Another gives a range of what looks like 196 to 207.xx (hard to read due to poor quality copy)
Anyway these SAP values are for KOH only and not for NaOH, and they are from the early 1900's, so not sure how helpful that is for you other than as an historical interest.
But if you continue the research, perhaps you can find more information to narrow it down for the NaOH saponification value.
I am sure as a taxidermist, you may have be better able to hone your search parameters than I for the animal in question.
Also there are numerous references you can find giving instruction on how to do your own SAP value testing experiments. I probably wouldn't go that far myself because I wouldn't necessarily want to purchase the necessary equipment, but you may find that of interest at least.
Divide the KOH sap value by 1.403 to get the NaOH SV. Restated in the language of math --
NaOH SV = KOH SV / 1.403
Oh, and SVs are presented two ways --
One way is to state the SV as a big number, like 189.32. The examples Earlene shared are big-number SVs. This is the milligrams of alkali needed to saponify 1 gram of fat.
The other way is to state the SV as a small number, such as 0.189. This is the grams of alkali needed to saponify 1 gram of fat.
Soap recipe calcs use the small number version. Divide the big-number version by 1000 to get the small-number equivalent.
NaOH SV = KOH SV / 1.403
Oh, and SVs are presented two ways --
One way is to state the SV as a big number, like 189.32. The examples Earlene shared are big-number SVs. This is the milligrams of alkali needed to saponify 1 gram of fat.
The other way is to state the SV as a small number, such as 0.189. This is the grams of alkali needed to saponify 1 gram of fat.
Soap recipe calcs use the small number version. Divide the big-number version by 1000 to get the small-number equivalent.
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