Soap Making Resource

[Arimara]

Are they closed for business. I haven't really been to the site for a while and thought I'd check up on them.

Note- I'm sorry if I posted this in the wrong area.

 

[BattleGnome]

I think they put very thing on clearance in May with the intention of closing. I've heard they've had a ton of customer service issues this past year, not sure if they gave up or if a sales slump forced them to close

 

[earlene]

What a bummer. I never got around to ordering the soap planer from them and now it looks like I won't be able to. I can get onto their website, but stock is apparently low.

 

[bumbleklutz]

As far as I know they were going out of business this past spring, and put everything on clearance.

That being said, their website is still active although it appears the shopping cart has been disabled.

I'm not sure what happened with them. There was some talk about them coming back in a new form specializing in soaping tools such as molds and cutters etc. However, I haven't heard anything since spring.

They were definitely having some serious customer service issues before their clearance/liquidation sale. Orders were taking an excessive time to ship. The two orders I placed with them each took nearly two weeks to process before they shipped. I'm not sure if I read it here on SMF or elsewhere that others were facing processing times of four to six weeks before their orders shipped.

Anyway, it's sad to lose a soaping supplier. I get the impression from what I'm seeing on their facebook page ( https://www.facebook.com/pg/Soap-Making-Resource-118501901565394/reviews/ ) that they got way in over their heads, and just couldn't dig themselves out.

 

[Arimara]

That does suck to hear all of this. There were great in their hay day. Shame that they went under like that.

 

[JoeyG]

That truly is a shame. They were the first place we purchased EOs from. Always had great prices, and even one or two items that some of the other suppliers weren't carrying at that time.

Their customer service was outstanding, but after reading some of the comments over on the facebook page it's almost like they fell off the planet... like they've completely stopped responding to people. Makes me wonder if perhaps it was an illness related issue, and not so much business related.

 

[dibbles]

What a bummer. I never got around to ordering the soap planer from them and now it looks like I won't be able to. I can get onto their website, but stock is apparently low.

I did get their soap planer and love it. But from what I can tell, this one https://www.etsy.com/listing/272556...&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=acrylic soap plane&ref=sr_gallery_2
is about the same and the people that have it seem to be happy with it. I was debating between the two.

 

[earlene]

Thank you, dibbles. I actually had placed one of that vendor's planers in my cart. Just haven't made a decision yet. Of course if I wait to long the same thing could happen again.

 

[penelopejane]

^^^ under the item description it says that one will not plane it only bevels. So you have to go to the drop down menu and choose to select a planet. Shipping is huge.
Also, what width is that one? They have other options where they tell you the width but not the beveler only one.

There is also this one which is a planer and beveler all in one but the blade part is only 3 1/4 " wide.
https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/226439469/soap-planer-and-bevelers?ref=shop_home_active_3

I got one like this (mine was $7 with free shipping and the blade part is 85mm wide-can't find the exact link) . It needed better screws to hold the blade in place. I would have preferred an acrylic one but the price + shipping for a sensible width one was absurd.

https://m.aliexpress.com/s/item/32571195501.html?spm=a2g0n.search-cache.0.0.70bc08b97AdaQT

 

[earlene]

I have one exactly like that penelopejane, the wooden one you have. I've had it less than a year and it already causes a groove in my soap. I can't really see what is causing the groove. The blade looks and feels smooth. The wood feels smooth enough. But it still creates a gouge when planed just right (or just wrong, depending on ones point of view). So I have really been eying some sort of replacement.

Also of interest was this stainless steel one, but it's even more costly!

 

[penelopejane]

Also of interest was this stainless steel one, but it's even more costly!

DH had to fix mine so the blade stayed level. Annoying.
I would like an acrylic one but the postage is ridiculous. I am worried hte blade I have will eventually rust but it has been working ok so far. It's a tiny bit too narrow 85 cm of blade.
The SS one looks good but it is expensive.
I wish I was in the US and we could share the postage for the acrylic one!
I was going to ask how much for one with 100mm wide blade.
Acrylic would be easy to clean and stays sharp forever, according to IL.