When is my cp soap ready to cut?

[TwoHandssoaps]

I am a new soaper and have been having problems when cutting my batches, I tend to do it too early. Do you have any tricks that help you know your soap is ready to cut?

 

[SaltedFig]

Hi Hilda,

Most of my soap recipes are cold process, so for these I wait until they are cool, and give them a little bit of a poke to see how much give they have. If the soap dint's when I push gently with my (gloved) finger, then it is too soft to cut. If it resists, then it should be ready to cut. Sometimes I do a test cut with a knife (just off the end) first, and make that into a soap ball. If the knife leaves any drag marks, then the soap is still too soft (generally if the soap is soft, or cutting leaves drag marks, it's too early and if the soap crumbles, it's too late). Soap balls tell you a lot about how well set up a soap is, and are always useful as the tester soap

There are some exceptions - salt bars need to be cut while they are still warm, otherwise they get too brittle and can easily crack or crumble as they are cut. At the other end of the scale is pure olive oil soap (castille, without any additives) - that can take nearly a week before they are ready to cut, and even then (if they are ungelled) can still be quite delicate to cut. Hot Process is easy - as soon as it is resistant to being dinted and is cool enough to handle

So it's a bit recipe dependent, but once you are used to the texture of a soap that is firm enough to cut, you will get to know when it "feels" right - making soap balls is a way to speed up this learning curve .

 

[TwoHandssoaps]

Hi Hilda,

Most of my soap recipes are cold process, so for these I wait until they are cool, and give them a little bit of a poke to see how much give they have. If the soap dint's when I push gently with my (gloved) finger, then it is too soft to cut. If it resists, then it should be ready to cut. Sometimes I do a test cut with a knife (just off the end) first, and make that into a soap ball. If the knife leaves any drag marks, then the soap is still too soft (generally if the soap is soft, or cutting leaves drag marks, it's too early and if the soap crumbles, it's too late). Soap balls tell you a lot about how well set up a soap is, and are always useful as the tester soap

There are some exceptions - salt bars need to be cut while they are still warm, otherwise they get too brittle and can easily crack or crumble as they are cut. At the other end of the scale is pure olive oil soap (castille, without any additives) - that can take nearly a week before they are ready to cut, and even then (if they are ungelled) can still be quite delicate to cut. Hot Process is easy - as soon as it is resistant to being dinted and is cool enough to handle

So it's a bit recipe dependent, but once you are used to the texture of a soap that is firm enough to cut, you will get to know when it "feels" right - making soap balls is a way to speed up this learning curve .

Good morning SaltedFig. Thank you very much for your help, I will keep an eye on those details. My knife has been having the draw marks, so it has been definitely too early to cut. So I took the soap of the mold and put it in a rack to help dry, did I screw it up?

 

[SaltedFig]

Good morning SaltedFig. Thank you very much for your help, I will keep an eye on those details. My knife has been having the draw marks, so it has been definitely too early to cut. So I took the soap of the mold and put it in a rack to help dry, did I screw it up?

Taking the soap out of the mold and leaving it on the rack for a few hours is an excellent idea!
(Just be careful that the rack isn't metal - soap and most metals are not a good mix - a cotton tea-towel is great to rest soap on, if you need to, because the cotton is resistant to the lye and can be washed and re-used many times ).

So you've done exactly what is needed! By taking the soap out of the mold, you have given it a chance to lose a little more moisture and to firm up some more before you try cutting it again

 

[TwoHandssoaps]

Thank you!. I am going to cut now. I will post pictures in a while

Nope! not ready yet...oh well. I will try making a cherry blossom one, I have been dying to try, while I wait for the other ones to be ready to cut. They have been setting for 3 days now

 

[SaltedFig]

Some of my ordinary recipes can take 3 days.
I think that's why additives are so popular - they can make unmolding (and cutting) that much quicker.
It's likely your soap will be just fine ... eventually

PS. If you are really worried, you can post your recipe for people to look at, but another day or two for a recipe without additives isn't outside of normal

 

[shunt2011]

I recommend you post your recipe. That will help a great deal to see what may work best. Also do you gel or not gel your soaps. I gel all my soaps and I generally in-mold and cut at 18-24 hours. I use sodium lactate which makes it harder and ready to cut sooner. It also depends on the recipe.

 

[Hendejm]

I was going to diagnose you as having a case of inpatientitis ( a common ailment among soapers) but after three days of waiting - you don’t suffer from that.

I think as others as suggested, you should post your recipe. That may reveal what is causing the problem! I feel confident there is a cure and you can go on to lead a healthy and happy soapers life!

 

[TwoHandssoaps]

Thank you guys for your help. So the recipe I used was one from Soap Queen. I was trying to find one that was light enough so I could attempt some swirls. This is the recipe:

15.5 oz. Canola Oil
.5 oz. Castor Oil
1.5 oz. Cocoa Butter
12.5 oz. Coconut Oil
2.5 oz. Hemp Seed Oil (Refined)
7.5 oz. Olive Oil
10 oz. Rice Bran Oil
6.8 oz. Sodium Hydroxide Lye
16.5 oz. Distilled Water
Neon Blue Raspberry Colorant
Titanium Dioxide
Fizzy Lemonade Colorant
Tangerine Wow! Colorant
Electric Bubble Gum Colorant
2 oz. Kumquat Fragrance Oil
1 oz. Patchouli Fragrance Oil

The only things I did differently is that used unrefined Hemp Seed oil, the fragances were lemongrass and tangerine essential oils from Essential Depot and the micas that I have are from Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079CGQDGB/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
other than that I followed the recipe.

 

[TwoHandssoaps]

My first swirl looked like first picture, and the one with this recipe looks like the second and third picture

I recommend you post your recipe. That will help a great deal to see what may work best. Also do you gel or not gel your soaps. I gel all my soaps and I generally in-mold and cut at 18-24 hours. I use sodium lactate which makes it harder and ready to cut sooner. It also depends on the recipe.

If I use salt, will it also accelerate trace or will I still have time to work on swirls?

 

[SaltedFig]

@Hilda Riva For the very small amount of dissolved salt used to harden soap a little, no - you will be able to swirl

 

[Anna Winther]

Hi Hilda,

...they get too brittle and can easily crack or crumble as they are cut...

I can relate! I'm a beginner and my 2batch i just tried to cut and it's very flaky and crumbles It wasn't salt soap but 100% lard. I did leave it in the mould for longer than it should so maybe thats why. Do you know if i can heat it a little bit and re-melt it and pour it into the mould again?

thanks-Anna

 

[dixiedragon]

I use the cheese rule. If it's firm like cheddar, it's ready to cut. Soft and sticky like brie or cream cheese - too soft. Parmesan - too brittle, you've waited too long.

 

[Anna Winther]

I use the cheese rule. If it's firm like cheddar, it's ready to cut. Soft and sticky like brie or cream cheese - too soft. Parmesan - too brittle, you've waited too long.

Thanks for the advice. I think i'll just re-melt it / re-pour it into the mould and try again. Or should i let it cure first..? idk

 

[Chris_S]

Thanks for the advice. I think i'll just re-melt it / re-pour it into the mould and try again. Or should i let it cure first..? idk

You would have to do a rebatch to make it again.

@TwoHandssoaps i usually make my soaps at night i gel mine without any addatives to harden its usually ready by midday so about 12-15 hours to unmold however i will usually take the silicone out the wooden box and feel how soft the corners are and judge it from that as someone has already said think it was ya salted one you will get a feel for it but dented soap isnt ready once its ready to take out the silicone liner i leave it to harden further on my soaping desk i would say minimum 3-4 hours but usually that day sometime and more often than not it will be good for cutting by that point

 

[Dawni]

I use the cheese rule. If it's firm like cheddar, it's ready to cut. Soft and sticky like brie or cream cheese - too soft. Parmesan - too brittle, you've waited too long.

I use the same principle for HP also

@Anna Winther rebatching can be a pain if you don't have the patience for it, and you'll lose any pretty color combos you might have and could end up with a weird color depending on what you had initially.

But, if you don't mind that much work, you could try grating the soap and rebatching. If it's fresh you might not even need extra water, and if you do just about a tablespoon. For me, it's easiest and quickest in the microwave. I set it on medium and heat it in 30min bursts then stir like crazy and mold when it looks all blended together well enough.

 

[shunt2011]

@Anna I wouldn't rebatch it unless it's really bad. Then again, I hate rebatching. It should still be good soap. Your recipe has a lot of liquid oils so may take longer to harden enough to cut. Could take 2-3 days. Gelling will help some.

 

[KimT2au]

I use the same principle for HP also

I set it on medium and heat it in 30min bursts then stir like crazy and mold when it looks all blended together well enough.

Should that be 30 second bursts, @Dawni ?

 

[SaltedFig]

I can relate! I'm a beginner and my 2batch i just tried to cut and it's very flaky and crumbles It wasn't salt soap but 100% lard. I did leave it in the mould for longer than it should so maybe thats why. Do you know if i can heat it a little bit and re-melt it and pour it into the mould again?

thanks-Anna

The soap will melt a lot easier if it is grated up first (and then melted). This is referred to as rebatching. You can also add the gratings to your next batch, to make a confetti soap. With the batch being 100% lard, it might come up nicely as a confetti in a new batch.

Or you could do all three - leave a couple as bars, grate some to use as confetti and put some gratings in a bag and gently boil it until the soap melts and snip off an end and squeeze this into a mold!

The look of the crumbly edges pretty much disappears after the first few uses, which is useful to know (so you don't worry about having to rebatch soaps with a little crumble, as @shunt2011 has suggested ).

Good luck Anna, and congratulations on your second batch!

 

[Dawni]

Should that be 30 second bursts, @Dawni ?

LOL yes it was supposed to be seconds! Sorry.. Wow this seems to be happening a lot to me lately