Wooden mold DIY suggestions please

[rjalex]

I would like to attempt a recipe or two from Suzanne Miller Cavitch book such as the Soap Essentials Bar II recipe which she write yields 15 4 ounces bars.

What is the internal size of a wooden mold to accommodate this quantity ?

If I understand well I'd like to fill the mold so that there's not a lot of air on top when I close it with a cover to gel. Right ?

What if instead of the blanket I glue some permanent insulating material on the outside surfaces of the box ?

Thanks a lot for any suggestions.

 

[TVivian]

To make 15, 4oz bars you would need a box with a (inside) measurement of 15.5" X 2.75"X 3.5" this will hold a 59.6 oz recipe. If you want a space between the soap and the lid you would make the sides higher.


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[TVivian]

Personally I would leave space between the soap and the lid.


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[DeeAnna]

I agree with TVivian -- I would make the sides at least 1/2 to 1 inch (1.2 to 2.5 cm) taller than the height you calculate. I have one mold that is just the bare minimum in size. This mold does not allow any room for error or experimentation, so it is rather annoying to use. :thumbdown:

You don't need or want the cover right on top of the soap. Again, it limits your options for what you can do with your soap. If you are worried about ash formation, there are other, better ways to fix that problem.

No, I would not glue insulation to the mold. You will end up fighting that decision later on when a recipe is a "heater" or if you don't want to gel the soap and you have to deal with insulation stuck to the mold. Give yourself some flexibility on this. After you get experience with the mold, then add the insulation if it seems the right thing to do.

 

[grayceworks]

Instead of gluing the insulation to the mold, if you are wanting something that fits exactly, maybe make a sleeve that fits the mold, like those things that keep pizza warm while the guy is delivering them? Or shaped like a toaster cover type thingy? I figure whatever those insulated sleeves the pizza guys use are made out of ought to be good at keeping the heat in for soaps too, right? But it would just drop over the top of your mold when you need it, like a toaster-cover.

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[rjalex]

Dear friends,
thanks so much for your wise suggestions. I love being in the company of bright people and your ideas are such !
The "toaster cover" is what I'll want to do !

 

[grayceworks]

I'm going to do the 'toaster cover' thing for my molds too. I found insulated shopping bags at kroger that when cut in half down the sides and then sorta nesting the two halves together is exactly the size of 2 of my 2.5lb molds side-by-side, so i might play with that some and see how that insulating material works. It's the same stuff that this windshield sunshade i have is made from, so i might play around with making different sizes, like tube-shaped for my PVC-pipe molds. I have so many ideas and not enough time to play! lol

Let me know how your cover turns out!

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My tablet has a wonky on-screen keyboard with a mind of its own -- ignore the typos :-/

 

[robnbill]

My wooden mold is 3.38" x 2.63" deep x 15". It is designed to be exactly the width of the parchment paper so it is easy to line. That makes it just slightly more than 15". I used the paper as a guide. I make a 54 oz oil recipe with 15 oz water. I use a 1" wire cutter and get 15 bars with a sliver on the end left. The only thing I would do different making it again would be to add an inch to the depth so I could mound the top and still put the top on. As it is I can put the top on and get a flat top. Mounding requires me to not use the cover.

After curing I get a 3 ¼" x 2 ½" bar that weighs 4.3 oz.

Hope this helps.

 

[JaimeM]

Oh my goodness, robnbill, that was so incredibly helpful! I've been trying to convince my husband to make me some molds and yours sound exactly like what I want.
One question though, how do you line the ends if the mold is exactly the size of the parchment? Does the soap leak between the paper and into the wood? Sorry for asking, but I'm super excited (and would love a way to line molds without needing a master class in origami!)

 

[My Mountain Soaps]

Oh my goodness, robnbill, that was so incredibly helpful! I've been trying to convince my husband to make me some molds and yours sound exactly like what I want.
One question though, how do you line the ends if the mold is exactly the size of the parchment? Does the soap leak between the paper and into the wood? Sorry for asking, but I'm super excited (and would love a way to line molds without needing a master class in origami!)

There are some youtube videos out. If i could explain to you via typing, i would, its pretty easy once you figure it out. Sorry i am not much help. It is sort of like wrapping a present, without having a box to wrap

 

[JaimeM]

Oh thank you so much! That's how I'm doing it now, I just hoped there was an easier way. It's not actually too bad with the folding, I was just trying to be funny.

 

[My Mountain Soaps]

some people use liners to simply insert in the mold. I have recently purchased some "No Line" molds that you simply dis-assemble to get the soap out. I have yet to use them though. Maybe this week, tomorrow i render some deer fat!

 

[robnbill]

Oh my goodness, robnbill, that was so incredibly helpful! I've been trying to convince my husband to make me some molds and yours sound exactly like what I want.
One question though, how do you line the ends if the mold is exactly the size of the parchment? Does the soap leak between the paper and into the wood? Sorry for asking, but I'm super excited (and would love a way to line molds without needing a master class in origami!)

I cut a strip of parchment paper slightly wider than the ends. Then cut that into to pieces, each slightly wider then the ends but deep enough to fold over the top, down the sides and lap into the mold a inch or so. Then I trim the width with scissors so it fits snuggly. Then i use a full size sheet of parchment long enough to wrap all the way down the sides, across the bottom and lap over the opposite side and inch. I lay the parchment into the mold, use my fingers to make impressions where the folds need to be for each of the bottom corners. I use that to fold them squarely on the table using the creases I made in the mold and the finished edge of the parchment as a guide to insure they are square, put it back in the mold and trim it so it only sticks over the outside lip an inch or so. I don't worry about the corners. Even when I pour at a light trace I have not had issues with it running behind the parchment. It usually takes me about 10 minutes, at most, to line the mold. That is not hurrying.

When I made the mold, I designed it so the ends and one side can be flipped down to expose the log once it is ready to be removed. However, what I have found is the parchment works so well that usually all I have to do is untag the ends grab the long sides and gently pull the soap up and out. I have never had it stick.

Bill

 

[lizflowers42]

My father in law made my wooden molds using the instructions from the Lowe's website. It is supposed to hold 5 pounds of soap-I find that using a recipe with 4 pounds of oils yields me 14 1-inch bars, that are about 5.5 ounces give or take. Unfortunately I can't line my molds to save my life, and normally have leakage. I HATE lining molds and have recently ordered some silicone molds to alleviate this trouble. I have been watching a few facebook groups like a hawk and finally scored yesterday on 2-3lb molds, which are a better size for me to work with!

 

[dixiedragon]

Unless you or a friend is a skilled wood worker, in my opinion DIY molds are an exercise in frustration. For me, soap making is sooo much more enjoyable since I got a professionally made mold. I have this divided soap mold: http://www.cumberlandacoustic.com/id9.html and I love love love love it. Instead of fighting to get the soap out of my old DIY molds, these molds are easy to get the soap out of. No liner - I just grease them with mineral oil. I, personally HATE lining molds! About half the time, the parchment paper would sort of half-dissolve so I was picking it off the soap log in pieces. I can't tell you the time and money I wasted on trying to get cheap molds of all descriptions.

I tend to be a bit of an experimenter - I rarely use the same exact recipe. I know roughly how much fits in my mold, then I always prepare a few individual molds or a vertical mold for any extra I may have.

 

[shunt2011]

I use the silicone liners from Brambleberry and had my husband make me molds to hold the liners. I love them and will never go back to lining those suckers. They are really reasonably priced and have held up well. I have 8 of them now and plan on ordering more so that I have some spares should anything happen. The molds my husband made are a bit higher than the liner and have lids that fit on top. He also made it so that the bottom pulls out and the liner will come right out of the mold withouth having to turn it upside down.

 

[Skatergirl46]

I use the silicone liners from Brambleberry and had my husband make me molds to hold the liners. I love them and will never go back to lining those suckers. They are really reasonably priced and have held up well. I have 8 of them now and plan on ordering more so that I have some spares should anything happen. The molds my husband made are a bit higher than the liner and have lids that fit on top. He also made it so that the bottom pulls out and the liner will come right out of the mold withouth having to turn it upside down.

Those molds sound great!
I have been planning to make some for myself but I'd rather make soap so it still isn't done....

 

[ca_soap]

I made this mold out of a piece of 1x4 pine and have just a bit over $5 in it. It is adjustable and I can do a loaf from 18" down to a sample as small as I desire. I make all my batches by weight in grams as grams are more precise than ounces. To make a long story short with this design I know a 1 inch bar is 150 grams, so when I try a new recipe I only have to take the total weight of the recipe, divide that weight by 150 and it will tell me how many 1 inch bars it will yield. for example if the recipe is 1572 grams total I divide that by 150 which gives me 10.48 bars. I then have two options, I can set my mold at 10" and have some over pour or I can set the mold at 10.5 inches and have some excess off the ends or a thinner bar after all is cut.