Thread: Standing on the shoulders of giants......

Very few people are proficient at anything their first time around. I wish you luck here. For every formerly good soap producer that re formulates and destroys their product, we need two new choices to replace them. I've recently become a sucker for Barrister and Mann soaps. If Trumper wants to make garbage, I'll opt for Will's soaps as an excellent alternative. You could be next if you get it right.

now you go from a Soap acquisition disorder to a SMD-Soap manufacturing disorder
1 puck has lasted me over 9 months and probable got about half left
you look like you have enough for 10 years already & you want to make more LOL

It's as much learning a new skill set and how a process works as providing myself and friends with a product. I have always asked myself why is done a certain way. I have only had the ... fortitude/nativity to start trying to answer these questions the last few years. Heck, that's part of what started me wet shaving in the first place.

they all look to have lathered very well also by the way
can't wait to here the final results of your testing

Well, its's been awhile since I posted any update on this. I did get a chance to retry my McD clone and a variation of it I figured out from an old book. I also thought I would share what sources I have used as references. Maybe someone can find something I overlooked. First off, here are the references I used. There are a few more books from Google books, but I can't find my links

REFERENCES:

SRP Forums
HomeGrown
Soapmaking lather question?

Shave My Face forum
“Roll your own” thread

Badger and Blade
“Homemade shaving soap discussion club”
“Reverse Engineering MdC”

Google Books:
Soap-making Manual: A Practical Handbook on the Raw Materials, Their ... By Edgar George Thomssen
Manual of Toilet Soapmaking: Including Medicated Soaps, Stain-removing Soaps ... edited by Carl Deite
Soap Gazette and Perfumer, Volumes 19-20

Some thoughts and ideas so far:

2 stage saponification makes HP work much faster. Pre-melt you oils before adding to crock pot, keep stearic acid separate from rest. Add oils to pre-warmed crock pot, add lye/water mixture and mix well, then add in melted stearic acid. WARNING: Stearic acid saponifies FAST so add a bit at a time and mix very well because it foams a TON!
For HP soaping, use more water in your lye/water mixture. It seems to help promote faster saponification and the excess is all driven off anyway.

***Makes we wonder if doing the 2 stage saponification would nullify any superfatting of all of the oils besides the stearic acid. I have read some literature that states it wont, but that was for a cold process soap. Something else to think about***

Keep the lid on the crock pot. I have seen this advised both ways. I think it helps retain the heat and cook faster.

Addition of Potassium Carbonate….. Supposedly this makes soap easier to stir in HP soap and lets it actually be poured into a mold. Haven’t tried it yet, but looking at it and wondering. This is also mentioned in many liquid soap making books. This is an Alkali as well, so needs to be neutralized with fats/oils. I don’t have any values and haven’t run across it in any of the lye calculators.

Cream Soap: Like the kind you get when you use Coates or TOBS. I think using 100% KOH, Potassium Carbonate, and adding some water back in after the initial cooking is the correct way to go but there isn’t a ton of info out there. Supposedly there is an awesome yahoo forum just for Cream Soaping…. But it’s hard to get accepted. Haven’t tried as of yet.

Most soap forums recommend about a 5% SF for soaps. When I made the ½ pound batches I used a 7% SF. This was due to the batches being so small that a slight mis-measurement would result in a batch of soap with too much lye. The 7% SF helps minimize this potential with a little larger buffer.
With the very small batches (1 pound and under) measure in grams vs ounces.

Thinking about adding some Shea Butter. High in Stearic Acid so can substitute a bit and great for the skin.

RECIPES:
Soap 1A:
60% Tallow
20% Castor Oil
12% Stearic Acid
8% Palm Kernel Oil

½ pound batch made with 70% KOH/30% NaOH with a 7% lye discount.
Soft pliable soap, easily moldable. Lathers well


Soap 1B:
46% Stearic Acid
35% Tallow
11% Coconut Oil
8% Castor Oil

½ pound batch, 70% NOH/30%NaOH, 7% lye discount
Soft and pliable, lathers well


Soap 2A:
Lard 46%
Stearic Acid 30%
Coconut Oil 15%
Castor Oil 7%
Lanolin 2%

Trial #1:
1 pound batch, 50/50 Lye, 5% SF
Resulted in a harder bar than goal. Can still imprint thumb nail, not to hard overall. Lathers well and a great shave soap. Thinking of milling/re-batching this to try and add scent.

Trial #2:
½ pound batch, 100% KOH, 7% SF
Very soft soap. Kind of tacky feel to touch. Think this might be the path to a true cream soap. Not sure what next as far as that is concerned. Lathers and shaves very well.



Soap 3A: (MdC clone)
52% Stearic Acid
48% Coconut Oil
Glycerin SF to 5%
100%KOH

*Trial #2 and #3 variations on 3A

Trial #1: ½ pound batch, SF with glycerin once soap was done and mixed well. Lathers well (bit fluffy), shaves ok. DRIES OUT SKIN BAD----FAILURE (think I messed up my measurements)

Trial #2: 55% Stearic, 45% Coconut Oil, 70%KOH/30% NaOH, 5% glycerin SF
Very soft soap, lathers and shaves well.

Trial #3: 65% Stearic Acid, 25% Glycerin, 10% Coconut Oil. (found this recipe in an old soaping book)
*calculate lye discount for stearic and coconut oil only
Very, very soft soap, lathers and shaves well