Thread: Home-made soap update

Many thanks!

Originally Posted by jgjgjg

One more thing...manteca as the word is used in the local 'pocho' dialect in Texas does not mean 'butter', it means rendered pig fat. Butter...meaning thoroughly churned milk....is not used in the soap recipes I have seen. I believe that is the case because butter is not pure fat and not pure oil (fat=oil).

"Manteca" means "butter" in Spanish. My mistake here, as a native Spanish speaker.

Originally Posted by jgjgjg

Yeah...you've got problems. I'm a bit of a 'history of technology' buff and what the news media has portrayed here in the US I will interpret as basically climbing your way down the technology ladder. I would suggest the following:

Originally Posted by jgjgjg

1. If you can't find Lye, which is SODIUM hydroxide, you can also make liquid soap from POTASSIUM hydroxide.

I can certainly get "soda caustica", which is supposed to be solid NaOH. We buy it to "melt" fat in kitchen dumps piping, when they are clogged.

Originally Posted by jgjgjg

2. If you really insist on hard soap, you will need Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH). See link HERE --> http://www.instructables.com/id/How-...ium-hydroxide/ If batteries are scarce in Argentina, PM me and I'll send you some links how to generate electricity with things you can probably find. Not 'power the house" electricity, but "make a small batch of chemicals" electricity.

Batteries are OK. The point is that Customs bureaucracy has become a kind of PITA (not certain why PITA stands for "pain in the neck", though ;-) ). My guess is that importers (either of final products or materials for production) are focused in things with high added value. In our case (shaving soaps) Gillette and other major manufacturers are selling pressure cans with either foam or gel, for example, but not the traditional (and cheap) solid shaving soap bars, or semi-solid jars.

Originally Posted by jgjgjg

3. If liquid'ish soap, good enough for body washing, is good enough for you, then see How to Make Lye: 13 Steps (with Pictures) - wikiHow
4. Note that 2 and 3 make DIFFERENT forms of lye. I send you these links because if you can't get soap, it's highly unlikely you will be able to find Lye (Sodium Hydroxide NaOH) or Potassium Hydroxide.

As stated above: I think I can; it is just that I am not sure if we are referring to the same NaOH...

Originally Posted by jgjgjg

5. You need to enter the correct type into the 'soap calculator'. See soap calculator --> SoapCalc

Originally Posted by jgjgjg

Note that the soap calculator allows you to choose a HUGE array of different oils: coconut oil, pig fat, beef fat, palm oil, peanut oil, olive oil, etc. The problem you will have is determining lye strength using what you get from the above links. You should go one step further and simmer (NOT BOIL) the lye until it is a dry powder. Then you can dissolve the correct amount. You can also check the pH for 'neutrality' or 'baseness' using litmus paper. You want your soap to have neutral pH. Hugely important, and hugely hugely important for soap used on children, the elderly, or beautiful ladies with radiant skin. Not so important for macho manly men that don't care about walking around with huge chemical burns on their dumb selves.

I am a "macho" man, but not one of those ;-)

Originally Posted by jgjgjg

6. But....if you can't find soap, you sure as heck won't find litmus paper or pH meters. See here --> Test papers: Journey to Forever

I'll ask about the paper. There are widely spread pH meters for laboratories, swimming pools, and gardens. Might get one of those if useful.

Thanks again.

Martin

Originally Posted by rolodave

Is the lanolin a by product of the oil washed from the wool or is lanolin the oil itself?

The great soap "Mitchell's Wool Fat" name comes to mind.

Lanolin is a wax, not an oil. It is wool wax.
"Lana" in Latin and in Italian means wool.