Thread: Who Sells Lye?

Originally Posted by skunx1964

ya, ive got some red devil under my sink right now, it says 100% lye.

-micah

p.s. if anyone ever uses stuff like this for drain clearing and doesnt succeed, please be nice enough to tell the plumber working on it about the junk you put in the drain. draino and all that stuff does harsh things to yer hands, and whatever else it splashes on, lol.

p.p.s. and most of them(chemical drain openers) wont do jack anyway, i think theyre just boobytraps for us plumbers.....

Hey if sodium hydroxide or hydrocloric acid won't clean it then I just pull out the rooter and pray my blades are sufficient .

Red Devil has actually discontinued making and selling lye due to the meth freaks... I have been buying from Boyer, they are great people!

http://www.boyercorporation.com/

Happy Soaping!

Mama Bear

If you looking for lye in small quantities, you can try unitednuclear.com. They have the stronger KOH, but I couldn't find any NaOH on their site.

They're more of a chemistry geek site but they sell about every "pain in the ass to get" chemical I've seen. Unless you're looking to pickup a whole ton of some chemical, they apparently don't ask questions.
I'd love to order a ton of stuff from that site, but they don't ship any chems to Canada. So that just leaves me with those neodymium magnets I want.

The KOH is great for liquid soap, but for bar or shaving soap, you need the NaOH.... With apologies if that sounds bad, Sue

No apologies needed, doesn't sound bad at all.

I was just offering some info which might be usefull. I didn't know what KOH and NaOH are each good for, but now I do

Well just to put paid to this thread...

Thanks to everyone for the advice. Here's what I discovered, I've already mentioned most of this but I'll put it in one easy place for other people to reference:

• Red Devil is no longer in production.
• Home Depot sells Zepp... don't use it, it has aluminum in it even though it says 100% Sodium Hydroxide
• Lowe's carries 2 lb packages of Roebic Crystal drain opener. 100% sodium hydroxide and "the stuff to use" now that red devil is off the shelves.
• None of the chain grocery stores in the bay area that I checked (and none of the independants I checked) carry lye
• Bitter Creek Candle Supply will sell lye in large quantities but you have to sign and fax in a waiver and then you have to buy an equal amount of non-lye products
• DRANO is BAD NEWS, don't even *think* about using it. It has a bunch of non-lye crap in it.

Long story short, if you have a lowes handy and are wanting lye, go buy the Roebic's 2 lb pkg.

Thanks to everyone for all the help and places to look and check out. It was driving me nuts Now I just need to find a local place to pick up a little bit of coconut oil.

-- Gary F.

most mom&pop healthfood stores will sell coconut oil.

If you're just experimenting with a small batch then just buy the 16 oz jar. Most recipes that only yield 1 to 5 lbs of soap typically don't use more than 16 ounces of coconut oil.

If you're seriously considering trying several batches then spend 15 to 28 bucks on a gallon (yep it varies that much and somtimes more).

I'm currently experimenting with less expensive alternatives to the coconut oil. I'll let you know in about 6 weeks how they shave.

Palm oil and castor oil are a must, however to provide a smooth creamy lather and a nice hardening in the soap. The coconut provides the latherability across varied water hardnesses. coconut oil will lather in sea water but too much dries out the skin. The clay isn't necessary but does provide really nice slippage. You can add a little mineral oil and moisturizers if you're good at making soaps, but if you're a novice then wait to experiment until you've read more and understand the chemical reactions better.

If you're still reading this and haven't made your soaps yet, the simplest mold if you're using mugs, is to get some pvc drain pipe with an inside diameter that will fit your mugs. 16 to 24 inch length should be a good maximum unless you make large batches like me. 12 inches is more than enough for a really small batch of test soap. You'll cap one end of the pipe, lube the inside with either petro jelly or food grade mineral oil. When it's time to pour in the soap, be sure to have a removable cap and a place you can store it in an upright position (length going vertical). Wrap that baby good. You want it to retain it's heat as long as possible. It will continue to heat up some even after it's in the mold (chemical reactions, saponification, etc). A good wool slip or blanket works great. After 24 hours you should be able to uncap both ends push the soap out and use a thin serrated knife or hack saw and cut the soap into sections. I have a special saw blade and guide tool I've made that allows me to cut my soaps. I cut them into 1 inch cakes. I use 2 1/2" and 3" pvc. Then you package the soap. plastic wrap or wax paper is ok for personal use. then let it cure for 3 to 4 weeks.

I cure my soaps for 1 week in a sealed insulated cabinet I designed especially for soap making, then cut and package and then allow to cure an additional 5 to 10 weeks depending on the recipe. Basic facial soap can cure over night then cut and package and allow to cure for 3 to 4 weeks.

If you're not into cutting soaps you can get stainless steel muffin tins at walmart for a few bucks. Thos make really good molds. just be sure to grease them with oil or petro jelly first. DO NOT USE ALUMINUM!!!!!!!! If you haven't read up on it just trust me.

I hope all this unsolicited advise helps.

Oh, a cheap and VERY nice scent is to use pure vanilla. If you live near the mexican border anywhere you can generally get the stuff dirt cheap (no alcohol or glycerin). If not, health food stores have a glycerin stabilized version that works ok. for a 3 lbs recipe throw in 1 to 2 oz of pure vanilla or 3 oz of the glycerin vanilla. You'll put it in when you get trace. It will alter the color of the soap base from white to a very slight yellow.

cheap coloring, crayons. Want your soap to be purple or green? melt a few crayons and put it in after the clay, and scents.

If you get into bulk soaps there's wholesalers you can get stuff from online at a really good price. I'm trying to get the main motels in the area to buy my soaps and put them in their luxury suites. I'll be doing bulk if I can get them to sign up.

Thanks for all the advice, FUD. I had heard the PVC route before and was planning on trying it. About how much length do I need to hold 3 lbs of soap (you mentioned 16 to 24 inches but not sure for what batch size this is)? And do you think monofilament (fishing line) is strong enough to cut freshly cured soap? I rigged up a little thing like a cheese cutter where I just pull the bail down, but I can restring it with piano wire or something if the monofilament isn't going to cut it.

That's also great advice about the vanilla, I never even thought of using that. I'll definitely try that in my test batches. Got any good recipes? I've selected a few off the millers soapmaking site but those are mainly bath soap recipes not shaving soap.

-- Gary F.

Fishing string will work depending on how hard your soap is. guitar string works well also. cutting soap is harder than cutting cheese though. I used to make my own cheeses before deciding to try to convert to raw foods.

I tried guitar string but it seems easier to me to just buy a thin band for your band saw if you have it and use it strictly for soap. Be sure to clean the saw thoroughly afterwards though, the soap can cause the blade to slip off if you're not carefull. They do make thin, fine toothed blades for most table saws also. I originally started with a table saw and a thin fine toothed blade put on backwards and it worked great, very little soap loss. Most people I know generally just use a hack saw and miter box. If you have any spare wood you can make a soap miter with very little effort.

My cakes weigh about 2.5 oz and I use a 26 inch pipe when making smaller batches. On 3 lbs there should be several inches from the top of the soap to the lip of the 26" pipe. If you work with wood and have any spare blocks and want to fool around you can use a hole saw and boar down into the block about 3/4 to 1.5 inches then take a chisel to remove the unwanted part, then sand it with a dremel to get the inside how you want. If you want scuttle soaps then go down around 3/4" and then use a dremel or drill and sand down in and shape the bottom of the mold to fit scuttles. Sand by hand with fine grit to smooth it out. Be sure to treat with food grade mineral oil several times before first use. I used 2x4 pieces to play around with on my molds. when you pour the soap you can use a rubber spatula to smooth if needed, but usually filling to slightly (barely) above lip then tapping mold will give a really good soap.

As far as recipes a good winner is found at:
http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/so...vingrecipe.htm

This one is a great starting point also. It's just the base but it's a really nice base and gives a really creamy lather. You can add whichever essential oils you like just following the recipe and adding at trace.

It's a cool recipe to experiment from also.

The soaps I sell to the shops around here were experiments that came out much better than good soap base (secret family recipes). My wife used to make soaps with me but I've pretty much taken it over since she's gotten into juggling props full time. If you're married or have a significant other it's a great activity to do together.

Thanks to everyone for all the help and places to look and check out. It was driving me nuts Now I just need to find a local place to pick up a little bit of coconut oil.

Online lye... www.boyercorporation.com
Online oils, from Colombus foods... www.soaperschoice.com
Almost any grocery store will have coconut oil, be aware there are a number of different kinds. Some people say that Coconut oil will dry out the skin. My Favorite soap is ALL coconut oil superfatted up to 20%... I think it is AWESOME and reminds me of Hawaii. Another good one is is olive oil, a 100% olive oil soap is referred to as Castille and makes a super hard bar that lasts a long time. There are oil calculators that you can use for free at www.soaperschoice.com and there is a awesome calculator that will figure Everything out for you at www.the-sage.com both also have awesome recipes to offer online... most people use a combination of various oils, but it might be easier to start with a one oil soap.

Happy Soaping!

Sue
www.bear-haven.com