# Vegi oil soap



## OldCootHillbilly (Jul 9, 2010)

Found a recipe fer soap what take used vegi oil. I got lots a that!

1 liter used vegi cookin oil
200 grams a lye
400 ml warm water

Put the vegi oil in one container (plastic er enamel be what I use)

Put water in another container (again plastic er enamel)

Slowly add the lye ta the water (ya might wanna wear gloves an eye protection, also best in a well aired area) an stir till desolved.

Add lye solution ta the oil mix an start stirrin fer 15 minutes.

Pour inta yer mold an let sit fer two days, pull outa the molds an let cure at least two weeks before usin.









The water in one bowl, oil in another an lye on the paper plate.









Mixture after it all be added tagether. I use a electric hand mixer thing ta speed along the mixin process.









In the molds. Ya can use whatever ya like, fer this small batch the muffin pans work perty well. Otherwise ya can make bars to ifin yall like.


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## Immolatus (Feb 20, 2011)

Does the oil have to be 'used'?
Could there be something less caustic used instead of lye?
Add some kind of essential oil, or maybe just mint leaves?


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## OldCootHillbilly (Jul 9, 2010)

Guessin the oil don't have ta be used. But I got used oil by the buckets so be the reason fer findin the recipe.

Takes lye ta make most soaps, it ain't all that bad ta work with, just gotta be a bit carefull is all.

Perty sure ya could add in bout any smelly ya wanted to.


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## *Andi (Nov 8, 2009)

Immolatus said:


> Could there be something less caustic used instead of lye?


Just a fact ... to make soap you need lye or lye water. (homemade lye )

The first time I made soap ... Whoa ... :gaah: (I was a mess. lol) Now, not so much so.

Like OldCootHillbilly said ... "just gotta be a bit carefull is all" .  It is not a job to have little kids around nor the pets. So have your ducks in a row and go for it. (Just be carefull.)


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## mpguy18 (Sep 7, 2011)

Thanks Old Coot. Reminds me of when I was a kid and my grandma used to make soap. She made her lye in a V shaped contraption with some cotton fabric along the sides/bottom then filled with ashes from the pot belly. Poured water over it and when it drained into a pan, she had lye. Don't remember the amount of ashes or water. THanks for bringing back a happy and useful memory!


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

A byproduct from making bio-diesel is glycerin. In transesterification (the bio-diesel manufacturing process), waste vegetable oil (WVO) is broken down into esters (bio-diesel) and glycerin. This glycerin can be filtered to remove any food particles or impurities, and used as an industrial degreaser in its raw form, composted and used as a fertilizer, or made into bar soap. Bar soap made from glycerin byproduct is excellent for use in the shop because of its degreasing abilities, but can also be used as a household soap for everyday use. Adding a pleasant fragrance will make household use more appealing to other people not used to it. 

The ingredients list used in making bar soap from glycerin is pretty short: glycerin, water and lye.  The amounts of water and lye used will effect the lathering abilities of the soap. I have found that the more water used, the more lather the soap will produce. And using more lye will produce a soap which is VERY strong and cuts grease well, but will also dry out the skin.

The amount of lye and water used will depend on the amount of glycerin you are processing. I have found that one quart of water per gallon of glycerin works well, producing a soap with good lathering and cleansing abilities. On the lye, I use 6oz. per gallon of glycerin. I have used these quantities on several batches of glycerin, even when the glycerin is from WVO from different sources. I get 3 dozen soap bars per batch.


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## stayingthegame (Mar 22, 2011)

mpguy18 said:


> Thanks Old Coot. Reminds me of when I was a kid and my grandma used to make soap. She made her lye in a V shaped contraption with some cotton fabric along the sides/bottom then filled with ashes from the pot belly. Poured water over it and when it drained into a pan, she had lye. Don't remember the amount of ashes or water. THanks for bringing back a happy and useful memory!


Lye Ash water and to see how much "Lye" there is in your water, you are supposed to float an egg ( i think still in the shell) if it floats, there is too much "Lye". The egg needs to stand on end about half way. if it floats on top, just add a little water until the egg stands (bobbles in the liquid). That's the way my grandma said to do it!


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## Zman41 (Apr 3, 2012)

So if I run water through a bucket of say oak ash the water becomes lye?


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## mpguy18 (Sep 7, 2011)

Yes and no. YOu need to do a little prep. You'll get lye mush that needs to be filtered as it will be extremely cloudy. One great source is the "Foxfire" books written from a study of Appalachian mountain people in the seventies. Great series of books to read.

What I would do:

-Drill 5 - 8 holes into the bottom of a 5 gal bucket
-cover the bottom with a few layers of cheese cloth or cotton shirt
-fill bucket 2/3 with ashes
-set first bucket with ashes on top of empty bucket
-slowly fill ash bucket with water and watch it drain into lower bucket. Keep filling until the lower bucket is half full and stop.
-let the top ash bucket drain completely - as there will be a gal or more that will drian out
-disgard ashes into the compost pile - make sure to mix it in thouroughly into the pile or it will kill the area it hits on top of the pile
-Clean out ash bucket, pack with straw, pack it in tightly
-Place this bucket on top of a clean bucket
-slowly pour lye mix into the straw bucket

This will take a little time, as the mixture will absorb into the straw and then slowly drain into the lower bucket. Once it has fully drained through the straw bucket, disgard the straw and clean out the bucket. The straw will be caustic, so disgard in an area that will not drain into your water source or any running stream.

Here is a link to an old method using wooden buckets. It also has three methods to measure if it is strong enough using the method Stayingthegame listed above.

http://forest.mtu.edu/pcforestry/resources/studentprojects/Soapmaking/Lye.pdf

Make sure you take the necessary safety precautions - eye protection, mask, rubber gloves and clean water close at hand for accidents.

Hope this helps.


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## Toffee (Mar 13, 2012)

Two questions:
1. Could you use veggie shortening to mix if it's heated and melted in place of the oil? And...
2. Where would you suggest (or where do you) dispose of the straw? My entire property is technically over the Spokane Aquifer, which is one of the largest and it serves tons of people. So I don't feel very comfortable discarding on my property.


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## stayingthegame (Mar 22, 2011)

soap was always made outside because of the mess, the smell and for safety.


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## pixieduster (Mar 28, 2012)

Thanks so much! Me and my sis were brain storming trying to remember how great grand maw made hers. Could only remember her boiling ashes. Ha!


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## Salekdarling (Aug 15, 2010)

Could I use coal ashes to make lye? My grandparents have a coal furnace. If that's the case, I'm going to get some ashes off them next time I make the trek East, and experiment!


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## Autumnvicky (Mar 30, 2012)

How do you test if the soap was made right without using it on bare hands? I want to test mine out but in case I did it wrong... I don't want lye burns.


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## OldCootHillbilly (Jul 9, 2010)

Salekdarling said:


> Could I use coal ashes to make lye? My grandparents have a coal furnace. If that's the case, I'm going to get some ashes off them next time I make the trek East, and experiment!


From what I read I wouldn't. More toxic cause it got heavy metals an such in it. Wood ash be free a that stuff.


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## Salekdarling (Aug 15, 2010)

OldCootHillbilly said:


> From what I read I wouldn't. More toxic cause it got heavy metals an such in it. Wood ash be free a that stuff.


Okie doke. Thanks Coot.


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## Tirediron (Jul 12, 2010)

coal ash is also acidic so it won't make lye .


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## *Andi (Nov 8, 2009)

Autumnvicky said:


> How do you test if the soap was made right without using it on bare hands? I want to test mine out but in case I did it wrong... I don't want lye burns.


Your soap must cure for about 6 weeks. You can test it with ph strips. (I use our spa strips) If you do not care to touch the soap till then just use a cloth or gloves.

The soap needs air ... take it out of the mold and put it back somewhere out of the way and let it work.

After your six weeks are up cut one in half and put the strip on the inside of it and test the ph.

But that is just me and how I do it...


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## lhalfcent (Mar 11, 2010)

*Andi said:


> Your soap must cure for about 6 weeks. You can test it with ph strips. (I use our spa strips) If you do not care to touch the soap till then just use a cloth or gloves.
> 
> The soap needs air ... take it out of the mold and put it back somewhere out of the way and let it work.
> 
> ...


ooo good idea....usually after about 6 weeks i break open a bar and touch it with my tongue! lol if it burns a little it needs more time..if it doesn't and just tastes like soap.... it's ready...hey that's how our grannies did it! :flower:


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

For folks who want to try soap but are worried about PH and how long to cure it and stuff.. 
do a quick search on "hot process" soap or also called "Crock pot soap"
The longer processing with heat in the crock pot takes weeks off the cure time and is thought to be a bit safer.
But do not deviate too much with recipes or your soaps will not turn out.. 
If you want to try making soap then find a good soap forum and soap calculator and follow a proven recipe first. 
It can be a bit dangerous to do otherwise. 
A good starter recipe is called "Crisco soap" very few ingredients and makes a nice soap that you can add any scent to. 
I would recommend reading up a bit on line or at the library first just to get the gist of what you will be doing and why..


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## Ezmerelda (Oct 17, 2010)

There are probably hundreds of books and websites about soap making. Narrowing it down to one recipe is the hard part! 

Unfortunately, I've never gotten around to making soap, I ended up using my lye to kill fire ants.


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## dirtgrrl (Jun 5, 2011)

If you're afraid your soap may be harsh, you could try the "french mill" method. Grate your cured soap into an enamel or stainless pan, add a small amount of water and any conditioners, scents, or other pretties you like, remelt it and pour into your molds. Adds another step and more time, but fragrance and conditioners tend to get burnt up in the saponification process. Also gives you a chance to find any lumps of fat or lye in your soap before you use it. Lots of recipes out there.


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## dirtgrrl (Jun 5, 2011)

Toffee said:


> Two questions:
> 1. Could you use veggie shortening to mix if it's heated and melted in place of the oil? And...
> 2. Where would you suggest (or where do you) dispose of the straw? My entire property is technically over the Spokane Aquifer, which is one of the largest and it serves tons of people. So I don't feel very comfortable discarding on my property.


Toffee, the straw will just be very very alkaline. Mix it with something acidic like pine needles and compost it by itself. By the time it becomes humus, it'll be OK. Just never put it directly in your garden or compost pile.


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