How to Make Lye Soap From Wood Ash
Frontier folk made their own soap from lye and soap-making was a skill that mothers taught their daughters at a young age. Most of us these days have no idea how to make soap, but more and more people are learning to make their own. Some feel a sense of accomplishment at learning a new skill, satisfaction that they know how to make soap if they have to, and peace of mind from knowing exactly what ingredients are in their soap. Commercially-produced lye is sodium hydroxide, while traditional, homemade wood-ash lye is potassium hydroxide. Some people feel that homemade lye makes a nicer soap.
- Difficulty:
- Moderately Challenging
Instructions
Things You'll Need
- Plastic five-gallon bucket
- Smaller waterproof container
- Wood ashes (enough to fill a 5-gallon bucket)
- Drill with 1/16-inch bit
- Concrete blocks
- Broom handle
- Water (2 gallons plus 2 ½ pts., soft water or rain water)
- Protective goggles
- Protective gloves (thick rubber)
- Toothpick (the rounded kind)
- Enameled pan
- Chicken feather
- Beef fat (3 lbs.)
- Lard (3 lbs.)
- Large glass mixing bowl
- Wooden spoon
- Soap molds (non-metal)
- Blankets, cardboard or Styrofoam (for covering the soap molds)
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1
Drill a hole on the side of the bucket near the bottom. Insert the toothpick as a stopper.
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2
Fill the bucket with wood ash and pack the ash down. Add more ash and pack again. Leave about 3 or 4 inches of space at the top of the bucket.
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3
Place the bucket on the concrete blocks, with the waterproof container below the hole.
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4
Make a small depression in the center of the ashes with the broom handle.
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5
Boil 1 gallon of water.
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6
Slowly pour the boiling water into the depression in the ashes. There will be a chemical reaction that causes bubbling and spitting, so wear gloves and goggles.
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7
Remove the stopper from the bucket.
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8
Add another gallon of boiling water to the ashes after the reaction from the first gallon of water has stopped.
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9
Wait until the lye water has stopped dripping from the bucket (this may take several days). Replace the stopper.
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10
Pour the lye water into an enameled pan and bring it to a boil.
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11
Pour the hot lye water carefully back into the bucket of ashes.
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12
Make sure the catch basin is beneath the bucket, and remove the toothpick from the hole.
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13
Repeat steps 9 through 12 until a chicken feather inserted in the lye water will begin to dissolve. Now you have homemade lye.
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14
Slowly add 2 ½ pts. of water to the lye.
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15
Mix the beef fat with the lard. Warm the fat mixture and the lye to about body temperature.
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16
Put the fat mixture and the lye in a glass bowl, and stir until the mixture is about the consistency of sour cream.
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17
Mix in any colors and scents you may want for your soap.
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18
Pour the mixture into soap molds. Place in a warm area.
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19
Cover with blankets, cardboard or Styrofoam.
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20
Remove the soap from the molds once it is firm enough to handle (this takes at least 24 hours).
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21
Leave the soap in open air to cure at least 2 to 4 weeks. Soap that does not cure long enough will irritate the skin, so longer is better.
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1
Tips & Warnings
Make sure to use only the white, papery parts of the wood ashes.
Hard woods like maple and oak and fruit woods like apple make the best ashes for lye soap.
If you want your soap to float in water, add a little baking soda when you're mixing the fat with the lye.
Lye is extremely caustic. Wear protective goggles, thick rubber gloves, long sleeves, long pants, and closed shoes any time you handle lye water. If you get it on your skin, flush thoroughly with water. If you get it in your eyes, flush thoroughly with water and see your physician. If lye is ingested, DO NOT induce vomiting, and call poison control immediately at 1-800-222-1222.
When you're making lye soap, always add the water to the lye; never add the lye to the water.
Do not use metal containers or utensils with lye---the lye will react with metal. Hard plastic, glass, wood or enameled containers are OK.
Keep your ash bucket in an out-of-the-way place while you are making the lye water, since the process can take several days. Keep the lye water out of the reach of children and animals.
