soap

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I saw a thread from Old Git earlier about soaps and shampoos and thought I'd offer my recipe for home made soap. It may come in useful at some point. I've tried it and it really works well. Just be sure to do all the mixing outside of the house! I use it for stain removal (shavings softened in water), have used it for laundry, hands, in fact nearly everything. I like Dove better :) but in a pinch, this is great! *************** Ingredients for soap: Fat Lye (as in Red Devil drain cleaner) Borax Ammonia

Boil all fat drippings in water 10-15 minutes. Allow to cool and separate. Scrape off fat and store in refrigerator until you have 4 cups (2lbs.) of fat. ---------

Dissolve 1/2 cup Lye in 2 cups cold water, use an enamel or plastic container and stir with a wooden spoon. Melt fat and let it cool to room temperature (85 degrees F). Add 1/4 cup Borax to Lye, mix, add cooled fat to Lye and mix. Add 1/4 cup ammonia, and stir until thick and syrupy. Pour into milk cartons.

When soft enough, cut into bars. Wrap in waxed paper to harden and store.

Makes 3/4 Gallon.

A milk carton is nice to use if you have them around because they can be ripped off to cut the soap, but any plastic, enamel or glass container can be used as long as you can dump the soap out of it. You can probably even scoop it out while soft enough and make balls out of it to store. An enamel cake pan would work well, too.

-- winna (??@??.com), April 02, 1999

Answers

Got it !! Thanks,Winna.

-- Chris (griffen@globalnet.co.uk), April 02, 1999.

I forgot to advise that if you are using lye stored in a metal can (as the drain cleaners are) you will want to transfer it to a glass jar with a plastic lid. The lye will eventually eat its way through the metal and cause a caustic mess in your storage.

-- winna (??@??.com), April 02, 1999.

Anudder ting! Don't throw away those little pieces of soap left from the bar of soap. Put them in a pt jar with some water and a few marbles or better yet, bearings. Just keep adding the soap pieces to the jar and every now and then give it a shake. When it has all turned to jell, dilute with water, shake it up and pour into the soft soap dispenser. Waste not want not!!

Gotta bath towel??

-- Taz (Tassie@aol.com), April 02, 1999.


Little Herman

and brother Thurmond

had an aversion

to washing their ears

Grandma scrubbed 'em

with the lye soap

and they haven't heard a word in years

-- dave (wootendave@hotmail.com), April 02, 1999.


Dave..Hi!...In the middle 60s, there was a very similar tune about Grandma's Lye Soap by Brother Dave Gardner (as I recall), but could not find it on a Brother Daves web search. It was on his "It's In The Book" album. Thanks for the memories......\/\/illis

-- \/\/illis (remember@ing.when), April 02, 1999.


Dave..FWIW, Here's a url with the lyrics and a hotlink to a home soap making page: http://www.geopages.com/Wellesley/5724/lyesoap.html

Grandma's Lye Soap

Chorus:

I want you all to sing right out of Grandma's Of Grandma's Lye Soap Good for everything Everything on the place The pots and pans The dirty dishes And for your hands And for your face

Verses:

Old Mrs. O'Malley Down in the valley Suffered from ulcers, I understand. She swallowed a cake Of grandma's lye soap - - Now she's got the cleanest ulcers in the land!

Our Brother Herman And Cousin Sherman had an aversion to washing their ears. Grandma scrubbed them With her lye soap - - Now they haven't heard a word in years!

\/\/illis

-- \/\/illis (remember@ing.when), April 02, 1999.


Dave..FWIW, Here's a url with the lyrics and a hotlink to a home soap making page: http://www.geopages.com/Wellesley/5724/lyesoap.html

Grandma's Lye Soap

Chorus:

I want you all to sing right out of Grandma's Of Grandma's Lye Soap Good for everything Everything on the place The pots and pans The dirty dishes And for your hands And for your face

Verses:

Old Mrs. O'Malley Down in the valley Suffered from ulcers, I understand. She swallowed a cake Of grandma's lye soap - - Now she's got the cleanest ulcers in the land!

Our Brother Herman And Cousin Sherman had an aversion to washing their ears. Grandma scrubbed them With her lye soap - - Now they haven't heard a word in years!

\/\/illis

-- \/\/illis (remember@ing.when), April 02, 1999.


To all...forgive the double post...ol' fumble fingers is not yet y2k compliant!

\/\/illis

-- \/\/illis (remember@ing.when), April 02, 1999.


would be great if I could get this in RealAudio now, haven't heard it in decades. But talk about ROTFLMAO. Never got tired of playing "It's in the Book"!

-- Debbie (dbspence@usa.net), April 02, 1999.

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