Soap, The Hard Way
Apr 25th 2008IlanaFavorites & Historical & Writing
I was at Sturbridge Village last weekend (detecting a theme?) and there happened to be two costumed interpreters making soap, the old way. In an earlier post, I mentioned that the ashes from all those wood fires were saved for making soap. I had a vague idea of the process, but took the opportunity to quiz them. Here is my understanding of the basic process in ten steps (if anyone knows better, please share). As I write this, I wish I’d had a recorder…
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Lye, the corrosive alkaline substance in soap (NaOH), is what lets soap do its job. In 1840, you obtained lye from all those ashes.
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1) Fill your wooden barrel with ashes. This barrel should have holes in the bottom.
2) Set it on your collecting stone (note the grooves in the stone beneath the barrel) and fill it with soft water (rain/stream water) but not so much that the water starts to flow. Leave it there for at least a day.
3) Start adding more water. Slowly. This will leach the lye from the ashes. Collect it by placing a bucket beneath the stone’s spout. Do not touch. Remember, its corrosive. My son reached out and the interpreter jumped to stop him.
4) An egg should float – straight up and down. If it floats like a boat, you need to add more water. If it doesn’t float at all, its too dilute and you need to boil the lye water to concentrate it.
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Meanwhile, you should be preparing your lard (animal fat).
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5) Melt your lard.
6) Heat up your lye water.
7) Mix the two together. I looked online and it looks like a ratio of 2 gallons of lye water mixed with 3 cups of melted lard is the goal.
8. Then you ‘prove’ the soap. This involves fine-tuning the ratio by looking to see how the soap falls when lifted with a knife. It shouldn’t be too long and ropy (needs more lye), nor should it fall in short, white pieces (needs more lard).
9) When the ratio is right, you have soft or liquid soap. If you want a bar of soap, there’s more to do (see step #10).
10) Add salt. This causes the soap to float to the top and a brown liquid to stay on the bottom. You skim off the soap. Once you’ve collected enough (you may have to re-melt it), you pour it into wooden molds and let it cool. Later, you can cut it into bars.
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If you want more details there’s a website called Traditional Soap Making that I consulted. I’d love to try this someday. Just once. I’m sure after one run through I’d be completely content to continue to buy my soap at the store.
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That’s cool! Any time I read about how things were done so long ago, it makes me appreciate what we have now. I know that I sometimes romanticize the past, but all it takes is a good dose of reality to remember what I would be missing!
I will never take my Kiss My Face olive oil soap for granted again! And Ilana, if you don’t write a time travel book, you’re crazy–think of all the great stuff you’re learning about from a 21st century viewpoint! (Thank me later. I’m telling Caryn what to write, too.
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Caryn - That’s exactly how I feel too. Its also an extension of the ‘what if I couldn’t buy this and had to do it from scratch…’ question that I like to ask.
Pam - The book isn’t time travel, but a ghost does come from the past…my main character experiences some key events through her eyes (in 1st person) so I had to get the details down. I’m glad you like the time travel type books… I love books with historical aspects.
(Apologies if this is a double post. My first one seems to have been eaten, or washed away given the nature of the post.
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I promise never to take my Kiss My Face Olive Oil soap for granted again. What work! And Ilana, I think you should write a time-travel. You have such fun details of life back then that I’d love to see you combine it with a modern-day heroine.
Have you ever watched Colonial House? It was a reality show type series on PBS (except better, because nobody was voted off the island or anything like that). They rebroadcast it every so often, but I was able to check it out at my local library. I think you would enjoy it. The took several people and had them live as the colonist did for three months. A friend of mine from high school was actually one of the participants, along with his dog. Your post and the photos reminded me of it.
I had no idea what it took to make soap. I’m not sure I’d have the patience for it. I remember making candles when I was younger, but they were much easier (and quicker). I’m going to have a new appreciation for my Irish Spring tomorrow morning!
Kim - Yes, I did watch it. I think I might have missed an episode or two, so I’ll have to see if I can find it again. I’m not much for reality shows, but that one had my attention.
Robin - These days, you can make soap much easier at home. Candles… another topic I could explore.
Hi Ilana! My apologies too if this is a double post- my first one was eaten too. It showed up right after I submitted, but it’s not there now. Anyway, I had no idea what went into making soap! I remember as a kid making candles. That was a lot easier and quicker. I’m going to have a new appreciation for my Irish Spring when I shower!
Okay - not sure why *I* couldn’t see my post, but you obviously could, Ilana. Sorry for the repeat!
Robin - Sorry, there seems to be a slight delay before it shows up. Sometimes I have to refresh my site. I’m not sure exactly why, but I suspect my computer is doing one of those techy things where it remembers the page and doesn’t realize it has to update. Hmm…
Thanks for sharing your research experiences, Ilana!
You’re very welcome. I have a lot of fun hunting down the details and then have to fight info dump.
[…] easier for the woman (less rubbing, pounding, lifting - not to mention less exposure to the caustic soap used then), there were still […]