Subject: Lye (& soap) from ashes-2pages

From: [email-masked] (EWhiteVHP)
Date: 3 Jun 1995 21:31:07 -0400

Copyright 1995 Elaine C. White. All rights reserved.
Elaine is the author of "Soap Recipes" a 224-page book with over 70 modern
soap recipes. (The following method is not included in the book, but once
you
have 1 cup of lye/water at the "right" strength, you could make any soap
recipe.)

     Making lye from wood ashes is a very-old fashioned method of making
soap. In order to do it properly today, one has to resort to "modern"
methods
of determining the lye strength. Is my method old-fashioned enough to suit
the people?---if they know how to measure the strength of the lye with a
string, rock and a stick? Think I'm nuts don't you? Hang with me a minute.

     If a person could make a lye solution the same specific gravity of
the
lye/water we use, then they'd know how much to add to a pound of fat to
make
soap--one cup, right?

     Well here's how to "Make lye from scratch"
Drill a few holes in the bottom of a plastic garbage bin and then stand it
on
blocks over a large collection dish (lye-resistant material remember). 
Add a
cloth at the bottom of the bin or about 4 inches of straw or pine needles
to
act as a filter. Fill the bin with with finely sifted wood ash, but not
the
kind from paper wastes as they often contain clay and other additives.
Pour a
bucket of cold rainwater on top of the ash.  Wait a few hours to see if
water
seeps from the bottom of the bin. Collect the water, add it to another
bucket
of water and pour through the ashes. Repeat this process every time the
ashes
stop dripping. The water contains lye. The more times it's run through
ashes,
the stronger the lye. It may be necessary to remove the ashes from the bin
and replace them with new ashes in order to make the lye/water strong
enough.
It's also possible to boil the lye/water to reduce the water, making the
remaining lye/water stronger pH. (Better not breathe *those* fumes!)

     Now--Baume is a scientific measurement (like specific gravity) and
it's
a very accurate way of measuring the strength of lye/water. The modern
instrument to measure specific gravity is called a hydrometer.

     Making a old-fashioned hydrometer
Can't remember the source, but remember reading a bunch of absolutely
"foolish" methods of testing the strength of the lye. (Floating an egg is
*not* a good indication.) One of the most interesting (and one that
sounded
most-likely to work) said to make a very strong solution of salt. Really
pour
in the salt, stir and let it sit several hours so the water dissolves as
much
salt as possible. Excess salt will sit at the bottom of the
container--voila!--a "saturated salt solution." This author says that the
specific gravity of this solution was the same as the lye/water needed to
make soap. Said to make an instrument to measure the specific gravity by
tying a rock to a string and tying the other end of the string to a stick
(cork-type arrangement, but the string between the rock and stick must be
very short-no more than an inch or so. Hard to describe, but what you're
doing is almost tying a rock on the bottom of a long stick). Now float the
home-made hydrometer in the saturated salt solution. The rock should sink
and
most of the stick floats above water. (If the rock goes to the bottom, it
may
be too heavy, or the container isn't deep enough) The rock must be
suspended
in the liquid and the stick bobbing freely.  Mark a line at the water
level.
(This is the "magic measurement") Now, put the homemade hydrometer into
the
lye solution. If the lye/water is the "right" strength for soapmaking the
water-line marked should be at the lye/water level. If not, the lye is too
strong, or not strong enough.

     Now, I don't know what strength this guy is talking about (wish I had
his name to give credit for his work), but he sure gave me an idea. I make
a
lye solution of the "right" strength (by adding 2.2 oz weight to 1 cup
water). Put the homemade hydrometer in the solution and make the "magic
mark"
The stick-hydrometer could be used over and over. Hey--that would work! I
know it would!------------Elaine

     Hey, Pam and Diane--is this method primative enough to suit the
living-history people? We could sell "stick hydrometers" to people who
want
to make soap "the old-fashioned way?" Guaranteed repeat market 'cause that
stick ain't gonna last long with repeated exposure to lye/water!
I'm teasing about the sale, but I love the method!