soap making from scratch
Hygiene and sanitation are NOT optional especially in a grid down or emergency situation.
Some research says around 44% of DEATHS are related to diarrhea and could be prevented by simply washing your hands with soap and water.
The supplies of soap would last for awhile after a SHTF or SNAP event. Most of our grandparents lived 24/7 without much of a grid up time. They could and would create their own hygiene products from available ingredients. It is relatively easy to make your own products.
There is archaeological evidence for soap making at least for the last 5,000 years for not only cleaning our selves and cloth but also for medical reasons. Most social groups in later years have divided the labor with some of us specializing in certain duties like healthcare, bakers and smiting, however most people knew how to make their own bread and soap.
The chemical reactions between fat with a base of alkali such as lye or sodium hydroxide to make soap, the process is known as saponification. Fat is easy to find as you can use rendered animal fat or vegetable oils. On the other hand lye made from either sodium or potassium hydroxide can be found in hardware or farm supply stores. Lye for soap making has other household uses and USED to be in all the grocery and big box stores on the shelf next to the drain cleaners. This is harder to find because of the misuse of it in making METH. It is possible with some work to make your own lye water at home.
Making lye water — Caution lye and lye water is CAUSTIC and can eat through metal, clothing and most importantly it can eat through YOU.. safety glasses, rubber gloves and a water proof apron at all times when dealing with lye… keep animals and small children away from lye. Be careful and it is a good idea to have baking soda on hand to neutralize the lye and running water to wash yourself and dilute the lye.
things you will need to gather up for this;
distilled water – rain water is great for this
wood ashes from your fire- hard woods are best be sure it is well burnt to a white ash.
A container with very small holes which let the lye water through but not the solids.
A 2nd container to catch and hold the lye water as it flows from the 1st. NOTE NEVER use aluminum for either as it will react badly with the lye.
***A discussion on containers, historically they were made out of wood or clay, seldom metal and of course NEVER aluminum. Today stainless steel or plastic will work OK. ***
Line the bottom of the top or straining container with grass, hay or straw, over this goes a layer of washed sand. Pack the rest of the top container up to within 3-4 inches of the top with the wood ashes.
Set the first container with the ashes INTO the 2nd whole bucket. Next pour rain or distilled water SLOWLY into the ash bucket. This MAY be around half a bucket more or less. This will take a while to saturate the ash and fill up the containers to within 3 inches of the BOTTOM container – do not over fill. Once the water has totally soaked into the ash and will not take anymore, use the remaining water for the garden or laundry ect. Go about your business for a couple of days.
With the assistance of another person lift the ash bucket while the other person puts wood boards between the containers so that the water in the ash can will drip down into the catchment basin. Go about your business for several hours. After this you will have a brownish fluid in the catchment basin.
Place the ash container on top of another catchment container as above and slowly pour the lye water through the ashes and let drip. Repeat this step 6 or more times.
How do I know when the lye is strong enough? When a fresh egg which will sink in distilled or rain water, will float in the lye water. Another way to know is if a chicken feather will dissolve in the lye water. You can concentrate the lye water by letting it evaporate for awhile until the egg floats.
What to do with the left over ashes? Spread them out on the driveway to dry and then scatter it in the garden in the fall or around fruit trees. Another way to deal with it is to let it dry and then spread it on icy side walks or other slippery spots.
Collecting fat
The other half of soap is some kind of fat. This can be either animal or plant fats.
If you want a good lather plant based oils are most likely better. Animal fat soap does not lather as well but does clean good and can be used to wash clothing.. When I shave I use a straight razor and I like ‘Granny’s” lye soap better than store bought.
To render animal fat you will need ; animal fat, cast iron or other metal container, a cutting board and a couple of very sharp knives and a couple of liters of potable water.
Procedure for rendering animal fat; assemble your supplies in convenient spot. Pour a few inches of water into the pan you plan to render the fat in. cube the fat into ½ to 1 inch chunks putting them into the pot as you go. Once the pot is full to with in 2 inches of the top put it onto the stove or other heat source just a bit above simmer to a very slow boil until all or most of the fat has come out of the fat tissue. Maybe 4 hours. Strain out the particulate matter and use this in soups or other food products you plan to eat or give it to your puppies. Set the product in a frig or other cool/cold place to set up. Once the fat has set and is hard carefully remove the hard fat from the jelly bottom and place this in a stew pot and use at your next meal.
Repeat the proceeding until all of the fat that you planned has been rendered.
Take the rough fat that you have collected and put it into a clean pot big enough to hold it all and slow or low boil it with a couple inches of water in the pan. Once totally melted put it some place to harden. Once hardened remove the now clean fat to a clean container. This fat is now ready to make soap.
Wooden molds or a glass pan lined with saran wrap work to hold the soap once it is made while it cures.
Recipe
in a non reactive container [ wood, glass or stainless steel NEVER aluminum ] place 3 cups of melted fat [around 100 degrees F] SLOWLY add 1 cup of warm 100 degree F lye water while stirring with a dedicated wooden spoon. Continue stirring until the solution becomes thick. The stirring allows the saponification [the chemical reaction that makes soap] to happen. Once it is thick enough to ‘trace’ like melting ice cream, you can draw in it and see the pattern for a few minutes as it slumps down to a flat surface.
At the trace point you can pour it into your mold. Cover with towels in a safe place where it will not be disturbed for a couple of days. [At this point cut it into usable size bars] Longer [4 to 6 weeks] is better but is most likely OK to use after 2 -3 days of making it.
Each batch of soap made with homemade lye water will be slightly different in results. Practice until you get a feel for it.
Once you get the hang of the basic process you can start adding other stuff to your soap or other oils.
You can add essential oils for smell good or medicinal herbs for better cleaning. As an example Plantain broad leafed is reputed to be an antiseptic.
In the field you can clean your cooking gear with wood ash and water and rinse well. You can also use Yucca leaf pulp for camp clean up or even bathing. Don’t throw the leaves away after such use as you can rinse them out and make cordage from the fibers.