Soapmaking from Scratch: Woodash Lye
2023 ж. 3 Сәу.
209 248 Рет қаралды
Part one of a series looking at the history, archaeology and practical creation of soap starting from ashes and fats.
Today we are setting up a lye hopper to turn wood ash into a strong alkali suitable for soapmaking.
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I watched my grandma make soap every 4 weeks and we used it plus she bought chicken feed with the money She died at 98 and I miss her loving smile
❤ nice story she sounds like a remarkable woman
In a post-apocalyptic world, I think soap making is one of the things I think would be very useful to a community. Hygiene is important!
I have made woodash lye soap a number of times. I filter the ashes, put them in a 5 gallon bucket, fill with water and let sit for a week (sometimes longer if I forget). When I drain the liquid, I have always had the egg float high to indicate a strong solution for soap making.
Thank you I’ll try that.
@@carolinapatriot9651 wondering the same 🤔💯
@@speaklifegardenhomesteadpe8783 I asked too early. You have to watch the entire video to understand the egg deal
I've read in other blogs online the way to do it is to burn what you'd like to use, like banana peels, apple cores, tomatos, carrots, wood etc, then pour the ashes into a bucket and fill it with rainwater or distilled water and let it all sit in the bucket for 5 - 7 days before draining the water out of the bucket. That sitting time allows the natural chemical reaxtion to happen. @@nancygorman This is also how African Black Soap is made btw, they usually use coconut shells, palm leaves and plantain peels. It doesn't need to be wood ash, any ash will do. The benefit of natural lyes over synthetic ones is that you get the minerals from the plants that you burn in the finished soap, which adds nutrients to the skin. Like magnesium and zinc and stuff like that, which is pretty cool. Synthetic lyes don't have any nutrients in them. That's why I want to try to use ashes from burning different kinds of vegetables of different colors to boost the soaps nutrient content for the skin. African black soap also doesn't filter the ashes, so you can get pieces of charcoal and carbon in the soap for exfoliation.
Hands down, your videos are the best out there for actually doing a thing. You show the entire process start to finish, and explain WHY you’re doing it that way as you go. Unlike others, you don’t assume a level of knowledge the rest of us don’t have. Thank you so much!❤️🐝🤗
Agreed!
Hear hear. Thank you for this amazing video.
Eggs are the most frugal hydrometers. An egg rolls of the table and the dog gets a meal while I walk down to the henhouse for a new egg. While if a glass hydrometer rolls off the table, I have a mess and I 'm out $30 for a new hydrometer. Looking forward to the next instalment, Sally.
I would recommend using lab goggles instead of just glasses because liquid can splash behind the glasses easily, and you really don't want to mess around with something that could blind you. When I worked in a lab, I got quite careless about regular lye/acids on my hands because it takes a while to sting and can be washed off easily; your eyes do not have the same protection and damage happens quickly. Lab goggles can be bought to be wearable over regular glasses too and are cheap.
Another easy safety measure would be to have a bucket of fresh water handy in site to immediately wash off any lye spills from the skin.
Yeah, I second that. A friend of mine who works in a chemical lab recently got a drop or two of sodium hydroxide (an alkali similar to those found in lye) and she got a massive burn on her eye. Doctors said her sight may never be as good as before and there were high chances that, if she delayed to seek medical help, to have lost her sight altogether from that eye. Strong acids and strong alkalis must be handled with great caution.
Totally agree…use goggles. A splash likely won’t happen, but if it could…and it can cause real damage. Just takes a few seconds and your eyes are worth it.
I use swimming goggles when doing experiments and cutting oignons, works well and very easy to find ! (Plus you can go swimming with them!)
My father has a two-inch wide band of grafted skin around his wrist as a reminder to be careful around sodium hydroxide - and to use long enough protective gloves for the job at hand.
my mammy told me and my sister when we where kids that my granny use to make soap like that in the 40`s and 50`s and she had this huge terracotta pot the size of a dust bin for it .
I used to watch my nanna make lye solution and soap (from the safety of the back door step and not a toe closer, she'd say), she had a huge ceramic pot too.
Wonderful video. I have to try this myself as I have been thinking of making soap for a long time.
I’ve been reading up on making buckskin, and have seen the egg test mentioned several times in making the bucking solution. I’ve only ever used commercial lye & am excited to use oak ash from my wood stove this summer! Now I’ve got another thing to try, I better set another bucket out for more ashes! My poor husband… bless his heart… he doesn’t understand but is supportive nevertheless. 😇
This was perfectly timed, Ive been thinking about soap production lately(You watch one post apoclypse show and suddenly youre not watching and youre pondering survival logistics). I look forward to the rest of the series
haha, can relate -- I have a small library of bushcraft first aid type tomes I acquired under similar circumstances 🤭
🤣Imagine 9 million Londoners (plus the undocumented immigrants) swarming the countryside to gather wood for heating and for making soap ...
Rather than using a bung, I would recommend using a spigot/tap as a safer option. Brewers’ supply stores usually carry them for use on plastic fermenters, so it shouldn’t be any harder to find than the bung, and it would allow a controlled flow pointed downward rather than the gush you experienced. Love your vids, looking forward to more in this series.
She's going for historical authenticity, they wouldn't have had taps in those times!
@unison247 They didn't have Rubbermade Plastic, paddle bits, handheld impact drivers, or a lot of other things in this video. Also make sure you use the right size paddle bit the first time as the middle hole guides everything.
@@unison247 You might be entirely mistaken about that ;) Wooden taps for kegs have been around quite a long time.
@@AlienScientist Or, better than the "paddle bit" - use a Forstner bit, actually designed for cutting smooth round holes as are needed here
@@unison247my grandmother made her own soap up until the 50s. She lived on a farm and had never seen a television so she wasn't brainwashed by commercials like everyone who had tvs
The traditional way of making soap where I live was to run that same water back through two or three times to get it strong enough to float that adventurous egg. Mountain women only made soft soap from homemade lye, though.
Leave the ashes to soak in the water for a week or two, then strain. Boil to reduce mixture by half making it stronger! If your only passing the water through the ashes, your mixture will never be strong enough to make soap. Also, if you add some lime/calcium it will make a more solid soap bar. You can make your own lime by baking shells until they are white and flaky. After, add hot water. Easy and very versatile. Just some fun info 😇
Madd skills you have!
I think the wood ash only gives potassium hydroxide, so soft soap--sodium hydroxide (Red Devil Lye) yields hard soap.
Thank you! I came here to see how difficult it'd be to make lye in a long-term survival situation (mostly for making leather clothing / bags, etc), and am pleased to see how simple it is! :)
Great video. The step you missed was having a bucket of clean water to immediately wash off splash. Also, safety googles are a must. I’m looking forward to part two.
I do mention goggles, and for me, vinegar is stage one safety, but yes, water helps!
@@SallyPointer Coming at this as someone whose education was primarily in chemistry and a medical field, it's usually preferable to use clean water to wash away lye splashes, rather than an acid, simply because of the potential heat etc formed by reacting vinegar with the lye. But either way, you still need a lot of water. Also, even as a glasses wearer myself, I would still recommend properly-fitting goggles (preferably better than the cheap ones that have gaps where they don't meet your face well, but at least some that come with side guards and some protection from above and below the "lenses"). That big gush is precisely why. That could very easily have swamped over regular glasses and any amount of lye meeting your eyes is a huge issue. Obviously, it's your own choice as to what precautions you feel are necessary, but that would be my recommendation. I obviously second the idea of not tasting lye of any variety (though that zing test is also used by some makers on their finished products to double-check that there's no unreacted lye in the final soap)! All that said, I loved the video. I've been massively into cold-process soapmaking for a few years now, and although I know some historical facts about the process, and extracting lye from wood ash, it's very interesting to watch the process being done. I can imagine that it wouldn't be hard to see how, perhaps, an open fire, some water, and some animal fats from cooking meat over the flames might end up combining in a way that produced a primitive "soap" product. I'll be interested to see how your lye works out, as generally in the soap-making community, KOH is used for liquid soaps and NaOH is the usual base for hard soaps. So I can't wait to see all the future videos! Thank you so much for sharing your experiments with us. It's always fascinating and I always learn something new.
@M MacNicol It likely also depends on the fats/oils used as well - hard fats tend to make a harder soap, while oils (and I'm thinking especially of olive oil when making pure castille soap) tends to make a much softer bar, even when using NaOH. But yes, soapmaking can be incredibly simple, but also incredibly complicated too.
@M MacNicol hey, did you find any natural sources of NaOH?
Very much appreciate seeing the process of that which I’ve long been fascinated by and intent upon its creation. Seeing the process offers one So much more clarity…and of course enhanced by group input for one & all 😊. Naturally, as chance would have it, now that I’m forearmed with the methodology, I no longer have a fire ; ) ; ). White vinegar is also my essential standby when soap making - in a spray bottle 😊. // I couldn’t help but wonder if the Lye you garnered was put back into the ash to further steep, it might strengthen? Also leaving the mix to steep for longer initially….? All food for thought, methinks 💞
Sept. 13, 2023 - just checking to see if there is an update to this video? I love that you're well rounded and try a variety of things and not just stuck on one gig. I do primitive living with the Natives that will teach whites and soap was one of the things I wanted to do. It takes some time to know if you've got soap and has to go through the saponification and gel phase before it's safe to use so it might not be a good class to teach since we can't actually use what we make. I make soap now with lye produced for soap makers but learning the primitive or "old fashioned" way of doing things is much more interesting and satisfying. Anyhow, I hope to see the follow-up soon and I pray all is well. Thank you for the videos. They're very informative. Kind regards, Mrs. Thibodeaux from Southeast Texas ❤🇺🇸
Hi thanks for your video. I’m a 51 year old Georgia girl and I remember my mom and grands making soaps and using pot ash and lye for illnesses. My mom is still living and has lye mixed in a mason jar with other ingredients. It helps illness and joint pain. Thanks.
I see the wiretap has been listening quite well. We just finished making a few soap bars tonight. I’ve longed for a video or how-to to make this. Very pleased and you’ve renewed my interest to try it!
Experimental Archeology! My lady! I was an anthropology student way back when, and then life happened. Such that it is. My great grandmother used traditional lye soap that she also made herself and her skin was absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, I was too young when I knew her for her to feel comfortable letting me work with lye, so I never learned. There's not been anything comparable since. Finding this video is absolutely awesome. I remember some things she did (didn't use the plastic bin, I think she used wood that my great grandfather made), burning logs, pouring water and then I don't recall anything else. She also used lye in making hominy. I remember that.
Brilliant video! Very informative. I look forward to watching the next one. Thank you.
I made this with my grandmother and mom. I was pretty young so I didn’t remember all the steps they did. Remember mostly the use of ash to make it. Loved seeing the process again. This is old school soap making. Course my grandmother was old school. She had ten children to boot.
Interesting how y'all do things across the pond. One thing my ancestors did differently is they sieved the ashes to get only the powder and virtually no solids This was said to be one of the most critical steps for a good result. My Cherokee ancestors used to make hominy by putting dried corn in ash-filled pots, with water, next to a fire overnight. Many of my, now deceased, relatives said they'd wash their wooden floors with lye water made from wood ash and then they'd make soap from wood ash. The way they did it was they put the ashes in a cloth bag hung from a dowel rod by a thick rope. Over the bag was a metal tin, syrup bucket, pot or pan with a open bottom wood support holding it up. Basically any thin metal container that held a lot of water would do. They'd then have a tiny nail hole in the bottom of the metal container so the water would drip onto the rope and down into the bag. Below the bag was a crock. Usually this was done on a support post for a shed or porch with the dowel also being used later to hang souse or for other purposes. The idea behind this drip method was the extraction happened best because of the slow drip allowing time for a reaction to take place. The extracted water would then be capped off in the crock and taken to the creek to chill...sometimes for days (depending of the desired use of the lye watet). This is what we homebrewers call "cold crashing" or "cold racking" since the cold causes particles to floculate. They'd then pour off the good water into another pot and pour out the sediment in the bottom. For floors, this lye water was fine. For soap, they'd do the cold racking 2-4 times and then sieve it through clean clothes a few times. Afterwards, they'd then boil the lye water until just over half the original volume was boiled away. After it was cooled, they'd do the egg trick. The fats used varied. Some said beef fat was best for soaps used for household cleaning while others used old, used lard. All seemed to agree pork fat was best. I'm actually doing a contemporary demonstration of making hominy using an electric crock pot and sieved oak wood ash. We have an invasive tree here called Chinese tallow. It was brought here to make soap and candles. Most people are allergic to it. I like to smoke meats with the wood. I'm hoping to see if it has enough potassium in the ash to make lye water for future projects I have in mind
Thank you! 💯🦋🧑🏻🌾🦋💯
Can’t wait until you post your second and third video on this topic!!! Keep doing what your doing sister and God bless🙏
In my part of the world a wooden barrel would have been used. (I realize you are using what you can source) A foot of straw placed in the bottom and covered with the ash from a hickory fire. Water would have been added and the contents soaked. Then the lye would have been run through a second barrel full of fresh ash and the process continued until the proper strength was achieved. We also used a hopper made like a baby's crib/manger, lined with straw, filled with ash and water poured over the ash and the ash changed out. A wooden gutter caught the lye and channeled it into the bucket. An ash hopper was a mandatory fixture in most of the rural back gardens when I was a kid. Most were unused by that time, but you could get a good lesson from the old people just for asking.
Yes, that is how it's done. It is run through a few times and boiled down, in my experience.
Crikey, when that lye gushed out over your arms, I was chanting "wash it off"! I've had a couple of encounters with lye water and it wasn't pleasant. Great video, thank you Sally.
Yeah, it was ok, not that much hit me really and I'm a fairly fossilised old bird.
Yes, wash it off as soon as possible, so that it doesn’t turn your skin into soap!
@@ragnkjalol it won't. Lye water can cause burns and skin irritation tho
@@catzkeet4860 It won’t turn the whole skin into soap, that was indeed an exaggeration, but it will turn the skin _oils_ into soap, and it’s not good for the rest of the skin either.
@@ragnkja did I not say that? Cos I could've sworn I did. I'm a soaper..... trust me, I know what lye can do.
Thank you SO MUCH from a scratch soapmaker in the States! I've only been able to find one photocopied page from an 18th century book on how to properly make lye from wood ash, and it was not as thorough as your video. Making soap truly from scratch has been a goal of mine. So far I've only ended up with potassium carbonate instead of potassium hydroxide. I have a feeling your follow up video will explain how to turn the initial wood ash lye into proper soap lye. Very grateful I found your channel!
If you bake it at high temperature it'll drive off the CO2 leaving potassium oxide which becomes hydroxide/lye with the addition of water. Adding the water releases a ton of heat, so be careful.
I found better results soaking the ashes in water vs passing water through.
@@TheBrianna1431 did you end up with strong enough lye to make soap? I read that straw adds some of the salts necessary to turn the potassium carbonate into hydroxide, but I've never tried filtering the ash water thru straw myself. Very curious about your results!
@@DirtyDSoaps Idk to be honest, I haven't tried filtering it with straw. But if you want any results I still recommend soaking over passing through.
@@DirtyDSoaps oh, also I have made soap using this method works great! You end up with a soft soap bar. If you want a completely hard soap bar you have to add lime. You can make your own lime( calcium carbonate) but it is it's own fun project. You have to bake shells until they are white and flaky. Then add water.
Very interesting stuff, Sally! I'm fully intrigued with your experiments, you have a brilliant mind and a natural curiosity for things! Please, please consider to stop licking chemicals, especially strong ones, you know you could hurt yourself. It would be such a pity to lose you to some mishap over a lye slightly stronger than anticipated.
I've been looking to do this for over a year, and have quite a few kg of hardwood woodash from the fire stove, but haven't found a good video on how to do this. The weather only just improved to be able to do it outside recently, and you make this video at the perfect time!😁👍 Thank you so much! I'm sure your instruction will be REALLY useful!❤
It would only work in smaller containers of 10 gallons or less, but you could try vigorously mixing ashes with water in a wide bucket skimming any floating material as it comes to the surface before pouring it all into a long preferably clear pipe of equal volume and letting it settle decanting the excess to get a relatively clean lye solution with no filter material.
🙏🙏🍻 this is something I want to do with my HS science class. We've made soap using sodium hydroxide, now they're proficient we are going to up the game! Watched other videos - not bad, your video - great! Can't wait for the continuation!!😎👍👍
Mon arrière Grand-mère a fait son savon de cette manière. J'ai tellement hâte de voir la suite!
My grandpa explained the process to me back in the’80’s awesome to see this.
Looking forward to part 2 of this soap making process! I love your videos Sally
I have been researching simple traditional soap making for so long and still feel a little stumped and cautious so i am so happy to see you sharing this!! very very excited!! thanks for sharing!
My grandmother was from northern Maine and made her own lye soap. She never taught us so this is fascinating! Even after she moved to California I remember her keeping a stash of lye soap under the kitchen sink.
So excited to see you again! And soapmaking from scratch is a long time fascination of mine! Thank you!
This is where the value of KZhead lies. Soap making rabbit holes, or whatever else you might want to learn about, however deep you’d like to go. Took me the better part of a year to get this far. Thank you for your efforts. It is appreciated.
Just the other day I watched Ruth Goodman in the Edwardian Farm series talk about soap from woodash in order to launder clothes. Maybe it's a sign that I should bathe more often?
Love this! Can't wait for part 2!! 😀
When will we see part 2? I’m excited
Same here! Super excited for part 2!
@@jessicahsarah It's been 4 months! I have lots of wood ash, LOL!
Oooh, fun to see this from the very beginning. It's easier to mix powdery stuff with water if you do it in layers instead of all at once. Also a better container might be one of those construction-worker type plastic water jugs that have an open top (with a lid) and a bottom tap, so instead of being flooded when you take out the bung, you just turn the tap.
my cousin in Wyoming made her soap from wood ash, She used a Pringles potato chip container. then sliced the soap into perfect round pieces,
@@vernamcguire6759 That is a wonderful idea!
I'm so excited for this series!
Your channel is superb! I adore your areas of study, as I am a retired horticulturist of 40+ years now. And I an extremely interested in ancient ways of doing things, making things and ways of life of humans in the past. So happy to be following and newly subbed! I am also interested in ancient ways of pottery making and plants used for medicinal purposes! I do know that the Native Americans in my area (and in the Southern USA used river cane and cane grasses for many items and baskets , but it has to be cut at at certain time, I think I remember it as September, for it to be a certain pliability. I love this!😊
Thank you, Sally! I appreciate all the awesome videos you do.
Wow... Looking forwards to this a lot. Thank you for all of the info!
This is extremely interesting. I've always been interested in the history of tar and tar making but soap is really cool too
I have been researching this. So glad to watch you do this. Thanks!
Medieval life has to have been the most interesting and enjoyable time to be alive in our entire history I think. Modern "life" is dominated by working "jobs" that serve no purpose but to waste our life and time in exchange for literally nothing but pain and misery. At least in the Medieval era all work you would do would directly contribute to the home, you would make your own clothing and raise your own food. I wonder what evil I committed in a past life to be cursed with existing in modern times, what I wouldn't give to live true life back in history. Excellent video!
I get your point, but I don't mind living with modern medicine, either. I'd say I'm holding out hope that the best is yet to come, that we may someday combine the best of historical and modern lifestyles.
PS.....The concentration, boil your home made lye down and the egg will float, you need to play with a hydrometer to estimae solution strength, boiling drives off water, makes solution more concentrated.
This is fascinating! Really looking forward to part 2.
This is something I've wanted to try for a while, thanks for putting this out.
So pleased to see another video by you. I am looking forward to following along with the process.
Absolutely wonderful demonstration, thank you so much!
So excited to see a new video!! Excited for this subject specifically, too 😊
Oooh, such fun! I was a scientist when I was still working (mostly physics), and I've often wondered how this kind of process came into being! Very much looking forward to the rest of the series 👍
Love it most videos on this topic have been a bit sketchy. I look forward to the rest of your videos.
good job sally !!
This is what a was looking for! The old way. So happy you show and learn us it. Thank you so much Sally
You're awesome for showing the whole process here.
I have a bucket FULL of hardwood ash as I live in canada and heat with a mix of wood stove(With hardwood) and electricity and ive been wanting to do this for a while!
Sally, you are amazing!!
Great video Sally
When I saw you swatting in front of the plug I thot ‘no, no, no, stand to the side and unplug’. Verrry interesting!!
This is fascinating! Thank you for your clear explanations. I look forward to further videos on soap making.
AWESOME video! thank you for this video Sally ma'am...........❤
I'm looking forward to your next installment in your soap making series.
Really interesting! Thanks for posting 😊
It's really easy to fit a little waterbutt tap to any sort of bucket, rather than the bung. I've done it myself and they're only about £4. Great video, I will save some of my ash and see what I can make.
Fascinating, thank you! The first batch may not have been terribly strong, but the color of it when you tested the egg was stunning!
My aunts made lye soap when I was growing up. Can’t wait for part two
Thanks for posting a video again !!! 🙂 And this is such an interesting topic...
Thanks for taking the time to go into detail, looking forward to learning more.
Can’t wait to see the end results!!! And try this myself ❤️ Thank you for your amazing videos!
So looking forward to the soap making 😊
This is amazing! Thank you!
Looking forward to the next soap making videos!
Thank you for sharing your wisdom and lovely personality here! God Bless you in all your endeavors ❤️🔥🌻
I've read about testing the strength of homemade lye by floating an egg but never seen it done. Great video and very informative. Looking forward to the rest of the videos in your series. Thanks so much!
Thank you so very much. North Carolina here. I appreciate you showing this lovely video.
I've known this in theory for quite a while but it's so nice to see someone doing it for real! I knew about the egg floating test but hadn't heard anything about feeling or even tasting it to determine its readiness... Looking forward to the next video!
Great video, very interesting! Love your channel Sally, glad you got to keep your tongue!
Love this video :) thanks for the useful walkthrough
I was just thinking about this. Hope to see the next parts soon
Very interesting and your teaching style is quite good. I'll be following this experiment thank you so much!
Great video!! It’s so cool to make things yourself. I’ve used good grade lye to make authentic Bavarian pretzels. I wore gloves and eye protection but some of the lye water ran down my wrist. I didn’t immediately rinse it off and later it burned a bit similar to hot water burns but not as painful. I’m sure wood ash is not as strong though. I had redness and a slight itch for a few hours then I was fine.
I love this channel, you are awesome.
Excited to see the next step
This is awesome, thanks
Great content, thank you.
Cool! Waiting for part 2.
I love your work! Please keep it up! ❤❤ You gave tips, pointers, and knowledge that is scarce nowadays. It’s so interesting watching you. I want to learn how to make soap from scratch like they did in the old days. I love how you reference and use historical data of soap making. You are bringing an old soap-making art back to life. 🙌🏾Please keep em’ coming ❤
I love your videos!
Very interesting and informative. Thank you for this information. Looking forward to part II 😊
Oooh stellar! Thank you, I appreciate your how to videos! Excited to see the next episodes! Goodness your taste test had me cringing 😬but I admit I’d do it too😆 🤗💜
Absolutely fascinating stuff. I'd already watched a couple videos on this method but I really love the idea of getting your historical perspective on the technique. That, and the thorough, detailed, super hands-on approach that pretty much characterizes your videos . Cause it's one thing to have someone explain a technique and show the final product already made, but watching the whole process with all it's trials & tribulations is way more informative - and way more fun.
Thank you, I'm quite looking forward to the rest of this series!
Can’t wait to see the rest of the videos
Cant be scuffy when so adorable! Beautiful actually darling and wonderfully intelligent, knowledgeable and caring of others to share it as a teacher. You are a blessing. Lovely to have yt put your videos in my feed.
When I first got my wood stove I couldn't get rid of the ashes quick enough, now I don't produce enough ashes for the things I need.
Fantastic video. Hello, from Tennessee.
Liked before watching because I know it’s going to be good!
Am looking forward to seeing you finish this project! I've been researching how to turn wood ash into soap, and so far this has been the best video showing how to make lye for the soap
Looking forward to the next steps.😊
Fantastic thanks 😊so much. You explain it so clearly that it can be followed you are a great teacher