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.
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.
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.
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!❤️🐝🤗
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
@@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.
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 💞
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.
@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.
@@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
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.
@@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.
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.
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. 😇
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! :)
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.
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.
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 ❤🇺🇸
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.
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!
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!
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!❤
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
🙏🙏🍻 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!!😎👍👍
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 👍
I'm so excited to watch this series! I've long wanted to know more about soapmaking but not necessarily the kind of sleek hobbycraft that youtube's mostly doing.
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!😊
This is where the value of TH-cam 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.
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.
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.
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 😇
@@overratedprogrammer The lye made with wood ashes isn't strong enough to make hard soap is what I was told. Some women did make hard soap but had to buy lye from the store to do it. The soft soap was stored in a crock and dipped out as needed.
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!
sally, what timing!! you got me into nettle trying to make nettle fibre, so i'm so, so excited for this series of experiments, just as i've been looking to do my own reading on prehistoric soaps!!!!
I've made soap with commercial lye for years and recently started thinking about lye production using these techniques to continue making soap without having to always buy lye. Very informative video, and I can't wait to see the rest!
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
I am interested in -- and largely ignorant of -- soapmaking, so was really pleased to see this, Sally. Also, pleased to see MADE IN ENGLAND on the bin lid. Keep 'em coming, Sally. 😊
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.
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 ❤
Isn't it amazing how much patience folks had to have. We don't have that kind of patience today, everything being "instant gratification" or no one's going to do it. But what would happen if our society suddenly changed? Some catastrophe that stopped the world in it's tracks? It's possible since the Weddell sea is warming. Warm too much, and the oceanic conveyor stops, and then humanity is screwed for decades ... or even thousands of years. Tech would come to a halt because it relies on things powered by other things that rely on the oceanic conveyor. This is absolutely where the patience of our ancestors becomes relevant. Brilliant video.
This is wonderful, thank you for making this series. I've only ever worked with purchased potassium hydroxide, but would love to learn how to make soap from scratch. Looking forward to future videos :)
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.
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.
great video im definetly trying this this winter when im at the camp. think ill use the a tap instead of a bung to prevent spills. ty for taking the time to make this video
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 wonderful. I’ve been hungry for the knowledge of how to make lye for my soap instead of buying it. Thank you for sharing, I look forward to your videos 😊
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.
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.
Exciting to me! Just found you by chance. I have made all our soap, with commercial (Red Devil) lye, since February 1974. Love the smell of perfumed store soap; cannot stand what it does to my skin. We save in the freezer all fat left in pan after cooking, render it when there's enough (or need to free up freezer space).
can easily avoid that pressure surge when opening by using pvc pipe with a valve. they also have threaded parts that you can add a rubber gasket to create a seal. then glue up your pvc with valve, and as an added step, a 90 degree elbow to ensure the flow goes straight down.
This is very interesting! I have a suggestion for you regarding the plug for tapping. You should buy a tapping faucet so you have control of the drainage. I was quite worried when you pulled the plug and wondering if you were burned. Great video! But safety first!
Really looking forward to further videos on this, I am not sure what our logs are but will find out, we buy them in. I have been cheating by making soap by the ready made melt and pour method, so I was so delighted to see this video as I would rather make natural soap like this. Love what you do, I am going to make some nettle fibre this year trying to find a good patch near me isn't easy, I am going to grow some in my experimental food forest in our quite small garden.💖😊
Top notch video! This is the only one of your videos that I've seen and it's enough to convince me to subscribe. Keep up the awesome work, and thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. :)
I saw the bung, lol and immediately thought - um a tap would have been safer, then it was 'okay, if I do that, a water butt tap it definiely will be.' Love your videos and look forward to each one.
So glad you picked up the half-round rasp rather than trying a larger spade bit! One otherwise would have to build a jig with a backing plate and through-bolts on the inside in order to go bigger and holding it centered would still be a challenge requiring a hole saw rather than a larger spade bit. Glad I found your channel. Hello from Alaska.
But OMG!! I couldn't warn you what was going to happen when you removed that bung! Glad you were not injured. Your spectacles are far too inadequate to the task at hand. One can find basically anywhere goggles with which you can still wear your prescription spectacles doing such a task. I'm writing having been employed/engaged for many years using hazardous materials. I wouldn't expect an egg to float for any length of time because egg shells are so porous, i.e. they breathe through the shell. Your egg was saturated within a short time and by rights, sunk within a minute or so. I'm guessing another litmus test would have shown the lye having been of sufficient strength after your first test. I'll look for your follow-up video to find if I'm talking from my nether region...
Excited to see the rest of this series!! I am interested especially in the "soft soap" you mentioned in your latest video; it's a hard subject to google given all the modern soapmaking tutorials out there.
Hi Sally, I love your videos! I believe you can run that water through the ashes several times and get a stronger lye solution each time. I'm pretty sure I've seen videos of Hutterites (modern day) making lye for their soap in this way. And I'm also pretty certain it is mentioned in the Foxfire series of books as well. Love your videos, and I'm excited to see these on soap. Thanks!
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!
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
How did you collect the ash and make lye? Did you have some kind of special ash hopper device or just buckets?
I'm sorry about that's she sounded nice and sweet
Nice
You still have her loving smile, mind that.
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.
Hi! Do you calculate your recipe as the factory lye or do the numbers change? I am soapmaker and i want to give this way a try
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.
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.
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.
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!
Very
That is exactly why I am here ;)
@@Kylemcgillicutty glad to see I’m not the only one
Hahaha that’s why I’m here to research soap making haha
Could also rub down with clay in a river
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 ...
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 💞
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
Brilliant video! Very informative. I look forward to watching the next one. Thank you.
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.
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.
Can’t wait until you post your second and third video on this topic!!! Keep doing what your doing sister and God bless🙏
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. 😇
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! :)
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.
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.
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 ❤🇺🇸
Hello! Are you going to continue this series? You're the only one that has made a video making lye in great detail!
I definitely am, life is a little busy right now though
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!
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!
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.
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!
Looking forward to part 2 of this soap making process! I love your videos Sally
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!❤
This is extremely interesting. I've always been interested in the history of tar and tar making but soap is really cool too
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! 💯🦋🧑🏻🌾🦋💯
🙏🙏🍻 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!!😎👍👍
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 👍
I'm so excited to watch this series! I've long wanted to know more about soapmaking but not necessarily the kind of sleek hobbycraft that youtube's mostly doing.
How To Make Everything did tackle soap in one of their previous episodes.
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!😊
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!
This is where the value of TH-cam 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.
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.
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!
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.
What's the difference in the process between hard and soft soap?
@@overratedprogrammer The lye made with wood ashes isn't strong enough to make hard soap is what I was told. Some women did make hard soap but had to buy lye from the store to do it. The soft soap was stored in a crock and dipped out as needed.
Just found you…your are amazing, great explanation !
I had to pass my lye twice in ashes to get the egg to float. Thank you so much
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!
sally, what timing!! you got me into nettle trying to make nettle fibre, so i'm so, so excited for this series of experiments, just as i've been looking to do my own reading on prehistoric soaps!!!!
Did you get into a froth trying to make soap?
I've made soap with commercial lye for years and recently started thinking about lye production using these techniques to continue making soap without having to always buy lye. Very informative video, and I can't wait to see the rest!
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
I am interested in -- and largely ignorant of -- soapmaking, so was really pleased to see this, Sally. Also, pleased to see MADE IN ENGLAND on the bin lid. Keep 'em coming, Sally. 😊
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.
Great content, thank you.
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 ❤
Very interesting and informative. Thank you for this information. Looking forward to part II 😊
This is amazing! Thank you!
Isn't it amazing how much patience folks had to have. We don't have that kind of patience today, everything being "instant gratification" or no one's going to do it. But what would happen if our society suddenly changed? Some catastrophe that stopped the world in it's tracks? It's possible since the Weddell sea is warming. Warm too much, and the oceanic conveyor stops, and then humanity is screwed for decades ... or even thousands of years. Tech would come to a halt because it relies on things powered by other things that rely on the oceanic conveyor.
This is absolutely where the patience of our ancestors becomes relevant. Brilliant video.
Love it most videos on this topic have been a bit sketchy. I look forward to the rest of your videos.
Thank you so very much. North Carolina here. I appreciate you showing this lovely video.
This is wonderful, thank you for making this series. I've only ever worked with purchased potassium hydroxide, but would love to learn how to make soap from scratch. Looking forward to future videos :)
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.
This was super fun to watch, I love your energy :D
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.
Thank you for sharing your wisdom and lovely personality here! God Bless you in all your endeavors ❤️🔥🌻
great video im definetly trying this this winter when im at the camp. think ill use the a tap instead of a bung to prevent spills. ty for taking the time to make this video
Fascinating, thank you! The first batch may not have been terribly strong, but the color of it when you tested the egg was stunning!
You're awesome for showing the whole process here.
I love this video. You've got a fantastic attitude to experimenting.
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.
I had a dream that I was suppose to be making soap and hair pomade.
Thank you kindly for educating me.
This is wonderful. I’ve been hungry for the knowledge of how to make lye for my soap instead of buying it. Thank you for sharing, I look forward to your videos 😊
Very interested in more soapmaking with homemade lye videos!
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.
Thanks for taking the time to go into detail, looking forward to learning more.
Great video, very interesting! Love your channel Sally, glad you got to keep your tongue!
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.
This is fascinating! Thank you for your clear explanations. I look forward to further videos on soap making.
This is what a was looking for! The old way.
So happy you show and learn us it.
Thank you so much Sally
Exciting to me! Just found you by chance. I have made all our soap, with commercial (Red Devil) lye, since February 1974. Love the smell of perfumed store soap; cannot stand what it does to my skin. We save in the freezer all fat left in pan after cooking, render it when there's enough (or need to free up freezer space).
can easily avoid that pressure surge when opening by using pvc pipe with a valve. they also have threaded parts that you can add a rubber gasket to create a seal. then glue up your pvc with valve, and as an added step, a 90 degree elbow to ensure the flow goes straight down.
Sometimes the right tool for the job is the one you have on hand. That drill bit worked as good as the "right" one for the job.
This is something I've wanted to try for a while, thanks for putting this out.
Thank you, Sally! I appreciate all the awesome videos you do.
Can’t wait to see the end results!!! And try this myself ❤️
Thank you for your amazing videos!
So pleased to see another video by you. I am looking forward to following along with the process.
You know this is amazing! THANKS!
This is very interesting! I have a suggestion for you regarding the plug for tapping. You should buy a tapping faucet so you have control of the drainage. I was quite worried when you pulled the plug and wondering if you were burned. Great video! But safety first!
My aunts made lye soap when I was growing up. Can’t wait for part two
So looking forward to the soap making 😊
Very interesting and your teaching style is quite good. I'll be following this experiment thank you so much!
Thank you for sharing.❤️ I would really like to see more to this series.
I'm making part two this week!
Really looking forward to further videos on this, I am not sure what our logs are but will find out, we buy them in. I have been cheating by making soap by the ready made melt and pour method, so I was so delighted to see this video as I would rather make natural soap like this. Love what you do, I am going to make some nettle fibre this year trying to find a good patch near me isn't easy, I am going to grow some in my experimental food forest in our quite small garden.💖😊
Liked before watching because I know it’s going to be good!
Thank you for knowing and using the correct words for your tools (rasp)! 😊
Top notch video! This is the only one of your videos that I've seen and it's enough to convince me to subscribe. Keep up the awesome work, and thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. :)
Absolutely wonderful demonstration, thank you so much!
I saw the bung, lol and immediately thought - um a tap would have been safer, then it was 'okay, if I do that, a water butt tap it definiely will be.' Love your videos and look forward to each one.
So excited to see a new video!! Excited for this subject specifically, too 😊
This is fascinating! Really looking forward to part 2.
Fantastic thanks 😊so much. You explain it so clearly that it can be followed you are a great teacher
Sally, you are amazing!!
AWESOME video! thank you for this video Sally ma'am...........❤
Thanks for posting a video again !!! 🙂
And this is such an interesting topic...
So glad you picked up the half-round rasp rather than trying a larger spade bit! One otherwise would have to build a jig with a backing plate and through-bolts on the inside in order to go bigger and holding it centered would still be a challenge requiring a hole saw rather than a larger spade bit. Glad I found your channel. Hello from Alaska.
But OMG!! I couldn't warn you what was going to happen when you removed that bung! Glad you were not injured. Your spectacles are far too inadequate to the task at hand. One can find basically anywhere goggles with which you can still wear your prescription spectacles doing such a task. I'm writing having been employed/engaged for many years using hazardous materials. I wouldn't expect an egg to float for any length of time because egg shells are so porous, i.e. they breathe through the shell. Your egg was saturated within a short time and by rights, sunk within a minute or so. I'm guessing another litmus test would have shown the lye having been of sufficient strength after your first test. I'll look for your follow-up video to find if I'm talking from my nether region...
I'm looking forward to your next installment in your soap making series.
Excited to see the rest of this series!! I am interested especially in the "soft soap" you mentioned in your latest video; it's a hard subject to google given all the modern soapmaking tutorials out there.
Hi Sally, I love your videos! I believe you can run that water through the ashes several times and get a stronger lye solution each time. I'm pretty sure I've seen videos of Hutterites (modern day) making lye for their soap in this way. And I'm also pretty certain it is mentioned in the Foxfire series of books as well. Love your videos, and I'm excited to see these on soap. Thanks!
It's best to use fresh ashes for each run through, so I just concentrate by boiling
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!