Re making soap

[Skinwalker]

I want to get into soapmaking. Been collecting woodash. Now I guess I just need to rob a liposuction clinic or something..

 

[joel]

Has anybody ever took old used soap bars and melted them down to make a regular size soap bar? I've heard it can be done just not sure how, or if it can really be done.
Next, does anybody make lye soap, if so, how? My Grandmother made it but I was to stupid at the time to watch and learn!

Motels do t all the time.

 

[joel]

https://www.chelseagreen.com/2008/p...er of,plants with significant saponin content.

Soapy Plants​

There are a number of plants that can be used as a substitute for soap without any chemical processing. These plants contain naturally occurring soap-like substances, called saponins. Bouncing bet (also called soapwort), clematis, and yucca are three common North American plants with significant saponin content. It has been said that Native Americans bathed regularly and were often appalled by the smell of white pioneer men. To use any of these plants for soap, chop up the appropriate part of the plant and rub it between your hands with some water or dry it for future use. Before trying a full dose on your body, test for allergic reactions by rubbing a bit onto the inside of your wrist and waiting one day to make sure there is no adverse reaction. Because saponins are somewhat poisonous, and Native Americans have used them to paralyze fish, you do not want to eat these plants, except perhaps for the edible fruits and flowers of the yucca family (Brill 199

 

[Skinwalker]

https://www.chelseagreen.com/2008/project-replace-your-soap-with-soapy-plants/#:~:text=There are a number of,plants with significant saponin content.

Soapy Plants​

There are a number of plants that can be used as a substitute for soap without any chemical processing. These plants contain naturally occurring soap-like substances, called saponins. Bouncing bet (also called soapwort), clematis, and yucca are three common North American plants with significant saponin content. It has been said that Native Americans bathed regularly and were often appalled by the smell of white pioneer men. To use any of these plants for soap, chop up the appropriate part of the plant and rub it between your hands with some water or dry it for future use. Before trying a full dose on your body, test for allergic reactions by rubbing a bit onto the inside of your wrist and waiting one day to make sure there is no adverse reaction. Because saponins are somewhat poisonous, and Native Americans have used them to paralyze fish, you do not want to eat these plants, except perhaps for the edible fruits and flowers of the yucca family (Brill 199

Ours would be Yucca roots

 

[joel]

Ours would be Yucca roots

Good for keeping animals out of your garden & you can eat new tender flower stalk like asparagus, also eat flowers.
Multiuse plant, we have bear grass, growing wild here in the south.

 

[dademoss]

Have a few yucca, they will be moving with us.

 

[Skinwalker]

I just harvested/planted a bunch of pods myself

 

[Tim Horton]

Last winter I was given a bunch of ....craft soaps.... (?) That is the best description I can think that would apply...
Of the ones I kept and used the ones I liked best was a good smelling cinnamon goat milk soap that was kind of slimy feeling to use, but smelled good.. The other 2 that I liked was a spruce and a sage smelling soaps.. I don't know what they were made of.. Otherwise I'm kind of a Dove or Lava kind of guy depending on what is needed per location...

 

[Patchouli]

Have a few yucca, they will be moving with us.

I have a question about that...we had a Century plant in the yard in Maryland, maybe two, and I decided I didn't like them where they were planted but I didn't have the means to get the root out. Dig and dig, just wasn't worth it after a while. Are your yuccas in pots or in the ground? Yucca doesn't mean Century plant, just wondering which type you were taking with you, in case you haven't dug it up yet.

 

[dademoss]

I have a question about that...we had a Century plant in the yard in Maryland, maybe two, and I decided I didn't like them where they were planted but I didn't have the means to get the root out. Dig and dig, just wasn't worth it after a while. Are your yuccas in pots or in the ground? Yucca doesn't mean Century plant, just wondering which type you were taking with you, in case you haven't dug it up yet.

nope, planted in dirt, but I can get enough out to start over, the new owners will have to deal with them later

I got one out long ago, a tow chain and a 4wd truck . Passed a few along, you never get it all, but you can get enough to get em started again

 

[Magus]

An old colander lined with screen wire in a #5 washtub is perfect for extracting lye from your oak ashes. granny had an old tin pot she drilled holes in and lined with burlap or screen wire. her soap would eat axle grease!

 

[dademoss]

I have a question about that...we had a Century plant in the yard in Maryland, maybe two, and I decided I didn't like them where they were planted but I didn't have the means to get the root out. Dig and dig, just wasn't worth it after a while. Are your yuccas in pots or in the ground? Yucca doesn't mean Century plant, just wondering which type you were taking with you, in case you haven't dug it up yet.

if you want a nodule or two, I'll be happy to send them incognito . Beware, they will take over the world

 

[Patchouli]

if you want a nodule or two, I'll be happy to send them incognito . Beware, they will take over the world

Nah! I’m good. Fixin’ to undertake a big project… so I’m not attempting any growing ventures until after that is completed.
Got any photos of your yuccas?

 

[dademoss]

I will go take some when it's NOT 102 outside

 

[Tommyice]

A Weaver’s Garden published by Dover Publications contains a chapter on plants that are useful for cleaning textiles. Most of them, not surprisingly, have soap in their name—soapwort, soap bark, soap berry. It also talks about yucca and agaves.

The Dover books usually have a bibliography or suggested readings. This is from the cleaning section.

 

[dademoss]

@Patchouli

One of many:

I need to spray some stuff with roundup.

 

[Neb]

@Patchouli

One of many:

View attachment 155341

I need to spray some stuff with roundup.

Thank you!

Back when I working there where two plants that grew tall flower heads near the back parking lot. I collected seeds and grew three of them. Two have been relocated to the cart entrance to The Ridge. The third was a runt so it stayed in a backyard raised bed. It has yet to put up a flower head but it is looking happy this year.

It is dead ringer to what you shared. So after all these years I finally have a name for it!



Ben

 

[INresponse]

Has anybody ever took old used soap bars and melted them down to make a regular size soap bar? I've heard it can be done just not sure how, or if it can really be done.
Next, does anybody make lye soap, if so, how? My Grandmother made it but I was to stupid at the time to watch and learn!

I believe it could be possible to melt down or boil soap scraps to make them into a new bar but. . . . .
My parents used to collect the soap scraps and place them into the end of an old nylon or old sock and keep it by the "laundry" sink in the basement. That was the sink we would use after working in the garage or in the yard to wash off the heavy dirt or oil/grease. The soap still worked as soap and the nylon or old sock would help scrub away the dirt or grease.
I am sure this was something learned during their childhood during the depression but it works very well. If I ever get my laundry tub installed in the laundry room I will do the same.

 

[dademoss]

Thank you!

Back when I working there where two plants that grew tall flower heads near the back parking lot. I collected seeds and grew three of them. Two have been relocated to the cart entrance to The Ridge. The third was a runt so it stayed in a backyard raised bed. It has yet to put up a flower head but it is looking happy this year.

It is dead ringer to what you shared. So after all these years I finally have a name for it!



Ben

Yeah, they flower on a tall center stalk with white flowers

 

[Neb]

Yeah, they flower on a tall center stalk with white flowers

I just love it when I accidently do something good.

Ben

 

[joel]

@Patchouli

One of many:

View attachment 155341

I need to spray some stuff with roundup.

Adams Needles, Bear Grass is a wild Yucca that grows in the south & the west, can make soap, eat flower & make cordage, best of all I needs little to no help growing.
Adam's Needle, Bear-Grass (Yucca filamentosa)

 

[sonya123]

I made lye soap all the time when we lived in Orlando. I got FREE beef fat at the local Publix grocery store. I asked for some one time, and they were like " oh you can just have it, we throw it out" So I went there regularly and got like 10 lbs of beef fat . I cut it up in small chunks, and rendered it in the crockpot. Then let it cool and you end up with a layer of nice white tallow on top and the gunk on the bottom.
Then you have to weight and measure everything to figure out how much water and how much lye. And I wore goggles and gloves to mix it ( very corrosive, you don't want it on your skin or in your eyes) I can probably dig up my lye calculator somewhere.

Then you cook it all in the crockpot on low heat and stir for a REALLY long time, until it becomes soap. You scrape the soap into a box lined with plastic and let it cool and then let it sit for about a week, cut it up and you have really nice white fragrance free soap.
Or you can add fragrance oil if you like when it is just about done cooking

Now I have no place to get free beef fat, so I stopped making it Plus I really don't have time

https://www.the-sage.com/lyecalc/

 

[Shawn Burkett]

I used to make crockpot soap too Sonya. To many critters (cats) around now - they just don't listen when I tell them to go in the other room.