Learn how to make lye from ashes using a lye-leaching barrel to help filter rainwater through hardwood ashes to make lye for the soap-making process.
You see, lye (sodium hydroxide) is formed when wood ash (which is mostly potassium carbonate) is mixed with water. The mixed solution is extremely alkaline and if it comes in contact with your skin, it begins to absorb the oils and turns your skin into soap.
WOOD ASH SOAP Wood Ash mixed with water produces lye, which can then be mixed with animal fat to make soap. You simply have to add boiling soft water to your ash, allow it to sit for a few days, and drain the lye out of the mixture. You know that it’s alkaline enough to go forward with the soap-making process when an egg will float in it. Once you’ve extracted the lye, it’s just a matter of cooking it down with rendered animal fat. Softwood ash produces a soft soap and hardwood ash produces a firmer soap. Add salt to make it even firmer. A cord of wood can produce up to 50 pounds of ash so if you burn wood all winter and spring, you’re going to have plenty of ash at your disposal! Taken from
Another great site to show you how to make it with step by step detail is https://www.primalsurvivor.net/wood-ash-soap/
Im always fascinated in learning new things about stoves and I thought Id share this with you……
Soap Making Is Almost Automatic
Now, soap making in the woods can be an almost automatic thing. Anyone who’s done much camping knows that — if you throw some white ashes from a hardwood fire into your frying pan after dinner — the lye in the ash will combine with the fat from the cooking to make a crude soap. This works fine for rough-washing tin plates and hunting knives, but there are times when even the most ornery outdoorsman needs bar soap. We were no exception and — thanks to our instructors — soon became adept at making both soft and hard soap, starting at ground zero with lye from our own leaching barrel.
All you really need to turn out the same sort of non-polluting cleanser that our pioneer foremothers scrubbed with, you know, is lye and animal fat. Whatever meat scraps and drippings you have on hand will supply the fat and the lye comes from wood ashes and water.
To make lye in the kitchen, boil the ashes from a hardwood fire (soft woods are too resinous to mix with fat) in a little soft water, rainwater is best, for about half an hour. Allow the ashes to settle to the bottom of the pan and then skim the liquid lye off the top. You can do this daily and when you’ve got enough of the weak solution, start the soap-making process by boiling the liquid down until it’ll float an egg. One word of caution: DO NOT use aluminum dishes or pots. The lye will eat right through `em!
Now put that meat fat, left-over cooking lard and vegetable oil into a kettle not over half full, and heat the whole mess until all the liquid has been rendered out of the solid scraps. While it’s still hot, add this clean grease to the bubbling lye and continue to boil the mixture—stirring all the while—until it reaches the consistency of thick cornmeal mush.
You should have a wooden box two inches high, three inches wide and six inches long handy. This is the mold for one bar. If you’re making more soap, use a larger box and cut the hardened finished product into convenient chunks. Cover the bottom of the box with waxed paper or grease to keep the soap from sticking, pour in the mushy mixture and let it cool. You’ve got yourself some backwoods hot-process soft soap!
Hard soap is made the same way, except that you add a little salt to the mushy mixture as you pour it into the mold. The best proportion we found was two and a half pints salt to five gallons of tallow, and we also discovered that a little powdered rosin added to the grease, just before the lye is mixed in, helps the soap to set more firmly.
We tried making soap like our ancestors ~ From wood ashes to old fashioned bar soap
FAQ
Why is wood ash used in soap making?
What is the benefit of ash soap?
How do you use ashes as soap?
Why is ash used for cleaning?
Why is wood ash important in soap making?
Wood ash contains critical chemical properties that contribute to its importance in soap making. The alkaline nature of wood ash, primarily due to the presence of potassium and sodium carbonates, enables it to react with fats and oils. This reaction, known as saponification, transforms these ingredients into soap and glycerin.
Can you make homemade soap from ashes?
The stuff we’ll be making from ashes is potassium hydroxide, or potash. To make your own lye for homemade soap from scratch, you’ll need to collect ashes from burnt hardwood. If you’re not familiar with that term, hardwood trees are generally deciduous, with dense wood. Oak, maple, beech, hickory, and ash are the best woods to burn to make soap.
Can you make soap in the woods?
Now, soap making in the woods can be an almost automatic thing. Anyone who’s done much camping knows that — if you throw some white ashes from a hardwood fire into your frying pan after dinner — the lye in the ash will combine with the fat from the cooking to make a crude soap.
Does wood ash lye make soap?
You can buy lye at specialty stores. However, this lye is sodium hydroxide. By contrast, traditional lye made from ashes is potassium hydroxide. Wood ash lye is much less caustic than the commercial stuff you can buy. It still works great for making soap but will be softer and more oily. You won’t get as many suds from wood ash soap either.