soapmaking supplies?

[freemotion]

how do you make tallow....

Same as lard, only you start with suet. Suet is sold in regular grocery stores because a lot of people put it out for the bird in the winter. You can render it very quickly if you can grind it (I use my grinder attachment for my KitchenAid) or you can cut it up in tiny dice but that is a lot more work. Your chickens or the wild birds will love the leftover bits.

 

[freemotion]

I first used tallow when I made too much when I was making a batch of suet cakes for the bird feeder. It was so much better than the all-veg oil soaps (and very traditional!) that I'll never go back. Of course, I am too cheap to have oils shipped to me so I never tried palm oil and I won't purchase Crisco, etc, for any purpose, even soap.

I haven't quite ventured off into the rendering and stuff which is why I haven't made any soaps with tallow. But I'm definintely interested, especially if you say it's better. Around my local area the only soaps people sell are veggie soaps. Most have the "ewwww...I'm not washing with animal fat!"


Tree huggers.

No one asks me for the recipe.....I'd say it is a secret, anyways! I just tell them it has goat's milk and EVOO, I just don't tell them the proportions and they don't ask. However, I don't go to farmer's markets or anything, just sell a little to clients of my massage therapy practice. I make it primarily for myself and family and as gifts.

 

[savingdogs]

Mine is just for home use and as gifts for family and friends at this point, but I really like it. It does not compare to store soap, it compares to luxury soap.

 

[Ohioann]

If you have a custom or neighborhood slaughter house/meat store near you check with them for suet. I buy several big chunks every winter to hang out for the birds.

how do you make tallow....

Same as lard, only you start with suet. Suet is sold in regular grocery stores because a lot of people put it out for the bird in the winter. You can render it very quickly if you can grind it (I use my grinder attachment for my KitchenAid) or you can cut it up in tiny dice but that is a lot more work. Your chickens or the wild birds will love the leftover bits.

 

[rhoda_bruce]

I had planned to make soap with my own wood ash....make my own lye and get some lard from my brother-in-law who kills about 3 hogs a year.
Well I saved the ash and told sis-n-law I wanted lard. Never got the lard, so got tired of waiting and decided to buy a real fat boston butt and trim the fat and make cracklings. Okay; now I have lard.
Went out and got a bucket with holes and filled it with straw to put my ash and water in to make my lye.......DH has thrown away the wood ash. All 20 gallons of it. Thankyou very much.

 

[savingdogs]

You want to buy sodium hydroxide anyway. I looked into using wood ash as well. Apparently it works better with hot process soap not cold process, because the amount of strength in your water from the ashes will be inconsistent to the way to reach trace is cooking it until it reaches trace. I've never tried it though.

I also read that potassium hydroxide is what you get from wood ashes, not sodium hydroxide. You use potassium hydroxide in the making of liquid soap however (which I've also never tried).

If a situation ever arose that I could not get soap and not get sodium hydroxide I would try ashes, but if you want your soap to come out nice, I think you still want the real lye.

You can certainly use your lard however. And maybe someone has a lard/potassium hydroxide recipe for you, but I think it would be hot process.

 

[kcsunshine]

I had planned to make soap with my own wood ash....make my own lye and get some lard from my brother-in-law who kills about 3 hogs a year.
Well I saved the ash and told sis-n-law I wanted lard. Never got the lard, so got tired of waiting and decided to buy a real fat boston butt and trim the fat and make cracklings. Okay; now I have lard.
Went out and got a bucket with holes and filled it with straw to put my ash and water in to make my lye.......DH has thrown away the wood ash. All 20 gallons of it. Thankyou very much.

Your husband must be related to mine. He saves every little piece of paper or things like a box he got a watch in 20 years ago, but just let me try to save something I intend to use and out it goes. I need me a big beatin' stick.

 

[valmom]

I get my lye from here:
http://www.aaa-chemicals.com/sodium-hydroxide.html

For scents I love Southern Garden- she has a 1 ounce each sampler pack that really is great! I find 1 ounce is good for 2 lbs of soap and you can pick lots of scents to try.
http://www.southerngardenscents.com/

I also bought a 4 ounce bar mold from her that is a half-cylinder that is our favorite shape soap! The curve part fits so well in your hand in the shower and the flat part washes.

Someone suggested using a quart milk carton as a log mold- it makes nice size squares to slice off and just peel the carton off to unmold it.

I use Crisco, olive oil, canola oil (because I could get all 3 in the supermarket) and have since added coconut oil from Tropical Traditions- they frequently have good sales, buy 1 get 1 free type.
http://www.tropicaltraditions.com/virgin_coconut_oil.htm

 

[kimlove2]

I have never rendered lard. I have a lot of fat in the freezer from when we butchered hogs, but how do I render it? Do you have to boil it, or fry it, or what?

 

[freemotion]

I have never rendered lard. I have a lot of fat in the freezer from when we butchered hogs, but how do I render it? Do you have to boil it, or fry it, or what?

Do a quick search here, there are threads on this. There are a couple of different methods! It is awesome! I have a batch of oatmeal cookie dough that I just made and will bake tonight to bring somewhere tomorrow that I used our own lard in. (And our eggs, and home-ground flour and home-rolled oats!) They will be amazing. Oh, and local raw wildflower honey and homemade vanilla extract! Woohoo!