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Hard Soap Boiled from Tallow and Soda Lye, Framed and Wire-Cut, Ure 1839
Hard soap is tallow boiled with caustic soda lye; potash would give soft soap. Andrew Ure (1839): run the lye through soda and quicklime, boil the tallow with weak lye, draw the spent lye off and boil again with stronger lye day by day, then ladle the soap into a frame and cut it with a brass wire into bars. Caustic lye burns skin and eyes: goggles and gloves.
The picture: a bar of hard soap.
Intermediate
A week
Instructions
1
1
Run the lye
Run the lye
Fit a barrel with a perforated false bottom covered by cloth and a tap beneath, like Ure's vats. Put in a layer of quicklime, then alternate layers of ground soda ash and lime. Pour on water and draw off the clear caustic lye. Make some weak (hydrometer about 1.040) and some strong (up to 1.160).
Materials for this step:
Sodium Carbonate (soda ash)2 kgTools needed:
Quicklime
Wooden Barrel
Cloth (Straining)
Water
Hydrometer
Metal Bucket
Chemical Splash Goggles
Rubber Gloves2
2
First boils
First boils
Melt the tallow in the cauldron, add weak lye and boil gently about 4 hours, stirring. Test on a knife blade: when the lye runs off the soapy paste at once, it has taken. Let it stand an hour and ladle off the spent lye beneath.
Materials for this step:
Tallow5 kgTools needed:
Large Cast Iron Cauldron
Firewood
Wooden Paddle
Kitchen Knife
Ladle
Balance ScaleChemical Splash GogglesRubber Gloves3
3
Stronger lyes
Stronger lyes
Repeat with fresh lye, a little stronger each day, drawing the spent lye off each time, until the paste stays firm on cooling.
Tools needed:
Large Cast Iron CauldronFirewoodWooden PaddleLadleHydrometerChemical Splash GogglesRubber Gloves4
4
Frame and cut
Frame and cut
Skim the pan and ladle the soap into a wooden frame. After two days take the frame off, cut the block into slabs with a brass wire, then the slabs into bars, and stand them to harden.
Tools needed:
Ladle
Soap Mould
Thin Brass WireKitchen KnifeRubber Gloves5
5
Soap from your tallow
Soap from your tallow
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