Cutting a 22.5 lb slab of soap using a slab cutter

We LOVE our slab cutter! In this video, we show you how we use this awesome tool in our soap studio. If you're looking to switch to slabs, you'll need a way to cut your slabs of soap and I highly recommend using a tool like this one to simplify this process.
In the video, I mention our lining video, which we filmed but it hasn't yet been released. Sorry about that! We'll get it up as soon as we can. :)
LINKS
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Note: some of these are affiliate links and we will be paid a small portion of the sale, at no extra cost to you. This helps us grow our KZbin channel and provide education on here for free!
SLAB CUTTERS
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Olympus Slab Cutter by Custom Craft Tools (use code Muddymint5 for 5% off):
customcrafttools.com/products...
Modern Soapmaking Slab Cutter (we've used this one and it's fantastic!):
www.modernsoapmaking.com/soap...
RECIPES
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- Mountain Man Soap: muddymint.com/collections/ori...
- All our Recipes: muddymint.com/collections/ori...
MY BOOK
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My book on Amazon: amzn.to/3uIOFN0
PRODUCT LINKS
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My Amazon Storefront: www.amazon.com/shop/muddymint
Freezer Paper: www.webstaurantstore.com/18-x...
Digital Thermometer: amzn.to/45vpUlK
6-Quart Container (good for 10 lbs of soap): amzn.to/4bO2tpZ
Safety Glasses (don't ever skip these!): amzn.to/3yFLBTA
Stick Blender (with taller shaft): amzn.to/4bG5KaT
Silicone Spatula (my favorite spatulas!): amzn.to/4aLtU2j
Soaper's Choice (for base oils): www.soaperschoice.com/
Nurture Soap (5 lb molds): nurturesoap.com/products/5-po...
Thanks for watching!
Simi & Troy

[@ModernSoapmaking]

Great demonstration, Simi! Loaf splitters are a great intro to cutting slabs (we have a video on our Instagram using the flipped method you described), but slab cutters save so much labor! We actually did the math for our workshop and it'll save over $5k by the end of the year in labor cost because we're making one motion rather than four motions every time we cut a slab. 🤯

[@muddymintsoap]

Oooo! I love that you made that calculation! I agree that loaf splitters are the way to go at first, but we got tired of it pretty fast. Haha! So happy you are making slab cutters. :)

[@christeef6840]

You are a calm and awesome teacher Simi! Coming from a 20 year teacher that's a big compliment! 😁❤️ Thanks for such a great explanation. Can't wait to be able to afford one of these eventually!

[@muddymintsoap]

Aww, thank you! I really appreciate that!

[@NurturedbyNatureStudio]

I’m so glad I got my slab cutter from For Craft’s Sake, I have two tanks too and have had them for over 10 years. Thank you for sharing. I plan on making some soap this weekend, I’m going to try out some of the recipes I bought from you recently. :) Thank you for sharing! ❤

[@muddymintsoap]

I love our For Craft’s Sake cutters! Glad you have some! I have recently used the cutter from Modern Soapmaking and it was fantastic - pretty much the same as the For Craft’s Sake cutter. I also used a bar cutter from Bud’s Woodshop on Etsy recently and it was also fantastic, so luckily there are a lot of good options out there! 😊 I hope the recipes go well! Thanks! ❤️

[@soniaresnikoff6646]

I am making your mountain man soap recipe now! 😁

[@muddymintsoap]

Wow! That was fast! I hope it goes well! 😊

[@angelsandfaes]

Slab cutter is great, mountain man soap looks great. I was really hoping to get to see the honey soap in the thumbnail 😢

[@muddymintsoap]

Oh, I know... a little misleading perhaps. I had such a hard time with this thumbnail for some reason! This is what I ended up going with. The soap in the photo is our Honey Lemon soap. :)

[@angelsandfaes]

@@muddymintsoap no worries. I just got excited. Lol. I bet it smell devine.

[@ctatro518]

Love watching your videos.I hope you have more! Do you use regular Olive oil or EVOO?

[@muddymintsoap]

Hi and thank you! We use refined olive oil for our soaps, but you can use any kind! Extra virgin is more of a greenish oil, so it may affect the final color of your bars, but it’s not a huge difference.

[@jillhayes6704]

Great video, thank you! Can you do a video on how you tracked inventory and COGS? Soapmaker3, inventora, or something else? I love your down to earth teaching style!

[@muddymintsoap]

Yes! We’ve been meaning to do this. We used Soapmaker 3 and a spreadsheet and it worked great for our business size. Thanks for watching! ❤️

[@AmericanManufactury]

Where did you get the slab molds? I've found a couple options, but haven't seen those anywhere :)

[@muddymintsoap]

Hi! We made these ourselves. 😊

[@JBeckert]

Simi - I love your green apron. where did you get it?!

[@muddymintsoap]

Thank you! Cathy, one of our employees, made us all aprons for Christmas a couple years ago. They were all so cute! I hardly ever wear it because I don’t want to ruin it, which is silly.

[@CajunMedTrans]

How do I go about ordering some soap?

[@muddymintsoap]

Hi there! We are currently only doing two soap releases a year, as we've mostly shut down our soapmaking to make more time for education, as well as time for family and friends. We did a soap release on July 3rd and our next one will be on November 15th. Make sure to set a calendar reminder, as the soap sells out extremely fast. Last time it was all gone within 10 minutes. Our releases are typically at 9am mountain time. Thanks!

[@ctatro518]

Where do you get your butters? I have your book and I'm a little confused when it comes to mango, shea and cocoa butters. There are so many types lol. I went to Soaper's Choice but not sure which ones to buy. Thank you!

[@muddymintsoap]

Hi! We get our butters from Bulk Apothecary or Soaper's Choice. We use refined shea and unrefined (prime pressed) cocoa butter. We often get organic cocoa butter, as the price difference isn't much. The reason we use refined shea is to get a whiter bar and to avoid the scent of unrefined, since we use shea in products other than soap. I hope this helps!

[@ctatro518]

@@muddymintsoap Thank you.This helps so much!

[@tassiegirl1991]

Simi please excuse a non related ? But if you have time, the jugs for 50:50 lye solution you use have just arrived and I can’t get the tops off. Any tips on how you managed to get them off on first use. Looking at reviews many have same problem Thanks Simi

[@muddymintsoap]

Oh no! I haven’t had that issue. Are you saying the tops don’t screw off or the spout lid won’t open?

[@ExtraterrestrialGirlNL]

I thought you quit? 😳

[@muddymintsoap]

Haha! We stopped making soap most of the time, yes, but we’re still making soap for KZbin videos and education purposes. We’ve decided to do two soap releases a year, just for our online customers. We did close down and move out of our space and we no longer have any employees. We don’t do wholesale anymore, which was the bulk of our business. We used to make 50,000 bars per year and so far this year we’ve made 400, so it’s a big change! 😊

[@ExtraterrestrialGirlNL]

@@muddymintsoap that actually makes me happy! I was sad the KZbin channel would end as well. Great to see you “back” 😊

[@muddymintsoap]

Nope! This gives us more time for our KZbin channel! Woohoo!!