How I made hardwood ash soap - Leaching barrel method

Quick links to all of the little steps I took :D
00:16 Safety, Ingredients, Tools
00:39 Step 1: Collect hardwood ashes & sift out coals
00:50 Step 2: Compact the ashes in leaching barrel
01:20 Step 3: Pour hot water into the leaching barrel
02:22 Step 4: Let lye water settle overnight and try to separate it from the sediment
02:59 Step 5: Boil lye water down to desired concentration
04:20 Step 6: Add lye water to fat and cook it
05:40 Step 7: Separate soap paste layers for different uses
06:57 Step 8: Test your soap to see if it is safe
09:34 Step 9: Add fat to lye heavy soap paste and cook some more!
11:57 Step 10: Test soap to see if it is safe (again!)
13:29 Step 11(in video it says step 10 woops!): Finish Product!
-15:08 testing liquid soap in foamer pump!
-16:59 Bar soap attempt
18:27 RECAP!
how to make hardwood ash soap, leaching barrel method, hot process soap making, how to make lye
Lye is extremely caustic and protection should be used!
Hardwood ash contains potassium sulfate ( potash ) which is water soluble. This form of lye is best suited for a liquid soap, but bar soap can be made.
I discarded my leached ashes into my compost!
**important**My second time doing this experiment! I am not an expert! I hope I didn't miss any important details or misinform anybody. Feel free to make suggestions for improvements!
update June 2021: I no longer use the soap on my body as a found it to be too drying, especially on sensitive areas! I still use it on hands and for general cleaning! still an awesome experiment that I'm still refining hahaha. Also, Camelina oil is not good in soap! haha. it will spoil quickly... or at least it went weird on me after a while haha.

[@rg1whiteywins598]

This is so cool. I worked at a care home and one resident had brought with her loads of bacon fat soap she had made when she still lived in her own house. It was great soap. She made sure we used it for her baths.

[@mrs210]

Pig far is key to young skin

[@dizzzydizzzy6962]

i think it's the best practical explanation video i've seen about this subject

[@ahmadhabib9553]

Soap is naturally alkaline, pH strips can be used to test. It should be around 8 to 9. You can also use the zap test for it.

[@dotti2050]

this is the first video ive seen on wood ash soap where there are actual visible bubbles/ lather!

[@vivette2512]

The very best I have seen. I want to try but don't have a slow cooker and don't think I Wang to buy one just for this purpose

[@sweetreggaemusic5479]

That's because she added coconut oil. The coconut oil produces lather/bubbles x

[@boop7313]

Really impressive!!! The best soap I've ever seen made the old way. I'm a soapmaker but this old school way & skills impress the sh*t outta me! Oh by the way, I suspect (but don't know for sure!) but I suspect the cause of the brittleness at cutting might be due to high % of coconut oil, it's prone to do this even when using the modern methods, adding some olive oil to your other 2 fats might help. But seriously, this is a successful batch!! I adore these rustic bars and they are absolutely beautiful to me because they are truly made from scratch and they are functional beauty. Also, I loved that you used ph sensitive plant matter to test it. How gorgeous is alkaline beet juice haha! That's one I didn't about know yet. I love making soap with tumeric powder and rhubarb and watching the colours change as I add the lye in, it never stops being amazing to me lol. Thanks for making this video & I hope you make more of your makings and experiments or whatever x

[@OldSchoolPrepper]

so this was very interesting and i looked to see what else you've done and I find nothing on line! boo! you seem like an interesting person, would love to see more vids if you find the time and energy. be well. namaste

[@williamturner6192]

Looks really well done.

[@cristianesouza9474]

Nice, thanks from Brazil

[@reiningreminic]

One of the best old school soap making videos! Plus a recap at the end was a great touch. Thankyou. Now I need to get some practice in before SHTF 😂

[@TheRubyScott]

Thank you very much for your video, it was very instructive ! I appreciated the recap and the timecodes in ythe description as well, very practical.

[@linnymariebee]

Awesome! Please note I'm just some lady doing stuff and things! I thought what I was doing was awesome and I was excited to share!!! Lol. I am still making my soap with wood ash, and I hope you give it a try, and gradually improve as you experiment with methods! I hope you find the courage and encounter success! Experiment! I feel like no soap batch is a failure. It all has a use and can probably be cooked again with more fat or lye to create what you need!! Keep a spray bottle of vinegar handy, some (again, excited, I use all natural rubber gloves! Rubber tree. I thought my dad was joking. Lmao the rubber trees are real! And I'm grateful) rubber gloves and protective eyewear is a good idea! I boil down my lye water outside because the ventilation is supreme. I get my father in law to gather his hardwood ashes for me ( he heats his cabin with it) in a 5gal pail (previously used at an apiary. Most of our pails are food grade apiary second hand pails! Durable plastic!!). Anyways I'm a talktoomuchaholic. I'm happy you found some information in my video useful! And I hope I didn't misguide you! Give it a try! When you feel it's skin safe give it a zap test and have fun!!!

[@stephaniestanley4431]

Namaste 🙏 That was awesome and thanks for working out all the kinks for the rest of us 🧼 ❤️

[@Jimbobmoonshiner]

Great video - thank you! Look forward to more 🙏

[@linnymariebee]

Don't thank me, thank KZbin! Haha! What a great platform for us to share on! :D I also accept your thank you, lol. And, you're welcome! Soaping is pretty exciting stuff lol. I need to figure out a better camera! This one has bad audio amongst other issues lol

[@andrewwright2543]

lol, I train in BJJ too. I had your video running off on the side so I could watch/learn while I work from my other laptop and thought I heard you say you trained and was like, wait, I must've been hearing things. Not that it's implausible, you just caught me off guard. Very cool, though! Thank you for the informative video!

[@CarolineAkwi]

You have nailed it

[@awe9486]

Awesome Video! Thanks for sharing😊

[@oumaimaouen7816]

Thank you sooooo muuuuuuch for this great video

[@linnymariebee]

Hahaha. You're welcome! I hope to give someone the courage to try this! Its pretty exciting stuffff.

[@batoulaissioui3389]

It's amazing thanks i an gonna do that

[@everlastinggrass]

Hahahahhaahhaha your so funny!! I love your texting.

[@ElenawithouttheH]

Have you made more videos at your subsequent trials? Would love to see more!

[@mansoormannix1753]

Since economy is no longer friendly to us, time to learn new tricks to cut the cost. In my country one bar of ordinary soap cost around $1 and powder soap of 500g cost around $1.50cts now I can save $2 a week. If I perfected my soap making.

[@robertlombardo8437]

FINALLY! Just what I was looking for. A back to front instructor video that I can watch on mute. You tha MAN! *turns on sound* ...Well... Sort of! 😅

[@linnymariebee]

Hahaha. Ya I'm saying stuff too. Just go for it! Experiment and get the feel for it! Be careful and go crazy! Lol.

[@lumpofgom]

잿물로 비누만들기 결과까지 완전한 영상을 드디어 찾았다!👍

[@beengarden5122]

Gimmie more videos!

[@therenaissancewoman2080]

Very helpful to watch this process. Love it! How much lye water to how much fat?

[@pattimessenger6214]

I’m getting ready to make my own wood Ash soap. My lye water has a PH of 13. I bought some PH strips for this purpose, to test it, and later to test my bars to see if they are cured. I’ll cook the lye down until a potato or egg floats in it with an area the size of a quarter above the surface. I plan on making bars. I’ll add a bit of salt to harden the soap a bit. I don’t really understand your beet juice and curry method of testing. Thank you for sharing your video. It is very interesting.

[@linnymariebee]

That's awesome. It's so intimidating the first time for anything! You'll probably keep making improvements every time you do the experiment. As far as indicators go, beet juice will turn bright yellow at ph14, it's cray. Same with cabbage juice! I've started to enjoy the cabbage juice as an indicator. It has some very definitive colours, again with bright yellow being 14! They have different gradients down to ph 0. I encourage you to discover a natural pH ndicator! They are much more exciting. Lol. The ultimate indicator is the zap test! When you think he soap is skin ready, touch it to your tongue. If you get a zap, you might have to cook longer, might have to add more fat. I'm trying to master everything by eye lol. Get familiar with the consistencies of your mixture and try to make improvements next time. I've made a batch of soap since this experiment and did my suggested improvements, and next time I plan to do a bit different as well. How did your experiment go?

[@pattimessenger6214]

linnymariebee Thank you for getting back to me. Hubby and I own a historic ranch in the San Bernardino Mountains of Southern California. We have an apple orchard that we open to the public each autumn for You-Pick. The orchard was planted in 1912. I love the pioneers that settled the west, including my own ancestors. I am trying to make soap the way the pioneers did. The way the original pioneers of our ranch did. The ranch runs between 5400-5800 feet elevation. We get real winters there. We heat the house with oak and apple wood. It is those ashes I’m using. I am filming the making my own lye and soap, and if you would like, I’ll tag you.

[@linnymariebee]

Patti, that sounds absolutely amazing. I would love to see your video! I was wondering if youre familiar with the soap making process with store bought lye? Have you ever made your own lye before? Both are exciting projects. Next time I make soap, when I concentrate my lye water, I'm going to do a visual meter of when it is done concentrating. The lye water starts off completely liquid, no sediment, then at a certain point when boiling the water down, sediment begins to form. It starts as a thin film on top, then falls to the bottom!! I'm going to treat these crystals as if it is lye crystals! My understanding is that the maximum solution for lye water is 50/50 and any more lye wouldn't dissolve. It brings me to believe that once I start seeing a film on the top of my lye water, when Im boiling it down, my lye water solution has become 50/50 and I will treat it as such in a soap calculator! I'm excited for next time now lol. But I expect, for some reason, that homemade lye water 50/50 solution has less saponification power than a store bought 50/50. Maybe I will do 3 batches, calculated at different solution percentages. I will do 50%, 40%, and 30% in the calculator. Lol. I'm talking way too much. I would love to see your process. My bar making is baloney. I pretty much strictly make liquid soap lol! I am growing luffas this year and I would love to make soap on a rope with it. I have to work on my bars. P.s. don't use camelina oil in your bars lol.

[@pattimessenger6214]

linnymariebee I have made soap with store bought lye before. I used the hot process with lard. It was many, many years ago. I have always been fascinated with history, antiques, old fashioned food making. As an adult I learned to bake bread and can peaches in mason jars. I learned from a dear friend. This friend had been raised by a mom who taught her the old ways. Right now I’m concerned about food supply’s because of the corona virus. Limited supplies of food at the stored. I started more seeds for the garden than usual, and they are thriving. I wanted to try to make this soap with homemade lye because we may not have commercially available lye in the future. I hope things go back to normal soon, but if they don’t, soap making may be a very valuable skill.

[@stayjabbless]

​@@linnymariebee that is very impressive, in my country it is tested with chicken feather, if it dissolves then the lye water is ready, but then you would have a dissolved chicken feather I your lye water so no thanks. What calculations are you using it sounds really interesting?

[@osaretinjulius6648]

hey keep it up

[@linnymariebee]

Lifelong journey!

[@ThorstenKruschke]

Thanks for sharing. I have a question: You call the water that has gone through the ash, lye?

[@ronwhittaker6317]

baking soda neutralizes most anything acidic is the answer to the ph problem. your going the long way around. i found out by accident by trying to make biodiesel that all you have to do to make soap is ad the potassium chlorate to hot oils of course 'temperature specific' is to place it in a jar while still hot and give it a shake. All I did was tip the jar with the lid on and bang soap. not the results desired. the liquid you keep running into is diesel oil I suspect that way to test that is to see if it is flammable by heating it and trying to touch it off. a few extra steps will refine it and soften it. just takes repeating the process a few times. i know why you went the long way around. if you were willing to do that then the extra mile is not a problem for you. if so . if nothing else it would make fine lamp oil. I'm sure it would wick very nicely. wich by the way would be an excellent method to draw it off. the fattest oils are best, think beef tallow. it is not cheap so that is something to consider your. local butcher should have some on hand if not a simple request should suffice. its the difference in the oil world between the can marked "beer" and a 100$ bottle of 20-year-old bourbon. for your reasons why. I'm sure there are benefits to working with it as well. try and take the guesswork out of it, it will be to your pleasure. keep up the good work. it's been said that only stupid people buy things. you are on the right path keep trucking.

[@ameliabermudez1476]

How's the lather on the bar soap

[@christinedowney5790]

How does it smell during and when it’s all done?

[@yaseminyalcn445]

hello what is the tree you use

[@coryburnett9470]

So I just tried making soap from ashes a few days ago and it turned out terrible, I found this video too late but it seems like my end product is crystaly and my second attempt is also grainy, but I thought it had too much oil because it separated and what I ended up getting was grainy "soap" with oil separated in with it. So I drained the oil and molded the grainy soap. There's another video on here of a young couple making it over a camp fire and theirs did the same thing.

[@SM-lc1wq]

Can I use it as shampoo and face wash?

[@kasie680]

You are supposed to soak your ashes with water then let it drain, at least 24 hours

[@mocabe01]

Curious... why does it have to be hardwood ash ? How different it is from other type of ashes (e,g, softwood, branches and dried leaves) ?

[@user-nr8vj3qf5l]

Hardwood ash has many special properties other woods do not have, my dad said they used hay as a filter.

[@user-nr8vj3qf5l]

Currently burning ash and am going to save it, it almost looks and feels like sand.

[@ronwhittaker6317]

17:43 think hot wire doll.

[@asmolovanatalya6759]

Это клеевое мыло. Им только стирать и мыть посуду.

[@starrstewart7083]

Mine works too. I used the Woodprix plans and performed it without any problems.

[@mrs210]

Narural soap needs to dry for 30 days!!

[@andreuasencios3620]

What do u mean by soft water? I think u need distiller water for soap making.

[@Lucy-eh5zn]

Try to make soap with tap water and see if it turns into soap.