Wood Ash Lye Soap, Great Depression Recipe, DIY

How to make wood ash lye soap. the same way the did during the great depression and before.

[@AzazelsWings]

Thanks for this ! I would like to add a helpful tip. Be sure to test the egg in some cool water, first, because "old" eggs will float in plain water no matter what. A fresh egg will sink, so make sure you use a "good" egg. Thanks again for sharing this, might come in very handy one of these days and it's not something most people these days know how to do anymore. Bless you

[@tinajsews2835]

Repent , Jesus is coming back, Jesus loves you , he died so that we can live"❤.

[@AzazelsWings]

@@tinajsews2835 I'm not Christian, but I certainly welcome prayers and kind thoughts you could send out for me. I thank you.

[@barbarahallowell2613]

My Grammie would use a potato instead of the egg.

[@robertrowland4898]

Wonderful, my mother (now gone) often told of my Grandmother making Lye Soap during the Great Depression in Southern Illinois. . I have long wondered exactyly what that entailed, now I know and my grandchildren and I are planning on experiencing that soon here in Colorado.

[@prototype9000]

i grew up around amish they would take the water collected and run it back through the ashes they initially used hot water to

[@StoneBrokeAdventure]

Great info

[@0patience4flz]

Thanx

[@daniel-qh4zq]

Your rinsing method with the towel is so much better then the other videos I've watched.

[@tannermorton986]

You gave the best video on how to make soap.

[@nancyrosanelli8459]

This is the best video I can find on this subject. This fully explain how make the lye with the ash and actually showed you how to make the soap. Thank u

[@Verfolnir]

He didn't actually explain how to make lye. This is chemistry ignorance. He demonstrated how to make Potassium Carbonate. Wood-ash lye is Potassium Hydroxide (KOH).

[@Papaloteterracota]

@@Verfolnir wow, please more info, i'm a chemistry ignorant. this ash extraction isn't KOH?

[@Verfolnir]

@@Papaloteterracota That is correct. This is not KOH. The solute from the ashes you get K2CO3. Reduce the water content and you get concentrated K2CO3. To get KOH, you need to add the K2CO3 to a solution of Calcium Hydroxide (slaked lime). Ca(OH)2 + K2CO3 → CaCO3 + 2 KOH. This results in the calcium carbonate precipitating out of the reaction leaving the potassium hydroxide in solution. The confusion arises because people /think/ you can only make soap with a hydroxide (potassium or sodium). This is incorrect - leading to the incorrect assumption by chemistry illiterate. You CAN make soap with K2CO3. And People used to do this as the primary method before the 1700s. Using K2CO3, one simply cooks/boils the soap mixure longer (much longer) to drive the saponification process. Soap makers shifted to KOH after 1700s when slaked lime became more readily accessible. Until and unless you combine the K2CO3 with Ca(OH)2, wood ashes will only ever be potassium carbonate. -- Physicist.

[@eveningclicks7767]

so important to learn this for the times we are in

[@kjjosker]

yes, make sure you place the towel correctly so you don't have leakage from your ash hole.

[@StoneBrokeAdventure]

I hate it when my ash hole leaks

[@jojogomez26]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@serahnelson7828]

​@@StoneBrokeAdventure 😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@ThiefSurvivor8]

@@StoneBrokeAdventure sounds more like A$S hole

[@thoseaglestone9372]

Sometimes when the ash hole leaks, it's because it got drilled too hard.

[@OvGraphics]

SA.... Well, thanks. It's been probably 50-55 years in the making...looking for the answer to lye soap. I doubt anyone here ever waited that long to get an answer. Ha! I expect your views should tick up in the next few months. Doing my due diligent research for the coming shortage and the possible SHTF scenario as well. That'd be when the cell phones stop working. Took notes and made pictures of your SUPER straight to it vid for my SHTF diary. Many thankees! I'll worry about finding lard later, I guess, besides what may be in my stash. I think that part is called 'barter'? Your bestest fan in Alabam, Norm

[@StoneBrokeAdventure]

Thank you

[@eveningclicks7767]

I am also starting to take notes and getting hard copies of things. Preservation is important and so are handy skills like this.

[@OvGraphics]

@@eveningclicks7767 Ok. That makes 2 of us so for Mx. 7767. Dang. No use in having a plow if you don't know how to use it. Your howto printout may be the most popular reading on the whole block some day. UPVOTE!

[@patriciau6277]

My family did this outside in the spring. Kentucky living the old ways.

[@JohnSmith-cz9om]

Good, because Moscow Mitch and the Randstander wants to keep you broke and stupid.

[@truthbtold6118]

Great video ! Priceless & timeless

[@patriciaendris925]

Very interesting. Thank you for sharing.

[@lindseycampbell3667]

Thank you. This is the information I was searching for!

[@davemwangi05]

You're doing counter-plandemic? LOL

[@nvel5612]

The brown color is not KOH. Pure KOH in solution is colorless. I think the brown color may come from trace metals like iron and copper that come alone when you soak the ash. I would also assume that the brown is still a good indicator that your are done. Everything that comes out of the ash is coming together so it is still your indicator. Also i started making soap recently and I am confused as to why you need them to be at the same temperature before you mix. I dont do that. I heat oil in crock pot, make a NaOH or KOH solution then add it in. When dissolved in water, these bases will create alot of heat so maybe they are the same temp. Im just curious what would happen if they were not the same temp. I dont think that is a necessary step. Awesome, good work and thanks for making this video.

[@Polarcupcheck]

Can you use used fry oil from a restaurant? After filtering out particulates, of course.

[@enjoypolo]

@@Polarcupcheck yes you can :) I use KOH with used cooking sunflower oil to make liquid soap, works great. Only thing is I use a staff-blender to speed up the trace

[@davemwangi05]

@@enjoypolo can you sell me some of this soap? I wanna give it a present to my neighbor named Master Bates

[@brumhelldah917]

@@Polarcupcheck it’s a god Great Depression recipe because you can use any oils! As long as they’re greasy.

[@ladycharming9860]

@@Polarcupcheck I actually use palm cooking oil for to make soaps for dishwash.. but I also add coconut oil for bubbles. Instead of throw it away and will damage natural water system around me, I use it by making soaps.

[@ImASurvivorNThriver]

Good stuff! Thanks for sharing.

[@kovona]

Great tutorial! FYI chemically speaking wood ash lye with be a solution of potassium carbonate, not potassium hydroxide. But you can turn it into hydroxide by mixing it with slaked lime (calcium hydroxide), which switches the cations to create potassium hydroxide and calcium carbonate (near insoluble in water, causing it to precipitate out). The potassium hydroxide will be much stronger and faster than the unprocessed wood ash lye.

[@yomama1254]

How much slaked lime would you need for this amount of unprocessed lye?

[@Papaloteterracota]

please tell me more!

[@salazam]

@@yomama1254 Three

[@kovona]

​@@yomama1254 Hard to say as carbonate content can vary from ash sample to ash sample. If I was to do it, I would add the FILTERED wood ash lye to slaked lime solution bit by bit until I stop seeing solid calcium carbonate precipitate come out (would be gray in colour).

[@user-03-gsa3]

interesting

[@bigrosssvlog9862]

Hey Man thanks for the video I've been wanting to try to make soap for along time. Great video

[@StoneBrokeAdventure]

thanks for watching.

[@mrglasecki]

Boss God Bless your work 😎

[@semperfi-1918]

Nice video

[@montanafamilytrails]

You’re the Walter White of soap making! Great video. 😃👍

[@StoneBrokeAdventure]

Montana Family Trails definatly the best complement i have ever received.

[@perdidoenbolivia134]

I love this !

[@StoneBrokeAdventure]

Thanks

[@imkadosh]

I don't know why I had not seen this video, since I've been looking for them for a long time. I am so glad you made this video. It is so exciting to know that you can make soap using only 2 ingredients. I also know how to make a soap using the fruit of tree, and lye and the soap is very fragrant but brown. It can only be used on dark clothes or for showering. The fruit is a seed that resembles very much like the pit of the olive seed. It needs to be cracked open and the seed is grounded and that mass is cooked with the lye until it becomes solid soft, and we made it into small balls, and those balls are left for about 2 weeks to mature. We call it jabon de aceituno(Spanish) soap of aceituno. The tree is named aceituno. We used the egg also to make sure the lye was good. Vey interesting soap!! Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge!!

[@kristyburton6507]

AWESOME 👏 THANKYOU 😃

[@kristyburton6507]

I think 🤔 I am going too try this

[@reecelincoln]

Yes a great video indeed!

[@jelkavujacic9457]

Bravo predivno !❤❤❤❤❤

[@markanthony124]

Great video you got to the point and didn't stand and talk 30 minutes to do a 6 minute video

[@Nairuulagch]

Cool thank you

[@eyesofthecervino3366]

How is this video not more highly recommended?!? I had to sort my way through multiple videos where people clearly didn't know what they were doing and were just making stuff up as they went along before I made it to yours.

[@StoneBrokeAdventure]

the algorithm gods are never on my side. lol

[@eyesofthecervino3366]

@@StoneBrokeAdventure That's a shame. I guess I'll have to check out your channel, see what all I'm missing out on.

[@StoneBrokeAdventure]

@@eyesofthecervino3366 tons of random creations and adventures lol. take some time and browse.

[@tauyang9561]

Thanks

[@emsdiy6857]

That's COOOL

[@spincrochetrepeatrcc8961]

What do you do with the leftover lye solution?

[@SalongirlGardens]

Interesting! Thx for the tutorial. From books I’ve read I knew this was the process. Slays me to think “who were these ppl that that found out wood ash plus animal fat would yield something to wash clothes and bodies with” ? How on earth did our ancestors figure this out? Cuz this goes beyond our pioneers. Ppl have been making soap for a long time.

[@SalongirlGardens]

Seamus oh! That’s interesting news! I’ve not heard that but I’ll google. Thx for sharing!

[@American-Plague]

I have read somewhere (Idk if it's true but it makes sense) that soap was discovered in India on the Ganges River, due to them cremating bodies in the same water they ritually bathe in. The ashes and fat (from burning corpses) would fall into the river where they bathed and they noticed that their bodies and clothes were cleaner than when they bathed elsewhere (normal water).

[@SalongirlGardens]

I be a DOCTOR yes! I had heard something similar.

[@salazam]

@@American-Plague That's crazy. Imagine having to kill someone every time you gotta do a load of laundry!

[@American-Plague]

@@salazam LOL! 😆

[@kevinwilson9317]

Thank you very much for this wonderfully informative video! I know that you mentioned that soapmakers use sodium hydroxide lye......would adding salt to the lye do anything?

[@StoneBrokeAdventure]

I dont think i would know the answer to that. It would be worth trying

[@WanderTheNomad]

Wonder how people first came up with this method of making soap.

[@imaneldr7864]

Can we make the cold process soap

[@nicolecatlin1942]

Okay but how far down do you need to reduce the liquid? 1/4? 1/2? 3/4? And should the solution be cooled before doing the egg test?

[@dekaendru9419]

is possible to do with olive oil?

[@andromedaplanet5620]

Thank you for the recipe. Do you know how can we make milk soap with wood ash lye? I want to make goat milk soap.

[@StoneBrokeAdventure]

The only thing i can say is experimentation .

[@paulbraga4460]

per chemical analysis of wood ash, there is so much more calcium that potassium in wood ash...i am really wondering if lye water has more calcium draining out than potassium hydroxide (KOH)? just wondering - perhaps you know...mygreathanks and blessings🙏

[@atheistscum6209]

Can you use this soap for bathing?

[@wanderingmoon9772]

I love how you used an old pickle jar. 😁😁 I am curious about if this was usable as a hair wash as well. I'm looking into how people took care of hygiene before the industrial revolution.

[@StoneBrokeAdventure]

Once a week bath. Maybe

[@jazzaguayo9842]

You can recreate hair powder. You need flour and fat. I would use arrowroot powder and thoroughly rinsed tallow (plus essential oil for a nice smell if you have it) to create the powder. You apply it throughout your hair and brush it through until your hair feels dry (not silky). It kept the hair clean and dry (prevented oil buildup) and they had to wash far less often if ever. No itching. Apparently, it's very comfortable but gives hair a different texture (and color). They would use different powdered herbs to color the hair on purpose. A few historical reenactment peeps on KZbin have used it for a year or more without washing their hair.

[@peaceman7072]

Can you use this lye to make soap with goats milk?

[@ourtruth216]

Is the lard primarily used to make the hard soap ? If I wanted to make a liquid soap can I use coconut oil or olive oil instead of lard?

[@jcfsaiyan]

Nope. My wife makes soap. hard bars she only uses olive and coconut oil. Hardens every time. There's a certain diff process to make liquid soap. I don't understand any of it lol

[@westdellarosecreations9827]

I wonder if you hot process it (cook the soap for hours, to cook out the water and cure the lard) if it would make it a hard bar. You should be able to mold it and cut it into bars (they probably will be soft but able to cut) and then let them dry on a shelf for a few weeks and have a nice hard bar!

[@Serendipity-Divine]

This is what I'm wanting to make. Learning tricks of salting out etc to make hard bars.

[@OldSchoolPrepper]

because this isn't actually KOH but rather potash it won't ever get hard unless slacklime is added to it (or other additives to add calcium).

[@sage0925]

How could you incorporate beeswax? I saw on another video how that made the soap thick enough to cut into bars. Would you add it during the trace creation, where you're heating the mixture?

[@cheifreal]

Mix it in the oils it'll melt down when your heating it.

[@panther3109]

I have never made soap before and recently, I discovered there are some bottles of oils in tbe cabinet, and there are old coconut oil (about 2 years-old) and 2 litres of extra virgin olive oil that will expire next month. Questions: a) Can I use expired olive/coconut oil to make these lovely soaps? b) I also have some rancid olive oils in the shelf. Can I use the rancid oils for the soap-making, and c) Is it safe to use them? Thank you!

[@StoneBrokeAdventure]

expired yes - rancid no

[@panther3109]

@@StoneBrokeAdventure Thank you!

[@maragrace820]

Some people state that sink water won’t allow saponification as much as rain water.

[@CrowMeris]

Rain water is nice and "soft". Tap water from your sink may be "hard" from minerals like calcium, potassium, and magnesium, or it may be just fine as it is. His water is probably not too hard. If your water is really hard you can add a "chelator" like 1% citric acid to balance out the minerals.

[@emacapota1835]

What are the right quantities of lye and lard for the mixture?

[@American-Plague]

Depends how strong is your lye water.

[@marshallkohlhaas80]

Ph meter would be nyce???

[@donwagster]

You skipped the lime part that turns the Potash Carbonate into hydroxide.

[@paulbraga4460]

btw, calcium also contributes to the pH....

[@6ftS]

ok... but how do you make the lard? liposuction clinic dumpster?

[@StoneBrokeAdventure]

lipo fat makes the best soap.

[@davidwarden3269]

also good to dry up poison ivy and bug bites

[@_theplantkiller]

Question: what do you do with the left over ash from making the lye? What’s safe to do with it. I’m currently making soap at this moment.

[@StoneBrokeAdventure]

Well all the bad stuf is leached out of it so im assuming you can do with it what you would any ash

[@sarahr.trenchard8287]

Add it to your garden mulch...plants love it!

[@_theplantkiller]

@@sarahr.trenchard8287 nice! Thank you!

[@WhiteCinnamon44]

I'm curious, could you just mix ashes with fat without melting or separating the lye out, and it become a crude soap? If you're not using it for anything other than non-cloth washing, could that work?

[@davemwangi05]

LOL. This is the dopest laziness thing I've ever seen. Just want the easiest path? LOL It's hard to tell whether can work I think KOH is like 10% of the ash, so you're gonna have like 90% being junk calcium carbonate/calcium hydroxide which will waste all your soap

[@wjcallihan]

@@davemwangi05 You gave a good answer but you could have done it without the insult.

[@arvozo2816]

Actualy i know that that abrasive material is often added to "workshop" soap - for cleaning greasy hands. Like wood chips or something. So i'm thinking maybe ashy soap will perform similar way? will have to try this, to test it out.

[@taniwha5441]

Yes it would work. I've used straight ash to clean dishes, works beautifully (the ash binds with the grease on the dishes and becomes soap). I've also used ash to brush my teeth. Ash itself does the cleaning, though I think scientifically you need it to bind with fat to create "soap" which foams up a little.

[@PimpolloMorales]

@@wjcallihan they didn't even do that, plain wood ash has been used to wash hands and as a general cleaner for centuries 🥴 they did what I like to call "scientifically talking outta your arse"

[@oumaimaouen7816]

We can use it for face this soap?

[@LemonExtras]

What happens if it’s not hard wood ash?

[@StoneBrokeAdventure]

LemonExtras softwood doesnot contain enough potassium. Therefore not enough ko2 (lye)

[@samsonoluwole1945]

What happens if i use soft wood ash

[@StoneBrokeAdventure]

im prety sure it dosnt have enough potassium to create lye

[@abrammatthew756]

I thought sodium hydroxide came from the same process? If not, how do you get sodium hydroxide. I thought that’s what lye was. Thx

[@mr.saltnpepper]

What are the biggest pros and cons of doing this?

[@StoneBrokeAdventure]

Pro: its a fun mad scientist project. Con: you need to burn a entire oak tree to get enough ash. Pro: your friends will think you are crazy (in a good way) Con: your wife will think you are crazy( in a bad way)

[@mr.saltnpepper]

@@StoneBrokeAdventure Thank you!

[@scutumfidelis1436]

How long is the simmering process?

[@StoneBrokeAdventure]

untill it reaches the right consistency. it took me about 40-45 min

[@scutumfidelis1436]

@@StoneBrokeAdventure thank you.

[@macho_420]

Can you then distill it from the water by boiling it until the water evaporates?

[@StoneBrokeAdventure]

Yes it will concentrate the lye

[@davemwangi05]

@@StoneBrokeAdventure using aluminium bowl? LOL kaboom! I'm sure someone has done that mistake in the past.

[@StoneBrokeAdventure]

@@davemwangi05 Uh ...... it is stainless steel

[@mayyoke6101]

Sir, may I know how to keep the soap? Do I need to keep it in the fridge or let it be? Thank you very much🙏🙏🙏😁😁😁

[@StoneBrokeAdventure]

Let it be

[@mayyoke6101]

@@StoneBrokeAdventure Noted, sir! Thank you for your prompt reply, so so much🙏🙏🙏🙇🙇🙇 Sir, this video was filmed a year ago. Do you think you can film one again? A video without leaching, but cook directly down to get the lye, with the ash in the pot. Can you make one? Please? Thank you again!🙏🙏🙏🙇🙇🙇

[@asmolovanatalya6759]

Мы, в России, держим на огне пять часов и потом отстаиваем. Получается более концентрированный щёлок.

[@StoneBrokeAdventure]

great advise. thank you

[@mayyoke6101]

Sir, sorry to disturb you again! May I know does wood ash soap cleans as squeaky clean as nowadays soaps? Thank you and I'm truly sorry.

[@StoneBrokeAdventure]

Clean ? I would assume so. Moisturize probably not. Lol

[@mayyoke6101]

@@StoneBrokeAdventure Thank you for your prompt reply, sir! Thank you🙏🙏🙏

[@aestheticenergyinc.9614]

what else can i use instead of lard like anything else it has to be plant-based or contain no animal products

[@StoneBrokeAdventure]

im not sure how a vegetable oil would work.

[@aestheticenergyinc.9614]

@@StoneBrokeAdventure I found from another channel that you could use Crisco but thanks anyway :)

[@American-Plague]

@@aestheticenergyinc.9614 Google castile soap. Hope that helps.

[@preppingreference2788]

I heard you can use coconut and olive oil

[@jvee5322]

You can use olive oil or coconut oil

[@jamsheedjameha2066]

How mach kg wood ash need to make 100 liter lye water

[@StoneBrokeAdventure]

A lot

[@jamsheedjameha2066]

StoneBroke Adventure how meny time can use the same ash

[@marijanovoselec2021]

Why does everyone have different ratio between lye and lard? It varies from 3 cups of lard to one cup of lye, to 1 cup of lard to 10 cups of lye. I made a soap with approximately 1 cup of lard to 3/8 cup of lye and it didn't turn out good, it didn't trace even after three hours of stiring and it was too greasy.

[@nowirehangers2815]

The strength of the lye can be different

[@eandg330]

I've always been told you should start with more lye than lard and can add more melted lard if needed

[@sarahr.trenchard8287]

U should try olive oil and beeswax (instead of the Lard)...much healthier for the skin...smells great to!

[@mayyoke6101]

Sir, may I know about the lather? Is it as rich and bubbly as soap made with nowadays chemical lye? How long did it take for your soap to harden? Thank you in advance!

[@StoneBrokeAdventure]

the soap does not lather well. it does not harden like modern soap it stays soft but firm

[@mayyoke6101]

@@StoneBrokeAdventure Oh…so I'm on the right track. Thank you very very much! You safe my day! I've nobody to ask! Thank you again🙏🙏🙏🙇🙇🙇

[@inbind7546]

Do you have a easier method? I need it for my project

[@chandrashekarhr2240]

@Integrity - hmmmm... why not try the Indian coffee filter to filter & tap the lye from the wood ashes ? Rest of the process may remain same. We cud even try with Coconut oil in case getting lard is a bit harder ...

[@veeranageswararaogollapall290]

@@chandrashekarhr2240 how is with coconut oil

[@carols6013]

Add salt to make bars

[@StoneBrokeAdventure]

good tip thank you

[@chandrashekarhr2240]

Getting the wood to burn may be difficult for city dwellers. Cow dung flakes are available for controlled burning and reducing it to mere ashes. @ integrity - now you can perhaps take off from here ... you may need a small batch for ur project ?

[@Verfolnir]

It's too bad you don't actually have wood-ash lye, potassium hydroxide (KOH). Aside from further propagating this bit of chemistry ignorance, good video. -- Physicist.

[@haraldhimmel5687]

So what does he have? Wasn't the point of your post to clear up this misconception?

[@Verfolnir]

@@haraldhimmel5687 Potassium carbonate. The solute from the ashes you get K2CO3. Not, as most assume, KOH.

[@Verfolnir]

@@haraldhimmel5687 Now, you CAN make soap with K2CO3. This was how it used to be done 18th century and earlier (before wide spread access to slaked lime). The trick with using K2CO3 is you must cook/boil the soap longer (considerably longer) to drive the saponofication process. If you have access to slaked-lime, then you can make potassium hydroxide, KOH. Then with KOH you need cook/boil the soap for a very short time (or simply let it set longer). Consult chemistry books for details. -- Physicist.

[@haraldhimmel5687]

@@Verfolnir Alright, thanks.

[@davemwangi05]

@@Verfolnir You're acting like a bully though. Tell me whether I"m wrong in this. With IDK 40% of ash being water and 10% being Potassium/soddium carbonate, the water passing through the bowl will dissolve calcium carbonate and then though a process of caucatization (sp) it'll exchange with calcium hydroxide to become calcium carbonate and sodium hydroxide. I've just done this method now, and comparing it to a previous one that I had done there's a difference. The lye that I have is really conc I dropped an aluminium and it fizzed like hell. this was fresh ash meaning there's lot of calcium hydroxide/oxide before it absorbs atmospheric carbon dioxide. But the other older lye I made with ash that had stayed for 1 month is really unreactive to aluminium even when super-saturated. (forming crystals) Even borrowing from another thing I'd seen It's accurate to assume there's a lot of calcium oxide from fresh wood ash. This I borrow from a vid I had seen where guys were converting limestone into calcium oxide by burning it in firewood. This CaO will react with any Sodium/potassium carbonate, converting it instantly to NAOH