Teach Soap

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CP newbie who's turning into a soaping addict!

What are you using to cut? I would try a tapping knife from your local hardware store or a pastry cutter. I have the Tank from forcraftsake, so my bars are pretty consistent.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

It's difficult sometimes, and I'm sure everyone will have a different way of dealing. I have a specific weight that I put on each label, lets say 4.5oz, now most of the time the soap is closer to 5oz, but I just leave the weight at 4.5oz.
As for cutting, I use a miter box and a large drywall scraper, I have a mark made on the miter box that gives me an idea of how thick it should be sliced ( I also eyeball it sometimes, depending on the batch). Now if I get a bar after curing that has gone below the desired weight I either use it as a tester, or cut it up for samples, but most of the time I can get it right.
Someday I would like to get a tank..now those are awesome, but for now it works for me. I hope that helped some.
monica

I do MP, so I guess it would be easier for me. Sometimes I pour the soap while it's on the scale. Other times if I'm using the same mold repeatedly (like clamshells) I do several, find out what the lowest weight is, and label them all according to that. If it's over the weight, then it's over the weight and I'm not messing with it.

Thanks for the comments so far!

Right now I'm using a miter box (one made for a saw, not for soap!) and a pastry cutter, although this particular miter box won't let me use my crinkle cutter. I may revisit that in the future. ;D The issue I'm having with it is getting a perfectly straight vertical cut, but I figure that's a matter of practice. Still, it's not the most precise way to cut identical bars.

I think I may invest in one of the harp-style log cutters like forcraftsake has, eventually -- that would be super consistent Maybe that can be my end-of-the-year bonus present for myself. :p But for the moment I think I'm stuck in manual cut land. ;D

I hadn't thought about just not caring if the bars were overweight -- duh, I don't think anyone really minds paying for 4.5 oz and getting 5! I suppose as long as it doesn't mess with your costing, that's perfectly cool

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CP newbie who's turning into a soaping addict!

I agree, I usually figure out which soap weighs the least and base my labels on that. Usually they are within 1/4 of an ounce. For example, in a batch of 8 I may have one that's 4 5/8 oz, 3 - 4 3/4 oz, and 4 4 7/8 oz. I will mark them all as 4-5/8 oz.

Another thing I do, for soaps that don't fit in my mitre box (like the silicone square tray), I use my cutter which has inch marks on it to measure size. For loaves, I usually do 1" slices. I'll measure 1" on both side and make a tick mark with a toothpick. Then I draw a line connecting the two marks. Then I continue that line down the sides. It's a little time consuming, but I get really close bars each time. I just use my regular cutter then and just keep it as straight as I can.

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Inspiri Body - Bath & Body products Inspired by Life

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

On my label of late I hand write the weight.

Many good ideas for you.

I weigh a log of soap when using different odd shapes and then decide how thick to cut the log to get the weight I want for the bars.

I never put the ounces on my labels. All my soap sell per ounce, I weight them prior to pricing them, so if it cost 4.50 that is the weight and so on.

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Four Seasons Fine Handcrafted Soaps
& Specialties, Inc.
Laugh, Love, Live!

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Four Seasons Fine Handcrafted Soaps
& Specialties, Inc.
Laugh, Love, Live!