Teach Soap

Since, I've been making soap for a few years, i have a question, that I'm still not clear on.

now the reason I'm asking again is because, i bought the ebook on making milk soaps.

not one recipe in there is 32 ounces of oils. they are less. the book calls these 2.5 pounds of soap.

so all this to ask, is it just the oils that constitute a pound or is it the whole total of oils, and water/ milk

i have been calculating how much f,o to putting per pound by the amount of oils used,

what is the correct method?

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~~~Cheryl~~~

To me, a pound of soap is oils along with water, even though the water evaporates as the soap cures. Calculating how much FO to putting per pound by the amount of base oils used is correct.

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

have you ever weighed all the soap out of a so called pound to see if it's a pound?

So this is still a blur to me.. I want to know how and who decided which way it is

just oils = 16 or

water and oil =16 i.e. 1 pound.

so when you do your soap calculation how much oil do you add and say that will make a pound of soap or what ever many pounds you make

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~~~Cheryl~~~

This is the way I calculate. I'll give you an example. 12 ozs. of olive oil + 4 ozs. of liquid (ie: water) and 1.5 ozs. of lye should fit into a 1 lb. mold.
Since the weight of the raw soap has a similar weight to water, you can fill your mold with water to see how much it actually holds.

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

I do the same as Irena. My 2# mold holds 28-30 oz of oils, plus the water, lye and other additives for about 36 oz total in the mold. Cured bars weigh slightly more than 4oz each. I calculate the fragrance amount based on the weight of my oils only.

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

so you both are saying 2 pounds of soap is oil and water. so how much oil do you count in your 2 pounds?

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~~~Cheryl~~~

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

so you have to do more calculating when you make your batch.. i like to use just the oil number. .

do you vary your water amount also?

some calculations give you a range of say from 8-10 ounces of water/ fluid.

I'll tell ya then.

There are two schools on the pound issue.

One says the oil only one says oil and water..

oh well.. Still ... not happy with the both different ones...

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~~~Cheryl~~~

You could do 32 ozs. of oils plus water plus lye, but have a little extra mold handy, because all of it won't fit.

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

I"ve been doing the 32 ounces of oil and it does fit in the 2 pound mold.. love that size.

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~~~Cheryl~~~