Teach Soap

My girlfriend's hubby is going to have a go at making me a mold. Yipee!! This guy built my newly obtained 4ft fishtank, his skills are mad.

I have a couple of questions...

Wood. I don't think he can make me a plastic set up, so will be going to tried and true wooden soap box. Is there any particular wood that is best for soap? More breathable? Also... I pop all my soaps into the freezer to help with overheating (milk soaps), will wood do ok for this? For those that use the freezer and their molds, have you had any problems?

I want to get him to create a divider for me. Mostly two that will cut my 'square' mold into 3 loaf size soap blocks. I don't want these permanent however - I want to slot them in after I've made the soap. So basically I make enough to fill the square, pop in the dividers, and when it comes out of the freezer, I have 3 x loaves of soap ready to cut into bars. Make sense?

What type of material would be best for those dividers? i have Nizzy's mold here, so will take that to show him what does work, but I can't see anywhere on Nizzy's site where he says what type of material it is (I may just be missing it, been a loooooooong day!!)

Any other tips to include? I'm basically asking him to make a box really. A bottom and four sides. Plus the dividers if that's possible. Or, if not, I will see if he can make me some sort of cutter that will cut the square into 3 loaves...

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The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

You'll probably want to use a good quality plywood - birch is good. It will not warp as badly going through big temperature changes, and if you can find aircraft grade or marine grade at a reasonable cost - even better, but not critical. For the dividers, maybe HDPE, unless you want to wrap the dividers with liners before inserting them. Over here HDPE is extremely expensive because everywhere I've checked sells it in large sheets only, so I would suggest if using it for a single mold, buy a cutting board large enough for your project and cut it to size, or check Amazon, and if you go that route I'd use HDPE that is 10mm thick or more. Cutting HDPE has to be done slowly so as not to melt it.

Oh- if you end up having him make you a cutter - guitar strings make great cutter string. Good luck.

Oooh, oooh, one more thing! Plywood is dimensionally stable which is very important or it will shrink as the wood dries. That means leaky soap molds! I have cleaned up many a leak caused by someone using a 2 by 4 for the ends of the mold.

PS Dave, did you check out US Plastics? My husband bought a half sheet of hdpe from them and they have lots of thicknesses available too.

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Linda

I learn so much when I can't leave well enough alone!

After spending too much money on molds that did nothing but make me mad I decided to make my own. Mine is made out of 1X4 pine. It is about 13 inches long. I fill it with about 2 1/2 pounds of soap which I cut in to 11 bars. They dry out at just a hair over 4 oz each. Both ends are removable being held in place wing nuts. I most often do not remove the ends to take the soap out. This is a loaf mold.

This is what I have done. I made a template for my liner which is freezer paper. I spent some time on this to make it fit perfectly. Now at the beginning of soap season I cut out a pile of liners and make my initial cuts. When I soap I fold the liner. Take it. Set it in the mold. And tape it over the edge. The entire process on soaping day takes about 2 minutes.

I bought a stainless steel cutter that fits into a stainless steel gig which I use to cut my soap. All bars are the exact same thickness.

I know this process is probably not big enough for someone who sells a lot of soap but for my hobby and casually selling to friends it works great.

Would corn-flute to be an option for the dividers? Or would that react with the lye?

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The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

This is what is sitting in my amazon cart (.187" 12x24). I'm going to get it and try it for dividers.
From US Plastics site: "These sheets can be heat formed, shaped and welded to fabricate ducts, hoods, and much more. They have excellent corrosion resistance to a wide range of items. Cannot be cemented but are easily welded with plastic welder. Can be cut with wood saw and drilled with regular metal bits. Not UV stabilized but meets FDA standards. The High Density Polyethylene has a density .Density 0.95. Rigid, good impact resistance and abrasion resistance. Color white; translucent. Working temp. -60° to 180° F. Forming temp. is 295°F. Meets FDA standards."

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**ERIN**

**I've taken up photography because it's the only hobby I can shoot people and cut their heads off without going to jail**

LOL...

It's the stuff signage and that is made out of. Here's a pic: http://www.pgc.com.au/wp-content/upload ... ss-5mm.jpg

Here is a website with some examples: http://www.pgc.com.au/131/corflute-sign ... effective/

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The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

Ohhh corroplast!

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

I think there was a thread on here somewhere about using chloroplast for molds. I can't find it, but it may be worth trying - it can be had for cheap.

Maybe if I spelled correctly my search would have worked. Here is the one I was thinking of: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3390&p=60237&hilit=corroplast#p60237

Oooh!! That's the same stuff!! So I probably would be able to make dividers out of it then?!

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The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

I say go for it!

Wicked!! That gives me a started point at least! *claps*

_________________
The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

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