# anyone make saddle soap? What is it anyway?



## InHisName (Jan 26, 2006)

bought some icelandic sheep today to do my own felting projects , the guy said a lady near them sells felted saddle soap to the feed stores, good idea! So what is saddle soap? Pine tar would be nice felted- we dyed some rovings with tumeric and it looks like insulation- next to do the felting!


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## Wisconsin Ann (Feb 27, 2007)

saddle soap is a harder version of an oil soap like murphy's. it's usually a very mild soap with neatsfoot oil or heavy in lanolin. 

it's original use was to keep the new leather on harnesses and saddles soft (oiled). 

Some use glycerin in it for clarity,neatsfoot oil for the dark softening qualities.

 Quite a number of horse folk use a castille (pure olive oil soap) first to clean the leather, then use a saddlesoap as a preservative. (it also tends to darken the leather...you can get a lovely tortiseshell patina from using it  )


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## InHisName (Jan 26, 2006)

Can we use neatsfoot oil as one of the fats in soap? What if you added it in at trace, where it was not saponified?


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## Step (Aug 4, 2005)

To answer your question if Neatsfoot oil can be used in making soap, you can find the Saponification Value at this site... and you probably should do subsequent searches to confirm the values: http://www.whc-oils.com/neatsfoot-oil.html Not sure if this oil is on one of the on-line soap calculators, but you can use an oil with the same Sap Value. 

My thought would be to make soap at a higher lye discount, leaving more oil remaining in the soap to condition the leather. 

I've never made Saddle Soap, but cleaning the leather couches and car seats has been on my to-do list.. 

Petroleum products, including mineral oil are not good for leather.


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## NostalgicGranny (Aug 22, 2007)

What is in Murphys oil soap?


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## InHisName (Jan 26, 2006)

thank you, step- will try that! Would be a nice Christmas present for our horsy friends.


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## InHisName (Jan 26, 2006)

How high of a lye discount is acceptable? I liked the lye discount/superfatting info from Kathy Miller's page- as I understand it you have to be careful not to have too high a discount. I suppose will have to try it.... The three oils in saddle soap (from reading) are neatsfoot, olive, and lanolin- would one of those be best to add at trace? Or would superfatting with all of those added in on the soap calc as a regular recipe work? I suppose will have to just try it, but would like ideas.


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## Step (Aug 4, 2005)

I used Mystic Mountain Sage's lye calculator... it's easier, especially as a new soap maker, to use. Just enter the amount of each oil in the appropriate boxes (I formulate in ounces), then press calculate. On the right side of the new page, it will give you the amount of lye to use from 0-10% for your lye discount.

I always soap at a 7-8% lye discount for the extra 7-8% moisturizing benefits of the remaining oils after saponification.. my rational would be similar for saddle soap and perhaps a little higher, that is, unless I could find searched information that has specific recommendations and why. 

Please let us know how your soap comes out!


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