# Lye from ashes...



## ChasingDreams (Apr 8, 2006)

Can anyone give me a detailed description of how to do this? We have an abundance of ashes and I would like to try to make my own lye....


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## linn (Jul 19, 2005)

Go to this website, http://sugarmountainhome.com/phpBB/index.php
"Sugar Mountain's Homesteading Forum," and register. Then find instructions on making lye from ashes in the "Make Your Own" board.


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## swamp_deb (Jan 9, 2004)

My Grandmamma used only hardwood ashes and run rainwater through them till an egg floated to her satisfaction. Now I don't know how much of the egg was under water and how much was on top of the water. I play it safe and buy my lye and weigh it out to make soap.


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## kesoaps (Dec 18, 2004)

This really is not the best way to make soap, although I do understand that people want to give it a try. You really have no way of knowing just how strong you lye solution is and, if you'll recall, Grandma's lye soap was usually strong enough to take off the top layer of skin. My grandmother can tell you that what I make now is much easier on the skin that what she made as a kid...


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## PlowGirl (Nov 16, 2005)

Couldn't you use a pH tester to get the ash lye content just right? I've been considering making my own soap, from the ground up, so to speak, and thought that a little experimenting with the homemade lye solution would be worth the effort.

I have read that the homemade lye makes a softer soap. How true this is, I don't know at this point.


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## kesoaps (Dec 18, 2004)

No, PlowGirl; the pH strips aren't accurate enough. As for being softer...well, it can also be harder (and harsher) because you're either adding too much or too little lye; there's no way to know until you end up with a bar that goes soft and mushy or one that takes your hide off.

I think if you want to do a search, Meloc was bound and determined to do it all from scratch. The end results were less than desirable. 

But again, I do understand that homesteading need to try to be completely self sufficient...but there's also that homesteading need to be as frugal as possible, and purchasing lye is a heck of a lot cheaper than wasting oils.


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## swamp_deb (Jan 9, 2004)

I agree with kesoaps, I wouldn't trust making lye water with ashes unless you are prepared to toss the whole batch after going to all that trouble. When I told my Mom that I was going to make soap she said that if I had used that stuff then I would't want to make it!! After I started making soap, she was my best cheerleader, the difference is night and day. I buy my lye in bulk now and order most of my oils from a reputable seller so that my soaps are what I can be proud of and not dry my skin out.

If you are determined to make your own, please take all precautions to not get lye burns, keep plenty of water handy to flush spills and make the smallest batch possible.

I love the benefits of real soap vs store bought cleansers and my skin has never felt better. I wish you luck with your soapmaking adventures.


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## PlowGirl (Nov 16, 2005)

I didn't mean using the litmus paper strips. A pH meter like laboratories use. Most are digital. Wouldn't that work?


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## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

kesoaps said:


> No, PlowGirl; the pH strips aren't accurate enough. As for being softer...well, it can also be harder (and harsher) because you're either adding too much or too little lye; there's no way to know until you end up with a bar that goes soft and mushy or one that takes your hide off.
> 
> I think if you want to do a search, Meloc was bound and determined to do it all from scratch. The end results were less than desirable.
> 
> But again, I do understand that homesteading need to try to be completely self sufficient...but there's also that homesteading need to be as frugal as possible, and purchasing lye is a heck of a lot cheaper than wasting oils.



this is true, but the motivation may have been different. i wanted to learn to be more self-reliant and have the skill to make some sort of soap if times got rough. i did that. no, it cannot be sold for $5 per bar, but it will clean the skin...the laundry, not so much. even so, with lots of practice at tasting the soap, i am sure i could get better. then science enters the picture. if i were to test the ph and density of the dripped lye, i am sure i could master the process. it is much like hot process soap or remelting soap...i am not good at it, but i am sure i could get better at it with practice. i just got the soap bug after the initial dripped lye trials and learned to appreciate the very scientific approach and satisfying results of CP soap making.


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## PlowGirl (Nov 16, 2005)

MELOC said:


> if i were to test the ph and density of the dripped lye, i am sure i could master the process.


RE: my second post about using a digital pH meter, not litmus paper strips. This is what I was talking about when referring to a pH tester.


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## Guest (Oct 11, 2007)

My mother has told me they made their own lye when she was growing up. But you have to _really_ know what you're doing. I'd be afraid to try it unless there was simply no other way of getting lye.


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

The lye you make from ashes (use hardwood ashes) is more akin to KOH than to NaOH. The resulting soap is more of a mush than either liquid or cake soap.

An egg should float so that a quarter-sized portion of the egg is visible. You can also take a feather and did it into the lye solution. It should come out coated.

To make the solution stronger, carefully boil it down. To make it weaker, add water. The real trick is adding enough/not too much oil.


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## FUNKY PIONEER (Sep 20, 2005)

I read t that you should salt to lye to make a harder bar, is this true?


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

It will change the lye solution from one that is like KOH to one that is like NaOH, but you still will not get soap like using today's NaOH. It's still a guess as to how much salt to use also!


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## kesoaps (Dec 18, 2004)

You know...the egg thing...wouldn't that depend on the age of the egg as well? The older the egg, the more likely it is to float no matter what. :shrug:


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## Wisconsin Ann (Feb 27, 2007)

MullersLaneFarm said:


> The lye you make from ashes (use hardwood ashes) is more akin to KOH than to NaOH. The resulting soap is more of a mush than either liquid or cake soap.
> 
> An egg should float so that a quarter-sized portion of the egg is visible. You can also take a feather and did it into the lye solution. It should come out coated.


Okay. I wasn't going to respond to these threads where some of you bash people who want to make their own lye...but I'm afraid I have to.

Cyndi states above that the resulting soap is more of a mush....well...not true. both my grandmothers, and my mother made their own soap. I've leached water thru wood ash to make lye for soap. The soap is always nice and hard. little lather. And was the only thing my uncle ever found to get the grease and oil stains out of his hands (mechanic, don't ya know). Grandma always made two batches...one for hard stains, and one for "the ladies".

Yes, woodash lye is both Potasium and sodium hydroxide. and yes, KOH is used to make liquid soap. It heats faster (reacts) so you have to be real careful to dilute properly. It also varies depending on the wood you use. however, lye from woodash can, AND DOES, make a real nice hard soap. You just have to know how to do it properly. 

It's like your recipes that vary the oils. Add one oil and you have to reduce another, or up the amount of lye. well...guess what? that's the same thing with with the lye you get from woodash. If you use rendered fat (lard, whatever) you use X amount. If you use olive oil, you use Y amount.

Plowgirl: yes. a PH meter would work fine. Even PH paper works well enough if you know what you're doing. edited to add: and you're using narrow range PH paper. not the 0 to 12, but somethign more like 6.5 to 10

oh. and the feather shouldn't come out coated, but should start to dissolve if the lye is the proper strength.


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## Karen (Apr 17, 2002)

This topic is a perfect example of how there are more than one way to do things. It's all in a person's preference and the intent of the end product.

If your going to sell your soap, then of course you will want the best ingredients and a more assured approach to a perfected end product. 

But if your wanting to make soap in the manner of using what nature provided and, for the benefit of preserving the old ways, then the older traditional method would be your choice. 

Of course you can make soap from ash, it was done thousands of years before commercial lye was invented.  It's similar to the ongoing discussions about canning methods. :hobbyhors 

It's important for none of us to come across as the authority on this topic. Passing on experience is what this forum is about, but by the same token, we all must remember that everyone is different and have different preferences. We all need to be respectful of those differences and preferences.


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## Karen (Apr 17, 2002)

Here's some instructions I came across for making lye from ash:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/paul_norman_3/soapmake.htm
http://www.endtimesreport.com/making_lye.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_2078908_make-lye.html
http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_ashlye.html


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## PlowGirl (Nov 16, 2005)

Wisconsin Ann said:


> Okay. I wasn't going to respond to these threads where some of you bash people who want to make their own lye...but I'm afraid I have to.
> 
> Cyndi states above that the resulting soap is more of a mush....well...not true. both my grandmothers, and my mother made their own soap. I've leached water thru wood ash to make lye for soap. The soap is always nice and hard. little lather. And was the only thing my uncle ever found to get the grease and oil stains out of his hands (mechanic, don't ya know). Grandma always made two batches...one for hard stains, and one for "the ladies".
> 
> ...



Thank you for answering my question, Ann. I do have a book/booklet somewhere that had recipes for soap using ash lye. As I recall, it gave the exact pH level needed. I just needed to know how I could determine the pH values. I've seen soil pH testers so thought that a proper tester was available somewhere.


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## bonsai jim (Jul 22, 2005)

My wife has been wanting to do this for a while. Here's the idea I've had...

You can convert pH to [OH-] concentration (use inverse logarithms), then use molecular weight to calculate proper volume of lye water of a given pH based on a given recipe.

In theory anyway...

Jim "Voluntary Complexity" Stone


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## Wisconsin Ann (Feb 27, 2007)

bonsai jim said:


> My wife has been wanting to do this for a while. Here's the idea I've had...
> 
> You can convert pH to [OH-] concentration (use inverse logarithms), then use molecular weight to calculate proper volume of lye water of a given pH based on a given recipe.
> 
> ...


DUDE! you and my SO would get along really well. He runs a prototyping lab for a bunch of research scientists for the USDA. I had called him earlier to ask about the quality of PH papers...(you can get PH paper/strips that are accurate down to 1/4 of a..whatever the point is called.) Anyway..he suggested doing titration for a REALLY accurate PH. Then he described titration. In detail.


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## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

better soaping through molarity calculation...lol.


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

I don't consider it bashing at all Ann, just the personal experience from another person that has done this.

When I've made my own leached lye, I've used ashes from hardwoods. The leached lye solution was primarily used to lye corn (yum!) for traditional corn soup.

I was told by my elders that if a feather started to dissolve then the solution was perfect to use to lye corn, but too strong to be used for soap and needed to be diluted. 

Tracey - you're correct about the age of the egg. I guess I should have stated FRESH egg!


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## Wisconsin Ann (Feb 27, 2007)

MullersLaneFarm said:


> I was told by my elders that if a feather started to dissolve then the solution was perfect to use to lye corn, but too strong to be used for soap and needed to be diluted.


Hmmm I wonder if this is the reason you think that you only get "mush" soap from using wood ash lye. simply coating a feather would be waaaay to soft a lye for making a good soap. Perhaps they were making a soft soap for clothes or dish type? 

by the way, somewhere on the forum I read a post about getting an ammonia smell from hot processing. I've never had that happen. there is a strong er, soap/lye smell for a day, but after stacking and air drying for a couple of days, it's gone and the scent of either plain soap or whatever scent was added is what you smell. 

I should probably mention that I haven't posted much on here because I'm not a "soaper". I don't do designer soaps, or sell soaps. I have made cold process soaps, and like them. I prefer hot process because it's over and done with, no waiting for months while it cures. (again, I'm not making fancy soaps, just plain old soap). I have made soaps as gifts, and I do own fancy molds for special soaps (shells, roses, etc.). I also render my own tallow/beef fat. and when my friends had sheep, I used mutton tallow for various things (ewww..stinky stuff)

Some of the soaps I've seen you guys post are positively works of art! There was one dark brown swirly thing that looked like a piece of best Swiss Chocolate. the swirls and mottled soaps are just amazing...makes me wish we had "smell-a-vision" computers


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## crafty2002 (Aug 23, 2006)

I have a drain problem. I am thinking of setting a bucket of ashes with the gravel, stray, and ashes as suggested, along with the holes in the bottom right in the kitchen sink and pouring the rain water in it and letting it leak straight into the sink. 
I have had to use a rooter twice this year already. It breaks it loose and I run a whole 100 gallon tank of hot water through it when I get it flowing again, but it starts slowing up again until it stops flowing all together. 
Everything above ground is plastic but going into the ground it had cast iron pipe that is probably 40 to 60 years old. I own the electric router or what ever you cal it but it's a pain in the butt to use it. 
So I am wondering if the lye water would work like red devil lye and clean the grease out????????????
Or if it would eat the pipes up. I would have to rent a bobcat with a backhoe attachment on it to replace the pipe. It's about 8 feet deep where it goes under the street, so I don't want to do that by no means.
I know it keeps getting stopped up because my hard headed wife and daughter don't run enough hot water in it after washing dishes, plus I think, "I THINK", there are some roots from shrubs or a couple of trees that are getting into it. 
I always hit a hard place to get through about 80 feet from the house and that's where the shrubs and trees are. 
I am hoping maybe the lye will kill the roots there. I had a backhoe here for about two hours last year and dug up about a third of the shrubs but dumb me started on the wrong end and didn't get to where the pipe was before before I had to give the backhoe up.  But some of the roots were as deep as the pipe is. 
I am just wondering what the soap makers here think. I can do the work, but I sure can't afford to rent a backhoe right now so If I let this stuff eat my pipe up I am really in a mess.......
:help:


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

I think it would be well worth the time and expense to teach your wife and daughter to treat the drain & septic with respect. No grease, no food, put in strainer to catch hair. 

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and all that.


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## akhomesteader (Jan 5, 2006)

Hi,

Wish I'd seen this thread sooner. Here's an article from *our site* from a man who makes soap from lye he makes from wood ashes. That link is for the first article he wrote which give directions for making the lye. In the November issue (which will be published around November 12th) he gives instructions, a recipe and lots of pictures for making the bars of soap. They do come out as bars. I haven't tried making my own ashes yet, but I will use his method when I do.

I hope you enjoy making soap using lye from wood ashes  

Jenny
*Making Lye From Wood Ashes* 
Frontier Freedom Online Magazine


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

Dennis,
so good to see that you're lye making, drain cleaning worked out so well for you!!!

Good on your head!!


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