# Before enamelware...



## chamoisee (May 15, 2005)

What non-reactive container did they use to make soap before enamelware was around? They didn't have pyrex or stainless steel...pottery? I suppose it would be possible to cook soap in a huge pottery bowl...but somehow doubt that's what they used. Any ideas?


----------



## Tinker (Apr 5, 2004)

Maybe crocks? Wooden barrels, tho those would only last a batch or 2. Glass jars? Actually, I believe I've seen them use cast iron pots over fires at reenactments & such.


----------



## chamoisee (May 15, 2005)

Wouldn't the lye react with the iron? Can't cook the soap in wood. I don't know. :-/


----------



## Tinker (Apr 5, 2004)

I would think the lye would be a problem with cast iron too, but I'm sure that is what I saw them using, and here are some pics:


Image Search Results for old time soap making


----------



## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

I don't see why hey couldn't use glazed ceramic. Heat the oil in a pot of any kind, then pour into the ceramic bowl and add the lye.


----------



## RebelDigger (Aug 5, 2010)

My grandma made lye soap every fall, she made a year's worth at a time, used it for everything from bathing to washing dishes. She used a great big, cast iron spider pot out in the yard with a fire built under it. She had three of these huge pots in the yard, one for soap making, one for hog killing (rendering lard, etc.) and one for making hominy. She never used them for anything other than their designated purpose.


----------



## lathermaker (May 7, 2010)

I use lye to clean a nasty cast iron pot. It just eats off the crud and leaves a nice clean surface. hmmmm I feel an experiment coming on.....


----------



## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

You have to remember that soap making was a commercial business a way long time ago ... 1600's or before. If you are speaking of the American Frontiers and what they would have used if they could not afford to buy store soap, then yes, it was most likely cast iron.

I too, have used lye to clean cast iron pots & pans. I have not used CI to make soap. I have heard that it will tinge the soap a rust or brown color, depending on the pot it is made in.

I can well imagine RebelDigger's ancestors having designated CI pots to render lard, to make soap and to lye corn.

I'm 52 and my grandmother and great-grandmother used commercially made soap for their hand/body & laundry use. It was easily available and economical. Now my Great-great-grandmother (who was on one of the Oklahoma land runs) did have to make her own soap and used commercial, store bought soap for visiting guests.


----------



## NostalgicGranny (Aug 22, 2007)

According to wikipedia enamelware has been around since ancient Egyptian times. So it was most likely an available option for soap making for quite some time.


----------



## PaulNKS (Jan 11, 2009)

I have an old cast iron pot that was used for making soap. Most people did not make small batches. They made one or two batches per year and MOST people made their own lye soap. They usually didn't use small pots inside for making soap. They used large iron pots on an outside fire to cook the soap.

Most people in past days did not use the method used today. They almost always "cooked" their soaps.


----------



## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

PaulNKS said:


> MOST people made their own lye soap. They usually didn't use small pots inside for making soap.


:catfight:

MOST people west of the Mississippi 125 years ago made their own lye soap. 

MOST people east of the Mississippi (except for a few pockets) 125 years ago bought their soap.



Store bought soap was easily available in the early 1900's and MOST people bought their soap then.

I crack up when young folks say their grandmother made soap .... the last of my ancestors that made soap was my great-grandmother and that was only after they went west to OK for the first OK land run.

Some folks turned back to making their own soap for a short while during the depression.


----------



## NostalgicGranny (Aug 22, 2007)

I know some of the northern states didn't have enough hard wood to make their lye from ashes.


----------



## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

Here's a good article that covers making a large batch of lye soap outside in a cast pot... Pretty good read.. 

Lye Soap Making | Shepherds Hill Homestead


----------

