# soap hard and crumbly



## Rhettsgreygal (Mar 22, 2015)

This was my second time making soap. The first time was several years ago and I mixed it completely by hand and it turned out fine. It is just basic lye, lard, suet, and water. The first time my mold was a never used cat litter box. This time I used 1 quart cardboard 1/2 and 1/2 cartons for molds. I also used a stick blender this time and I am sure I got it too thick because it did not settle into the corners of the mold and just seemed too thick. 

I was able to get some bars of soap that stayed intact, others ended up being about 1/2 size, and I have a whole lot of shredded pieces. What can I do with the shredded up pieces. Can they be melted and molded again?

Thanks,
Annette


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

Soap that is hard and cracks usually has too much lye (or to put it another way, not enough oil). Could be that all of your fat is hard.

You can rematch the batch, adding a bit of liquid oil. Olive oil, castor oil, sunflower seed oil...


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## Rhettsgreygal (Mar 22, 2015)

Thanks


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## NostalgicGranny (Aug 22, 2007)

Crumbly soap can be caused by a few things. Too much lye. Too much sodium lactate, salt or dry goods (like clays). It can also be caused by over cooking if you are doing HP. Lastly if your soap is really high in coconut oil it will crumble if you do not cut it asap. With my 100% CO soaps I cut while still warm, but firm. 

With all but the heavy lye you rebatch with extra water. With the heavy lye the only thing that will fix it is adding more oil when you rebatch. If you don't know how much extra oil was added then start by adding an ounce or so at a time and testing it - zap test or ph test.


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## Rhettsgreygal (Mar 22, 2015)

NostalgicGranny said:


> Crumbly soap can be caused by a few things. Too much lye. Too much sodium lactate, salt or dry goods (like clays). It can also be caused by over cooking if you are doing HP. Lastly if your soap is really high in coconut oil it will crumble if you do not cut it asap. With my 100% CO soaps I cut while still warm, but firm.
> 
> With all but the heavy lye you rebatch with extra water. With the heavy lye the only thing that will fix it is adding more oil when you rebatch. If you don't know how much extra oil was added then start by adding an ounce or so at a time and testing it - zap test or ph test.


Thanks


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