Soapmaking from Scratch: Woodash Lye

Part one of a series looking at the history, archaeology and practical creation of soap starting from ashes and fats.

Today we are setting up a lye hopper to turn wood ash into a strong alkali suitable for soapmaking.

[philliphall]

I watched my grandma make soap every 4 weeks and we used it plus she bought chicken feed with the money
She died at 98 and I miss her loving smile

[darkprince]

In a post-apocalyptic world, I think soap making is one of the things I think would be very useful to a community. Hygiene is important!

[jirup]

Eggs are the most frugal hydrometers. An egg rolls of the table and the dog gets a meal while I walk down to the henhouse for a new egg. While if a glass hydrometer rolls off the table, I have a mess and I 'm out $30 for a new hydrometer. Looking forward to the next instalment, Sally.

[reprosser]

I have made woodash lye soap a number of times. I filter the ashes, put them in a 5 gallon bucket, fill with water and let sit for a week (sometimes longer if I forget). When I drain the liquid, I have always had the egg float high to indicate a strong solution for soap making.

[lachouette_et_le_phoque]

I would recommend using lab goggles instead of just glasses because liquid can splash behind the glasses easily, and you really don't want to mess around with something that could blind you. When I worked in a lab, I got quite careless about regular lye/acids on my hands because it takes a while to sting and can be washed off easily; your eyes do not have the same protection and damage happens quickly. Lab goggles can be bought to be wearable over regular glasses too and are cheap.

[deborahdanhauer]

Hands down, your videos are the best out there for actually doing a thing. You show the entire process start to finish, and explain WHY you’re doing it that way as you go. Unlike others, you don’t assume a level of knowledge the rest of us don’t have. Thank you so much!❤️🐝🤗

[madladpjl]

my mammy told me and my sister when we where kids that my granny use to make soap like that in the 40`s and 50`s and she had this huge terracotta pot the size of a dust bin for it .

[MichaelSmithson-jt]

Rather than using a bung, I would recommend using a spigot/tap as a safer option. Brewers’ supply stores usually carry them for use on plastic fermenters, so it shouldn’t be any harder to find than the bung, and it would allow a controlled flow pointed downward rather than the gush you experienced. Love your vids, looking forward to more in this series.

[hannahbrown]

This was perfectly timed, Ive been thinking about soap production lately(You watch one post apoclypse show and suddenly youre not watching and youre pondering survival logistics). I look forward to the rest of the series

[KenJohnsonUSA]

Interesting how y'all do things across the pond. One thing my ancestors did differently is they sieved the ashes to get only the powder and virtually no solids This was said to be one of the most critical steps for a good result. My Cherokee ancestors used to make hominy by putting dried corn in ash-filled pots, with water, next to a fire overnight. Many of my, now deceased, relatives said they'd wash their wooden floors with lye water made from wood ash and then they'd make soap from wood ash. The way they did it was they put the ashes in a cloth bag hung from a dowel rod by a thick rope. Over the bag was a metal tin, syrup bucket, pot or pan with a open bottom wood support holding it up. Basically any thin metal container that held a lot of water would do. They'd then have a tiny nail hole in the bottom of the metal container so the water would drip onto the rope and down into the bag. Below the bag was a crock. Usually this was done on a support post for a shed or porch with the dowel also being used later to hang souse or for other purposes. The idea behind this drip method was the extraction happened best because of the slow drip allowing time for a reaction to take place. The extracted water would then be capped off in the crock and taken to the creek to chill...sometimes for days (depending of the desired use of the lye watet). This is what we homebrewers call "cold crashing" or "cold racking" since the cold causes particles to floculate. They'd then pour off the good water into another pot and pour out the sediment in the bottom. For floors, this lye water was fine. For soap, they'd do the cold racking 2-4 times and then sieve it through clean clothes a few times. Afterwards, they'd then boil the lye water until just over half the original volume was boiled away. After it was cooled, they'd do the egg trick. The fats used varied. Some said beef fat was best for soaps used for household cleaning while others used old, used lard. All seemed to agree pork fat was best. I'm actually doing a contemporary demonstration of making hominy using an electric crock pot and sieved oak wood ash. We have an invasive tree here called Chinese tallow. It was brought here to make soap and candles. Most people are allergic to it. I like to smoke meats with the wood. I'm hoping to see if it has enough potassium in the ash to make lye water for future projects I have in mind

[JRocklover]

Hello! Are you going to continue this series? You're the only one that has made a video making lye in great detail!

[jennykoczur]

I’ve been reading up on making buckskin, and have seen the egg test mentioned several times in making the bucking solution. I’ve only ever used commercial lye & am excited to use oak ash from my wood stove this summer! Now I’ve got another thing to try, I better set another bucket out for more ashes! My poor husband… bless his heart… he doesn’t understand but is supportive nevertheless. 😇

[sarahvanzyl]

Brilliant video! Very informative. I look forward to watching the next one. Thank you.

[xionix]

Thank you! I came here to see how difficult it'd be to make lye in a long-term survival situation (mostly for making leather clothing / bags, etc), and am pleased to see how simple it is! :)

[aprildegele]

Experimental Archeology! My lady! I was an anthropology student way back when, and then life happened. Such that it is. My great grandmother used traditional lye soap that she also made herself and her skin was absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, I was too young when I knew her for her to feel comfortable letting me work with lye, so I never learned. There's not been anything comparable since. Finding this video is absolutely awesome. I remember some things she did (didn't use the plastic bin, I think she used wood that my great grandfather made), burning logs, pouring water and then I don't recall anything else. She also used lye in making hominy. I remember that.

[phoebegraveyard]

Great video. The step you missed was having a bucket of clean water to immediately wash off splash. Also, safety googles are a must.
I’m looking forward to part two.

[crowznest]

The traditional way of making soap where I live was to run that same water back through two or three times to get it strong enough to float that adventurous egg. Mountain women only made soft soap from homemade lye, though.

[leonstancliff]

In my part of the world a wooden barrel would have been used. (I realize you are using what you can source) A foot of straw placed in the bottom and covered with the ash from a hickory fire. Water would have been added and the contents soaked. Then the lye would have been run through a second barrel full of fresh ash and the process continued until the proper strength was achieved.
We also used a hopper made like a baby's crib/manger, lined with straw, filled with ash and water poured over the ash and the ash changed out. A wooden gutter caught the lye and channeled it into the bucket.
An ash hopper was a mandatory fixture in most of the rural back gardens when I was a kid. Most were unused by that time, but you could get a good lesson from the old people just for asking.

[williamgibson]

Can’t wait until you post your second and third video on this topic!!! Keep doing what your doing sister and God bless🙏

[emberbee-pn]

Crikey, when that lye gushed out over your arms, I was chanting "wash it off"! I've had a couple of encounters with lye water and it wasn't pleasant. Great video, thank you Sally.