How do you make Glycerin Soap?

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I checked the archives and didn't see anything on this. How do you make Glycerin soap? I see it advertised for sale in Lehman's catalog and use it for cleaning horse tack. So how is it made? Thanks. Enjoy your life.

-- Deborah (bearwaoman@Yahoo.com), April 08, 2001

Answers

Deborah,

I've always bought the 5 or 10 lb glycerin bars, then melted them down in a double boiler, before seperating into 1 pint and 1 qt paper milk cartons and mixing in herbs. (I find the paper cartons tear off easily, and make neat bars when cut up)

Sorry that I do not know how to make the glycerin itself.

-- Marty (Mrs.Puck@Excite.com), April 08, 2001.


Glycerine is one of the molecules that go to make up vegetable oil. Edible oils are known technically as a "Triglyceride". This means there are three fatty acid molecules to one glycerine molecule.

To get the glycerine, you need to separate the fatty acid molecules from the glycerine molecule and you can do this by a method known as transesterification.

If this sounds familiar to some of you then just hold on a minute and you'll see I'm describing one of my favourite self-reliance procedures from a differrent angle.

OK then, you take vegetable oil and put it in a container. You get some Ethanol (moonshine) and add lye to it. Adding sodium hydroxide (lye) to ethanol makes sodium ethoxide and you add that to the oil.

You stir it like you do when you make regular soap, but instead of waiting for it to trace, what's happening is the catalytic action of the alcohol/lye mix is causing the fatty acids in the oil to separate from the glycerine and attach themselves to the alcohol molecule.

You stir it as I said, with a stick blender or whatever, and then let it settle out for an hour or so. What you get is glycerine on the bottom and bio-diesel on the top. It separates out into two distinctive layers if it has worked right. Just drain off the glycerine and you have liquid soap. Add more lye to make glycerine bar soap. Use the bio-diesel in a diesel engine, or put it in your oil lamps in place of kerosine. It works just as well. You can also burn bio-diesel in a kerosine room heater and keep warm with the smell of french fries.

If you have Excel on your computer I'll send you an email attachment for making bio-diesel. It works out all the quantities for you so you just need to put the amount of oil in - the spreadsheet does the rest.

Eric

-- Eric J Methven (e_methven@btinternet.com), April 09, 2001.


Eric,

I don't have Exel..Windows Millenium Edition, do have Microsoft works which contains a spreadsheet program. Also Visual Basic 6.0, and Basic C++ studio.(Was taking programming classes). Can you just Zip the file and send? Let me know, would like to know how to make bio-diesel. Thank you,

Enjoy your life, Deborah

-- Deborah (bearwaoman@Yahoo.com), April 09, 2001.


I'll see if it will export in MS Works format and I'll email it to you.

-- Eric J Methven (e_methven@btinternet.com), April 10, 2001.

Look at www.veggievan.org for bio-diesel info and other links

-- Mike Olson (olsonmr@yahoo.com), April 12, 2001.


Does anyone know where I can get glycerin to make soap? I'm buying it now from a supplier but it's $6 a pound???!!! Isn't this kind of expensive??? HELP! Thanks, Wanda

-- Wanda in East Texas (wrfw@lcc.net), October 31, 2001.

Can any one help me ? i have spent the last few hours looking on the net trying to find out how to make the actual gylcerin soap that everyone is talking about this melt and pour stuff. what is it?? i am confussed about this soap making. please help me also what is this castile stuff.

Sacha

-- Sacha Colbourne (sachatopaz@optusnet.com.au), February 21, 2002.


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