wayne fajkus wrote:I'm interested in making soap from ash and fat. Cooked on a rocket. Good info is needed on this. When i do it i will document it.
I watched many youtubes on using ash. Watching a 20 minute video to find out is was a "fail" was disheartening. I encountered this more than once. I finally found a success. I think the difference was cooking, cooking, cooking til done. Everyone else gave up to soon.
I think the concentration of the lye made from the ash is where it varies so much.
Reliable lye from ashes:
A large amount of hardwood ashes for sodium hydroxide (making hard bars)
A large amount of softwood ashes for potassium hydroxide (making liquid soaps)
I’m talking about 20 Gallons of ashes for a small amount of water passed through it.
Then you make a “well” by digging a hole in the ashes and put in 2L of water
It’ll take a long time to come out and should be strong enough to make an actual soap. If not, pass the resulting liquid through it again.
Then, use that with oils for a better chance at making something successful