hizgeorgiapeach
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Hippiekinkster
I always have a jug of cheap vinegar on hand just in case. I also wipe down my work area with vinegar afterwards just in case I have left some residual NaOH there. If you've ever wondered why NaOH slution feels slippery, it's because it saponifies the oils on your skin.
LOL I go through so much vinegar that I buy in several gallons at a time, Hippie. My friends are always a bit confused by the fact that - with anywhere from 2 to 7 batchs of soap on the racks curing, and literelly Dozens of various bottles of scenting oil around, my shop Always reeks of vinegar. My equipment gets washed down in a 50% vinegar solution after each batch, and the countertop gets a thorough wipe down with the same solution - just to make sure that any stray lye flakes aren't still sitting around. You'd think after having it explained to them a few times, they'd get over their suprise at the constant smell of vinegar in there.
I superfat between 3 and 6% on my solid soaps, depending on the recipe and the specific oils I'm using. I only use a 1% superfat when I'm doing liquid soaps to avoid the excess fats clouding up the final liquid, or when I'm doing a batch that is Strictly going to be laundry soap and not used as bar soap at all. I've got a couple of specific programs these days that I use to check my recipes prior to using them - saves time on the calculations, simply because I hate having to look up the math, and then wonder if my frequently piss poor skill with numbers has caused me to screwed the pooch and transpose something. I also keep hard copy of all my really Good recipes, for later reference off the computer, and a notebook where I tend to jot down things like what the temp and humidity was on the day I started a specific batch and how long it took to come to trace, etc.
quote:
ORIGINAL MmeGigs
Now lye is getting hard to find, because the meth cookers use it. I used to be able to get it at any grocery store, but they've pulled it from the shelves. I can still get it at the farm store, but I don't know how long that's going to last. It's available online, but it's much more expensive that way.
I hear ya on that one, Gigs. Have you considered looking at Lowes and Home Depot for it? You'll still only be able to buy small amounts, and have to "sign" for it so that it's on record that you bought it and where you live (like you do with things like antihistamines at the drug store because of the damn meth cookers) - but I have found it there in a pinch. For myself I'm lucky in that regard. Living where I do, one of the major chemical manufactuerers that Supplies lye to Other legit companies is only about a 10 minute drive from home. I show up there with my sales tax information from the state (again, to prove I'm a legit business - not a meth cooker) and buy it in 55gal drums of either Flake or Microbead. Though I pretty much have to call them 3 days ahead of time in order to get the Microbead because it flies off their shelves (so to speak) much more quickly than the standard old flake. It's easy to see WHY, after having used both. The microbead disolves much more rapidly, and evenly, and there's little chance of having undisolved left behind in the lye solution mixing container afterward, like there is with flake.
What I acutally have more problems finding is KOH for making Liquid soaps. I don't do nearly enough liquid soap in a given year to buy my KOH in the same sort of bulk that I do my NaOH - and the primary manufacturer here in town doesn't sell it in containers smaller than those dang 55gal drums. Which means I end up having to order my KOH from someplace out of state - have it shipped back in - wait for it, pay the extra $25 dollar hazardous materials shipping fee, only choose ground shipping via UPS or FedEx since USPS won't take the package at all, etc. (I don't sell a line of liquid soap at this point - I haven't managed to really get the end result up to the standard that I expect of myself, or of a product that I'm going to Use on myself. If I won't use it myself, I won't offer it to someone else, either for free or at a profit.)
Novelty wore off a Long time ago - but somehow I still manage to find a passion for the Creative Process, which helps maintain my interest in things. It's the fact that other people Are willing to pay boutique prices that keeps me from throwing up my hands and closing the business. When there are sales, they're good - when there aren't, I ask myself what I was thinking in the first place, and why I haven't simply gone back to strictly hobbiest status.
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Rhi
Light travels faster than sound, which is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
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RE: Dr. Bonner's and Detergent - 
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(part of my work at Shell's Enhanced Recovery Research Department involved using surfactants in a drive to push residual oil for tertiary recovery. We field-tested it, and it works.)
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