| Soap is simply fat (an acid) mixed with caustic | | | | mark was than made on the stick at the water |
| soda (an alkali); mix them together and you have | | | | line. The stick was than placed in the lye |
| soap. The old time craft of making lye was very | | | | concentrate and at exactly the place marked on |
| affective. One method of making their own | | | | the stick would tell the soap maker how much |
| caustic soda (alkali) was to hollow out a log and | | | | rain water to pour into the lye solution for the |
| drill a lot of holes at the bottom. They than put a | | | | proper concentration for soap making. This took |
| layer of gravel (for drainage), a layer of straw, a | | | | the guess work out of the use of using the |
| layer of hardwood ashes, and filled the log with | | | | proper amount of rain water to add to the lye |
| rain water. It took a long time for this mixture to | | | | for making soap. |
| seep down and drain through the holes at the | | | | Animal fat was used for soap making; tallow |
| bottom. The slimy stuff that came out of the | | | | (beef fat), sheep fat, lard (pig fat), was the |
| holes was homemade lye. The crude lye was than | | | | favorite choices. These fats made a wonderful |
| boiled down until the right consistency for making | | | | hard bar of soap. They than heated the fat and |
| soap. | | | | dribbled the handmade lye very slowly into the |
| Testing the lye strength for soap making was | | | | warm fat. When the mixture was all jelled |
| quite creative. The soap maker dissolved salt in | | | | together at just the right time (traced) they |
| water until no more salt could dissolve. A long | | | | would pour the soap into wooden molds. After a |
| stick with a weight tied to one end would be | | | | few days they would cut the soap into bars. |
| dropped into the salted water solution. The stick | | | | They than let the soap cure for a few months |
| would bob upright to the top of the water. A | | | | until it would be ready to use. |