5 lbs. grease (animal fat, pork, bears, whale** whatever)
1 qt. cold, soft water
1/2 cup ammonia
1 heaping Tbs. borax
1/4 cup gasoline
1 can lye (hardly to be found anymore) **
1 tsp. sassafras or other fragrant material
Much of this should be mixed outside. At night dissolve the lye and borax in the water. In the morning add ammonia, gas and the sassafras. Take great care not to inhale or breath while doing this. 🙂 Stir in the lard and mix slowly with a wooden spoon. Stir more, then let it stand, then stir again. When it thickens pour into a box lined with wax paper. Ready to use in two weeks.
This OLD and questionable recipe left me VERY perplexed as my own soap making recipes are quite different (needing heat) and minus the ammonia and gasoline. It’s a wonder that these folks didn’t ignite.
I did find a duplicate copy of this recipe with MAJOR instructional changes.
11 c. melted and strained fat
5 c. cold water
I can high grade standard lye.
1/2 c. ammonia
1/2 c. powdered borax
1/2 c, white gasoline
4 tsp oil of sassafras.
You now need to pour the 5 cups of COLD water into another non-reactive receptacle, and into this dissolve the lye by pouring it in from the can and stirring. (This is very dangerous) Now you add to the lye water the ammonia, borax and gasoline, stir again. It will heat up because of the chemical reactions, stir and cool to a lukewarm point. Now you combine the lye mixture with the strained fat by pouring the lye mixture slowly into the fat, stirring constantly with a wooden stick. Add the sassafras or other fragrance and continue to stir until it becomes creamy. This means about fifteen minutes and as I mentioned before it is best done OUTSIDE!
Put this into a cool place and let stand for 12 hours at least before cutting or sawing into bars. Old shoe box lids were often used for this and they were lined with oiled or waxed paper. This was also done in the pig slaughtering season as the best soap was made in cool weather so it could harden properly.
(C) Herb Senft 2014
To check your diet resistance levels. “Stop at a doughnut shop and only order coffee.”
** Dry lye can also be used to kill moles. Use a dibble stick to open up the mole hill and pour in a TBS of Drano lye. Cover with the dirt and the creature beneath will be toast sooner or later. Much safer than using propane/acetylene or using electricity.
** Whale blubber. ** Whale blubber. Take the time to visit this whale story in Oregon. Sorry about the utube commercial but that is what you get when a story is visited 4 million times!
While I am distancing myself from this recipe I must add this site for laughs. Consider this a reward! Hit a link on the right for older stories. From there you can go back from year to year in the archives.
EDIT: because of a comment.
Making soaps with lye, would always be a difficult job. This formula must have been the equivalent of home-done dry cleaning. More commonly oatmeal came into the equation with the lard. I still have my own stash that I made with such a base and adding in foundation wax from my bees. Turned out quite nice. I would NEVER use lavender! Hate the stuff. Oil of roses, (lilac, violet, lily of the valley) are all too ‘girly.’ Though cutting it with say … curry might work. One of my best landscape combinations was putting in a silver ground cover (smelled like curry) under a magnificent red moss rose. The combined scent was delightful and even then I thought it would be a good cologne. BTW the lye really does the job on the moles.
This Old time soap——who needs to go to an expensive spa for sugar scrub that smells like oranges or lavender, when you can make this!!! No, thanks—looks like this could send the user to a burn center. Just look at what lye does to moles!!! Scary soap!!! Wow is all I can say on this one 🙂 Jan
Making soaps with lye however you did it would always be a difficult job. This formula must have been the equivalent of home-done dry cleaning. More commonly oatmeal came into the equation with the lard. I still have my own stash that I made adding in foundation wax from my bees. Turned out quite nice. I would NEVER use lavender! Hate the stuff. Oil of roses, lilac, lily of the valley are all too ‘girly.’ Though cutting it with say … curry might work. One of my best landscape combinations was putting in a silver ground cover (smelled like curry) under a magnificent red moss rose. The combined scent was delightful and even then I thought it would be a good cologne for men. BTW the lye really does the job on the moles.