Or dissolve 1 pound of potash lye in a gallon of boiling water. Let this stand over night and pour off the clear liquid. Add a second gallon of boiling water, put the lye in a kettle, and raise it to a boil. Now pour in a thin stream 4 pounds of melted grease heated to the boiling point. Stir con stantly until an emulsion is formed and simmer from four to six hours. Then add another gallon of hot water in which is dissolved a teacupful of salt. To test if the soap is done lift some of it on a cold knife blade; if it is ropy and clear and cools quickly the mixture is saponified. This makes about 25 pounds of a cheap white soap of good cleansing qualities for general family use.
To Pack and Preserve Soap.—When the separation of soap from the lye is complete, it may be removed by means of skimmers and placed in shallow square boxes over which a loose piece of muslin has previously been thrown to prevent the soap from sticking. Or it may be cooled and solidified by pouring it into a wash tub or firkin previously soaked in water. When cold, it may be cut into small bars by the use of a smooth, hard cord or an annealed copper wire. A knife chips and consequently wastes the soap. Now pack the bars corn cob fashion on slat shelves in a cool, dry place to season and become thor oughly dry and hard. If the soap is used green it dissolves too readily and a good deal of it is wasted. When thoroughly dried it will last fully twice as long. For this reason it is a good plan to make soap in large quan tities. Those who are in the habit of purchasing soap should buy it by the box and allow it to thoroughly season before using.
The above are general principles and directions for soap making. We will now proceed to give particular household recipes for various kinds and quantities of homemade soaps to meet all household requirements: Hard Potash Soaps.—The following are good family recipes; we especially recommend the third.
Dissolve 1 pound of potash in 10 quarts of boiling water. Add slowly 3 pounds of melted grease, stirring constantly. Now add pound of borax. Boil and stir until saponified. This requires 4 or 5 hours.
Or dissolve 1 pound of potash in 2 quarts of boiling water. Add 5 pounds of melted grease, stirring constantly. Let stand 24 hours. Add 1 gallon of boiling water. Boil and stir until saponified.
Dissolve 1 pound of potash in 21 pints of cold water. The union of potash and water generates great heat, hence care must be taken not to allow the mixture to touch the skin or clothing. Stir with a glass rod or piece of stick until dissolved. It must not be used until cold. Meantime mix 2 teaspoonfuls each of powdered borax and ammonia in half a cup of water. Melt 51 pounds of clarified grease, strain, and cool to about blood heat. Pour the warm grease into the cold lye and beat up the mass with an egg beater, adding grad ually the borax and ammonia. Stir
until a complete emulsion is formed, which will require 10 or 15 minutes. Pour into wet tub or other mold to cool.
Or put soft soap in a large kettle and raise to a boil. Then add 1 pint of common salt for each gallon of soft soap, stirring vigorously until the salt is dissolved. Take off the fire and let stand over night. Skim the soap off the lye, scrape off the dark, soft dregs that stick to the lower side of the cakes, cleanse the kettle, cut the soap into thin shavings, return to the kettle with weak lye, and boil once more. When boiling add another pint of salt for each gallon of soap, and allow to cool.
When cold and hard the soap may be removed and dried, the dregs being scraped from the lower side as be fore. The amount of salt to use may be determined by continuing to add salt and stirring until the soap curdles and takes on a whitish color. To test the soap, place a small amount on d plate and as it cools observe its color and consistency. If it contains too much alkali it will not granulate. In that case add a little clean fat, stir ring vigorously.
Melt 5i pounds of clear-grained fat and strain through a coarse cloth. Al low the grease to cool, but before it hardens add 1 pound of caustic pot ash dissolved in 3 pints of cold water. Stir vigorously until the mixture thickens. The soap is improved by letting it stand in a warm, dry place for 5 or 6 days.
Yellow Hard Soap from Soft Soap. —To make a good yellow soap from soft soap observe the following pro portions: eight pounds of good soft soap, 4 pounds of sal soda, 3 ounces of borax, 1 ounce of ammonia, pound of powdered resin. Dissolve all in 24 quarts of water and boil 30 minutes.
To Increase Soap.—An easy way to increase the quantity and value of or dinary soap bought at the store is by dissolving the bars of soap and add ing other ingredients. Dry the bars and slice them with a knife or run them through a meat chopper. Dis solve by boiling with hot water. The following proportions may be ob served: Four pounds of white bar soap, 1 pound of sal soda, 4 gallons of soft water. Ready as soon as dissolved.
Or pound of hard or soft soap, pound of sal soda, 3 quarts of soft water. Boil 20 minutes.
Or 5 pounds of hard soap (or 7 pounds of soft soap), 4 pounds of sal soda, 2 pounds of borax, 1 ounce of ammonia, 24 quarts of water. Boil 20 minutes.
To make hard yellow soap of the last, add pound of powdered resin.
Or 2 pounds of yellow bar soap, 2 pounds of sal soda, 2 quarts of water. This is a good laundry soap to boil clothes in, but as the sal soda contains an excess of alkali care must be taken not to let the clothes stand in the suds and to rinse them very thoroughly.