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wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Tue Jan 11, 05 8:54 pm Post subject:

Sarah D wrote:

Sorry, just a bit surprised at my own luck, there............

I don't know why, everythings just up the road from you! [/i]

alison
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 12918
Location: North Devon

Posted: Tue Jan 11, 05 11:41 pm Post subject:
The one I made was corn oil and coconut oil.

Sarah D

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 2584

Posted: Wed Jan 12, 05 12:43 am Post subject:

wellington womble wrote:

Sarah D wrote:

Sorry, just a bit surprised at my own luck, there............

I don't know why, everythings just up the road from you! [/i]

Well, can't help it.......................

Will notice a difference when I move house, though...........

will have to be resourceful.

I like Tahir's idea of using oil that is produced in the UK; my conscience now won't let me buy in coconut oil or whatever, and that's the way it should be. Even if it is expensive (in monetary terms at the very least), then I can make a little last longer, and when it's finsihed, go without until I get some more. What downsizing is all about, really.

alison
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 12918
Location: North Devon

Posted: Wed Jan 12, 05 6:53 am Post subject:
I used what I had here already. Shame to waste it.

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Wed Jan 12, 05 8:58 am Post subject:

Sarah D wrote:

I prefer to use British sourced materials, but sometimes (say, with pepper or cocounut oil, for example) we don't have the capacity to make something in the UK.

But sticking to British materials, there's alwys good old fashioned lard, tallow and the like, as you've discovered.

My gut feelign is that venison fat should make a hard soap, but I'm not entirely sure.

The problem with using mostly oils, and getting a hard bar with all of the other properties you like, is all to do with what fatty acid compoents you have in them. I recently cquired a copy of Susan Miller Cavitch "The Soapmakers Companion", an excellent book, and has a good guied for how to balance out different oils to get the properties you like.

Looking throught the list in that book, I've yet to see a good example of a combination of vegetable oils that you can source from the UK that would be just right, so you're probably better concentrating on animal fats in combination with, say, sunflower or rapeseed oil.

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Wed Jan 12, 05 9:01 am Post subject:

alison wrote:

The one I made was corn oil and coconut oil.

Should be a really good blend. I like just a little bit of olive oil in there too, just becasue it makes ta bar a more 'conditioning' bar, the blend of fatty acids in olive oil being excellet for that.

Joey

Joined: 03 Nov 2004
Posts: 191

Posted: Wed Jan 12, 05 9:32 am Post subject:

tahir wrote:

Are there any other UK veggie oils?

Well the two big oilseed crushing facilities in the UK are ADM at Erith
(not far from you, Tahir). and Cargill at Liverpool. ADM crushes rape
and Cargill crushes imported soya beans.
There are other smaller oilseed crushers some do cocoa, shea obviously imported crops!!.
The only UK crops that get crushed would be linseed and then some
pharmaceuticals like evening primrose, borage.

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Wed Jan 12, 05 10:15 am Post subject:
You could go for something slightly more local - not UK, but plenty of European olive and sunflower oil. Better than coconut oil from the tropics!

judyofthewoods

Joined: 29 Jan 2005
Posts: 804
Location: Pembrokeshire

Posted: Wed Mar 09, 05 1:30 am Post subject:

tahir wrote:

Are there any other UK veggie oils?

sunflowers grow in this country. Linseed too, but linseed oil is a drying oil, not sure it would be suitable for soap.

sally_in_wales
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales

Posted: Wed Mar 09, 05 6:58 am Post subject:

rapeseed is a drying oil too surprisingly enough. Its been used in soap since the Elizabethan period, but only in 'coarse soap' so it lends itself well to laundry soap. I use equal parts of tallow and rapeseed in mine.
Saved tallow/dripping works well in soap but save it up in tubs labelled with which animal it is- the SAP values (amount of lye needed to turn a given amount of fat into soap) are different for say beef or chicken fat.

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