Soapmaker Man

Ditto! I also use Presto Pots to melt my oils. I have one for candles, one for soap and one for my B&B stuff. I installed the brass spicots(sp:embarasse) on each one of them, and like Maryann said, they ROCK! Paul....

I, also, buy my coconut oil from Wally World. I ask the manager to order me 2 cases at a time. It's $2.97 for 2 pounds in a plastic can with a green lid. They won't give me any price break, but it sure does beat shipping from Cf in Chicago. I do buy my other oils bulk from CF when I need them, though. Mike is a super great guy to do business with! They are fast shippers, too. Paul....

Thanks G.C.! I have been reading many wonderful threads here since I posted this a few minutes ago. I should have "looked" before "leaping." LOL Thanks! Yes Beanpod is the one! My DW bought one of their 4.5 Oz Orange Vanilla Creamsicle candles over the weekend. It is a good strong CT & Ht candle, especially for the size! Interesting reading about E.L. being Beanpod! Paul....

What is "100% stabilized soy wax?" I have not poured a candle in a year and a half now, been a CP Soapier. I want to start my chandler aspect of my business up again. I buy 100% soy flakes, still have 20 pounds of that left. A fairly well known candle company claims their product is the only "100% stabilized soy wax" out there. Thanks guys! Paul....

Hi guys!:wave: I am so very sorry for just now getting back on here! The CT forum is such a great bunch of soapiers, and you guys are among the best! Late last Sunday afternoon, my Acer lap top crashed for the last time, experiencing a horrific death! I bought a new one Monday, but it has the new Windows Vista OS, and all I had was dial up which Vista does not like! It took me finding someone to fix my old Acer, installing a new hard drive, to get me back to my dial up IP connection!:rolleyes2 Thursday at 7 PM, we had Embarqe (Sprint) install a DSL line. WOW, FAST! I gave that new computer to the DW, and finally Friday got my old Acer back up, installing a bunch of old software, one being my wmconnect.com dial up server! It did not work right, and am just now recovering missing emails! :rolleyes2 Thank you for being so very patient and all you I have had the privilege to do business with, vouch for me! I will not soon forget all the nice words! I will try within the next 24 hours to answer all PM's. On another note, after over 1 year of trying to sell our place here in Florida, after my dad's passing away 2 days before Christmas Eve, 2006, and making a promise to move back to Missouri to help with my dear mother, since she has never worked a day outside the home, and is kinda lost out there, we sold our home Friday! We will be going back to Missouri next weekend to buy a home in SW MO. The TOG Soapmaking Shop will be out of production from March 15 to April 30, 2007 during the move home to Missouri! I hope to purchase a larger shop and employ a few helpers to produce my TOG Molds, cutters, bevellers and more tools soon. I am filling orders this week. I am just about full from preexisting orders. I will be checking in at least a few times a week to say "HI" to everyone! Thanks to all for being so understanding while I fulfill my promise to come "home" I made to my Father! Thanks, and may everyone have a great, fun, warming week ahead! Paul....

Gosh CareBear, I wish he was!!! I have asked him, many times. He is a wealth of info. He lives 30 miles from me here in Cent. Fla. He has been soaping many years, and his aunt in upper New York State has too. They are both great soapiers! He was on Latherings winh me, but hasn't posted there for a long spell. He goes by the screen name "Grandpa" Some may know of him. He justs mainly posts in a Canadian soap making forum now. Great guy, and friend, Grandpa is to me! Paul....

Great news:yay: Let us know how you like it! Paul....

I just use oxides, ultras and micas for now. I was wondering how these compare in CP soap verses FD&C colourants for mixing? I have a soap buddy that lives close by, and he swears by TW's SS! He has used them for a few years now. he turns out great looking soaps! Just wondered? Help if you know or use one or the other, or both! LOL Paul....

You got it! I use about 60/40 hard verses soft oils in my recipe. I measure out the soft oils, lets say for 5 or 6 -- 2 pound batches, and pour into my large holding jug. I them measure out 5 or 6 recipes worth of the hard oils, melt them until just melted, and add those to my soft oils. As long as the jug stays above 70*, at least for my recipe, it stays liquid. I procede to give my jug a good stirring, then weigh out my recipe weight of required oils/fats, and then weigh out the 50% lye soltion required for the recipe, make up the rest of the liquid as cold goat milk, and SB to any thickness of trace I want. I usually just emulisify the batch, making sure all is incorporated well, no lye left, then proceed to mixing my colours up in a small bit of batter, scent the rest of the base, hit with the SB, and do an ITHS oe ITLS or swirl in my slab. I can leave the top of my TOG Mold off for no gel, or put the wood top on and get a full gel. At least, like CareBear mentioned, is what I call CPRT soap making! LOl HTH!:highfive: Paul....

Not at you, CareBear, but with you! Last night I put my soap bucket with my SB end and my whisk in the kitchen sink to let set after I forgot to do it the night before! After I woke this morning, I started to run hot water in the bucket I had let sit overnight and gots lots of bubbles all over the bottom of the sink. I can just imagine what a dishwasher would look like!:tiptoe: :tiptoe: Thanks for the "tip"! Paul....

You know, I think CPRT soaping may make the soap even more smoother! I have not been letting my soap gel lately. I just have been giving it a ggood 6 week cure before letting it go out the door. LOL Maybe I just think so! Anyway, I like this method very much! :yay: Paul....

Don't ya just love it! Since I only do goat milk, which helps "heat" things up a tad, it works perfect for me, and I can still get full gel if i want to since I use my thick Aspen wood molds with the top. My GM soaps have never turned out better since I started CPRT! Paul....

It stands for "Cold Process Room Tempature" for your oils/fats and/or perhaps your premixed lye sloution. I store my master batch and premixed lye solution in my DW laundry room, high up on a shelf above the hot water heater tank. Only my master batch oils jug and my jug of premixed lye solution goes in there! Paul....

Also be careful to watch the flash point of the FO if CPHP or CPOP. If your flash point of a FO is low, you can burn the FO off in the process by your temps being too high. That is why I personally like CPRT soapmaking. Plenty of time to swirl in colours, too! Paul....

Looks great to me Michelle! I think the color looks just spot on. And the scent sounds like a winner to me, along with the name...COOL! Paul....

There is not much fat on a deer, that is so true! I get suet from my local Publix. They rough grind it for me and charge 50 cents per pound, mainly for the time and expense of grinding it for me. I boil it with a little salt and a potato in there, it doesn't smell bad to me anyway! This lady sells deer tallow, already rendered for $2.00 per pound. I thought that was a great deal. There is a web soap supplier who sells it too. Can't think which one right now, but I can find it in my bookmarks somewhere. Paul....

In my favorite recipe, I, too, use both beef tallow and lard! Love what they do for a bar of soap! I am getting an order of deer tallow in soon. I ordered 9 pounds from a lady on the internet. I want to play with it and see how it differs with beef tallow. I render all my beef tallow, love to do it! I will use the deer soap for myself and to give friends and family. I just love using AF's and what they do in a bar of soap. Paul....

Hi guys! Just a quick note before I head back to the TOG Mold shop. Yes, I'm in the final testing stages of a cutter similar to the "Hobby" wire cutter FCS sells for $123.00. It will be ready in a few more weeks. I will keep you all posted! I now have 3 TOG Dual and a Triple Log/Slab molds ready now. Thanks to all you guys for the kind words! I appreciate them so very much! Take care!:highfive: Paul....

Wow, what a compliment! Thanks CareBear! I do make a unique solid Aspen Hardwood mold. The TOG 10" Dual Log/Slab mold with my liner system is the perfect mold to those starting out in the wonderful world of soapmaking. Just PM for more info. Thanks again CareBear, you and many other CT members are great past customers! Thanks!

The Roebic's Heavy Duty Crystal Drain Cleaner sold at Lowes is 100% sodium hydroxide, with no added extra goodies. I started with this brand about a year-and-a-half ago. I did a web search, found their site, looked at the MSDS and made sure it was ONLY 100% sodium hyrodroxide, and it was! Just make sure your local hardware store sells or orders only 100% lye (sodium hydroxide) and it is THE only ing. in there! Lowes sells their 32 ounce plastic can for @$7.85. You can find it sometimes, sometimes you can't! I'm just glad I found a local supplyer that sells 50 pounds bags. I bought 3 bags late last summer. I paid @.50 cents per pound. A whole lot less than the $3.87 per pound at Lowes! But, if you have to....Lowes is the way to go if they have it. No shipping charges. HTH Paul....

I bought 3---50 pound bags this past late summer and am storing them in my soap shop in 5 gallon HDPE buckets with the seal locking lids. I store then off the concrete floor on 2"X4's under a contractor grade plastic trash can liner over each bucket tied up with a HD twist tie. I paid .50 cents per pound for the sodium hydroxide in the bulk. I found mine at a chemical pool supply place. Some older pools used the sodium hydroxide in their filtration system, somehow. Down here in FL there are a lot of chemical suppliers that sell stuff like this. The business was supplying at least 5 or 6 of us Soapiers here in Cent. FL, but I hear sold out a month ago or so I hear. I'm glad I bought this much at once! Another online supplier is Camden-Grey in Miami, or The Chemistry Store in the Carolinas. They sell 2 pound plastic jars of it, and perhaps more. Anything I think over 32 ounces, you have to pay a Haz-Mat fee to ship it to you. HTH! Paul....

I second Old Will Knot's Ebay store1 Great prices, great CS and shipping. Oh, by the way, I started out with a USPS Postal scale from Wal-Mart, but it only weighs up to 3 pounds. It costs like $19.00, if I remember right. Paul....

I like cyclo too and use just about 1 to 1.5% in my whipped butters. I like using a little DriFlo AF, too. Paul....

Carrie graciously sent me a sample of the tussa silk...all I can say is...WOW, great stuff! Thank you, Carrie, for sending me this sample, as it is much better quality than what I was buying from that company in S. Carolina! It's like compairing a Cadallic to a Chevette..not even close! Just wanted to say if you have any left, or doing a CoOp again, I'M IN! Oh yea, the K-Pain butter I got from you in a CoOp on another forum is fantasic great stuff! I am making a whipped body butter that is selling great with it. It sure goes into your skin without any greasy feeling, far better than even shea! If you ever get any more of the K-Pain or Golden Shea...I'm in for at least 10 pounds! :yay: Paul....

Nope, when I use coconut milk, I mix it in advance with my goat milk, and store in the refrigerator. Like I mentioned, I use the RT premixed lye solution, stir it into my fats and oils until mixed well, then add the very cold GM and/or coconut milk to the batter, as the rest of my liquids, and SB until I reach the stage of trace I want. It never turns color or smells. HTH! Paul....