natrldsastr

If you look closely you will see coconut oil is usually the #1 ingredient used to MAKE M&P soap. Not sure if superfatting w/ it makes much diff, you can superfat M&P w/ any oil, but probably no more than 1/2 oz per lb base. good luck

I use Tea Tree in one and market as acne bar. I use mint oils in another and market as foot bar.

When you get over your aversion to hydrogenated oils you should give them a try--economical, easy to source and make wonderful soaps. The same w/ lard--and makes even better soap.:smiley2:

yep, I've done it and used Kaolin clay also in the same batch, used as an acne soap. .5 oz per pound.

mineral oil doesn't sap--and the medicinal additives would most likely be adversely affected by lye. Don't bother.

Definitely looks like partial gel to me, and crumbly can very well be because of the no gel in the corners. Did you insulate? And yes, your palm very well can be stearic heavy at the bottom of the pail. This is very common because they fill the pails while the palm is heated/liquid. As it cools the stearic settles to the bottom. This is thru no ones fault, and you need to be aware of it so you can re-melt and mix. This can happen to palm from all suppliers--good luck.

Many times you can view the MSDS for your FO, it states flashpoints there. If not available online, contact your supplier. I believe they are required to provide them in some form.

That is the one problem w/ HP--you do need to be careful about the flashpoint on your FO. Sometimes its such a fine line, between too hot, and unworkable.

Worse yet would be trying to get your soap out of an inflexible mold!:embarasse And it would be a bad reaction, discoloring your beautiful soap baby, and marking your metal container permanently, yuk.

I have to go w/ the "I wash this w/ soap, don't I" theory. Although I'm no longer making soap in my kitchen, and have dedicated containers. The plastic I mix my lye in has always been dedicated, but stainless steel? It's impervious to everything, so have no fear.

I use stearic at about 1.5% in my all veg recipe, because I refuse to ship in palm too. Be prepared to work quick, it will trace fast.

Butter has been experimented w/-it produces a soap w/ a decidedly vomitus smell You may experiment, but be advised you must soap very cool and be prepared for the smell. Good luck w/ that.

50/50 is only for the very experienced soapers, using reliable FO's and not on batches where you are experimenting. The point is more that you don't have the shrink associated w/ full water amount, nor the dry time. Your soaps are firm enough to unmold in a short amount of time, although I would let them cool normally first. I find 3-5 hours to be pushing it, but your soaps can very well reach full gel in this time. And salt bars are cut while still VERY warm, so that is not such an oddity. And no, I don't blow things up. And I do it right here where I do the rest of my soaping. oh and you're actually probably right Carrie, 45% is a better % to be on the safe side.

You can use any CP recipe to HP. HP is just warming your traced CP batch to gel stage, then stirring and adding your fragrances or other additives. That is a VERY simplistic description of HP. And a good rule of thumb is 60% hard oils to 40% soft. Please take yourself to millersoap.com and read. And ALWAYS use a lye calc, even for published recipes. Many of these are notoriously off. Here is a useful link for choosing oils, http://www.soapnuts.com/indexoils.html And google up hot process soap tutorial. Good Luck

1/2 tsp I don't think is enough in your 3 lb batch. Try a full tsp, and your oil combo should not have that dramatic an effect on your color. Micas are colored w/ FD&C colors, of which many of the blues are unstable in CP soap. UM's are your best bet for a stable blue, but you definitely need to use enough.