Can you soap motor oil?

[Candybee]

I don't know why this popped into my head. I don't want a motor oil soap... Really I don't... but it makes wonder... can you soap motor oil?? I wonder what kind of soap it would make!!

[Scent Cellar]

I don't believe anyone has come up with a SAP value for it.

[Camay]

The the fatty acids that we use to make soap are joined to glycerol via an ester linkage. The strong base we add (lye) attackes this chemical linkage, breaks it, and makes glycerol and fatty acid salts (soap). I looked up motor oil on wikipedia:

"The base oils of some high-performance motor oils however contain up to 20% by weight of esters"

Only up to 20% of the oil has esters that are potential targets for the lye.

Interesting.

[Candybee]

Just wondering what kind of odd things you might use to make soap. Some may think crisco odd but it actually makes fairly good soap. But stuff like motor oil or grease make me wonder... would they work?

Perhaps any kind of animal or vegetable grease would work... like bacon grease or hamburger fat? Ever seen how much grease comes out of a goose?!!

[Ravens]

Just wondering what kind of odd things you might use to make soap. Some may think crisco odd but it actually makes fairly good soap. But stuff like motor oil or grease make me wonder... would they work?

Perhaps any kind of animal or vegetable grease would work... like bacon grease or hamburger fat? Ever seen how much grease comes out of a goose?!!

Bacon grease, motor oil, hamburger fat, goose grease.... keep that up, Candybee, and I will end up dieting whether I want to or not, and possibly give up on soaps! :laugh2:

[lauramw71]

I am a buff of listening to the 40's radio shows. I like the commercials from during the war.... Back than, bacon grease was collected and sold back to butchers to make soap! Wonder what it would smell like. lol

[Ravens]

I am a buff of listening to the 40's radio shows. I like the commercials from during the war.... Back than, bacon grease was collected and sold back to butchers to make soap! Wonder what it would smell like. lol

Here's hoping it wouldn't make customers smell like hogs, bwhahahaha!

[Camay]

Here's hoping it wouldn't make customers smell like hogs, bwhahahaha!

People use lard all the time to make soap.

[jackie]

I've used lard (pure lard, not processed) and it worked just fine--no smell from it in the soap either. I hadn't thought of bacon grease but I don't see why it wouldn't work the same, it has a softer consistency than lard, has less smell (to my nose). Though I keep my bacon grease for gravy, cornbread and southern style veggies (it may kill me eventually but I'm 57 with no health problems).

[GailC]

I remember the can of bacon grease always sitting by the stove. Now, I use cooking spray. Ah, the good old days.

I just wouldn't want to list motor oil or bacon grease in my ingredients on a soap label!

[Ravens]

Neither would I. It may not smell, could even be good for your skin, but just the thought would be enough to make me want to pass on motos oil & bacon grease soap, lol. Still, it'd be interesting to experiment a bit and see how it'd look and feel on the skin.

I remember the can of bacon grease always sitting by the stove. Now, I use cooking spray. Ah, the good old days.

I just wouldn't want to list motor oil or bacon grease in my ingredients on a soap label!

[JanetsCandles]

Well there is this internet phenomenon that "anything bacon is God!" so maybe it could be a sales pitch? I mean, people have bacon ice cream, bacon roses, chocolate covered bacon... "Bacon soap, made with real bacon!"

[Candybee]

JanetsCandles you have a point! Bacon is the bees knees of today! LOL

GailC-- I also remember the 'grease' can when I was a little bitty girl in the 50s. They even made canister sets with "Flour, sugar, and grease" names on them and yes the grease can was the staple in every household. You poured off your bacon grease into the can and reused it for cooking. Trust me it could get very disgusting and I did not carry on the tradition as more cooking oils and lard became available for cooking and it was cheap.

I am one that loves using lard for soap. It makes a wonderful soap; rich and creamy white. I use the Manteca lard from Walmart and when you soap with it it has no odor-- even unscented soaps smell like unscented soap, nice.

Maybe someday I might try soaping some bacon grease just to see what kind of soap it makes. But for now its not on my immediate list of things to do! LOL

[JacquiO]

First I just have to say

Ewwwww!

Motor oil is a petrochemical and yeah you probably can soap with it, just like any other fatty acid. We make candles from petrochemical derived paraffin and not tallow as in the old old days and some surfactants (bubbling agents) are made from petrochemicals but still...

Ewwww!

I have seen biodiesel soap making kits on the internet but thats just rendered (or filtered) used cooking oil.

[TallTayl]

WRT motor oil - petro chemicals I think of are inert and won't have a SAP value. Even as an additive I'd consider petro derived oil potentially toxic for application directly to the skin. With the varying viscosities of the oil(s) and the degree of synthetics and detergents included in the motor blend, it's anyones guess how it would react with the caustic (KOH or NaOH). In any event it's not something I'd consider for a personal beauty product. It may have merit in a degreasing soap used to clean oil stained clothing since like gets out like, though there are less hazardous options (such as turpenoid) and commercial options (Fels Naptha).

WRT to bacon grease. Sure you can soap it. I'd filter it very, very well first and would not expect a great long lived soap since the temperature the grease has been raised to has likely pushed the oxidation threshholds past soap stability. I prefer to keep the filtered grease for cooking or for making suet cakes for the birds.

Soapers that use old food oils for soap can't expect the same results from batch to batch since cooking oils in fry-o-lators can vary (peanut, soy, corn) - each bringing different SAP values and properties to the finished product. Plus, previously used oils have a much shorter life span in soap since they've been raised to temps that damage the fatty acid chains of the oils leading to oxidation of the final soap product. (Soap with DOS or total oxidation are not pretty).

That said, I think it's kind of cool that people make biodiesel and make/use the resulting soap. To me it's the ultimate reduce, reuse and recycle, however resulting soaps I've seen are not anything I'd personally use on my skin. The smell and feel was just offputting. I confess I did not try it to wash. I'd prefer to use my lye on fresh oils where I can get a predictable result.

[Camay]

I agree with you TallTayl, in general, but,

1) lots of petro derived oil products are put directly on skin. Vaseline for one.

2) The viscosities of the oils have nothing to do with saponification*. It's the ester bonds that react with the strong base. As I said in a previous post, there are few ester linked oils in motor oil (<20%), so most of the oil would go unsaponified.

* viscosity is dependent on temperature, and the rate of saponification is also temperature dependent, assuming you have oils that can be saponified present

[Pam W]

Heck, give it a try - you might find yourself with a whole new customer base. (A real man's soap)

But I would recommend that you use new motor oil - no used.......lol

[TallTayl]

I agree with you TallTayl, in general, but,

1) lots of petro derived oil products are put directly on skin. Vaseline for one.

2) The viscosities of the oils have nothing to do with saponification*. It's the ester bonds that react with the strong base. As I said in a previous post, there are few ester linked oils in motor oil (<20%), so most of the oil would go unsaponified.

* viscosity is dependent on temperature, and the rate of saponification is also temperature dependent, assuming you have oils that can be saponified present

WRT #1) The petro derived products manufactured for use on the skin go through a far different refining process than what is performed for motor oil. mineral oil

2) I would disagree here just on the basis of we don't know what additives enter into the formula for the varying brands of oil to generate the viscosity. What detergents are added? What other non-skin safe additives are added to thicken/thin or otherwise prolong the life of the oil?

My insurer would drop me in a hot second for even considering the addition of motor oil into anything intended for use on a human. Mineral oils and Pet Jellies that are GRAS are a different story altogether. Apples and Peaches in this case.

[Camay]

1) agreed.

2) I guess I was splitting hairs, or arguing a different point. The detergents/additives that are added cause a change in viscosity, sure, but that's not why they pose a problem. It's whether or not they are skin safe, as you mentioned, and can saponify, that we care about. And most of the oils in motor oil are not esters, will not saponify.

That's very interesting about the biodeisel being used for soap making! Were they ugly looking? What did they smell like? No fragrance was used?

[Candybee]

I really have no intention of making a motor oil soap. Its just too icky to imagine. But I was curious about synthetic oils like motor oil and if it were possible. With additives and detergents it doesn't even sound safe to try it.

[lauramw71]

I'll admit it... we still save our bacon grease... Makes an awesome pot of green beans! LOL

[Candybee]

buttermilk pancakes too!

[wheeler]

MOTOR OIL? No way!!! The whole idea of making your own soap is to have something better than what the stores are trying to sell us, stuff made with pertrochemicals! In the olden days when animal fats were used for cooking and were highly valued, bacongrease was used to make soap, and the smell would not come through, the lye would make sure of that

[Candybee]

MOTOR OIL? No way!!! The whole idea of making your own soap is to have something better than what the stores are trying to sell us, stuff made with pertrochemicals! In the olden days when animal fats were used for cooking and were highly valued, bacongrease was used to make soap, and the smell would not come through, the lye would make sure of that

Oh I agree! I don't think anyone would want a soap made with motor oil!

But that wasn't why I was asking. It was purely for curiosity sake.. could it be done? When the thought popped into my mind it just made me wonder (and laugh) and because of asking I have learned some new things about synthetic oils I never knew or thought of before.

I'm still not going to try it.

[kidsngarden]

motor oil, like mineral oil and vaseline (which of course is far more refined and no additives), do not saponify. This is why we can use mineral oil or vaseline to grease our plastic soap molds. If you tried that with a natural oil like sunflower or lard or what not the soap would stick because the oil would saponify.

I do really love mineral oil on my skin, however. it doesn't really absorb, but protects. I have a patch of excema that flairs up just a bit in the winter and I use it on it all the time! I think it has gotten a bad rap over the years. I am also a fan of lard soaps and feel there is no better soap than those made with mostly animal oils. Most of my blends are lard based, and yes, I have a following because of it!