Soap makers have all kinds of ideas about items to use when it comes to cutting homemade soap.
Best way to cut cold process soap.
Most soaps need 4 or more weeks to cure or to complete the saponification process during which fats water and lye turn into soap.
While soap will form bubbles within the first 24 hours that doesn t mean it s done.
It s a time tested technique.
Make your soap one day and then make sure you can cut it the next.
If you don t take this step the blade won t cut all the way through your soap.
The bottom piece to your soap cutter will need to measure 6 3 4 long by 3 1 2 wide.
The art of soap making can be traced as far back as ancient babylon when archaeologists during an excavation first discovered a soap material inside clay cylinders dating as early as 2800 b c.
Place your soaps in an out of the way place to cure.
If it is still soft and sticky i will wait another day or two before slicing.
Whether the soap has a bit of soda ash or uneven edges there are several tricks to making each and every bar picture perfect.
Cold process soap is made without any external heat applied to it while hot process soap is most often cooked in a crockpot to speed up the soapmaking process.
Once i make a batch of soap i unmold it after 24 hours.
When making soap to sell or give as a gift it needs to look polished and professional.
Some use guitar strings the wire ones.
The longer it sits the harder and milder it will become.
For more in depth information 60 palm free recipes helpful charts plus a private facebook support group check out my natural soapmaking ebook collection.
Speed up the process.
Now about your choices of tools to use for how to cut homemade soap.
The front stop which keeps your soap from sliding out to ensure bars are all cut the same size should measure 5 long by 2 high.
Unfortunately not every batch comes straight out of the mold this way.
Most people choose to cut their soaps into a one inch thickness.
Depending on how firm it is i will go ahead and slice it into one inch thick bars.
At this point the soap should cut smoothly without crumbling.
Inscriptions on the cylinders described a process of fats boiled with ashes the world s first soap making method but the babylonians weren t the only ones who benefited.
