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Previous Next The best candle and soap tips online! dry state, it must be constantly stirred up from the bottom to prevent its burning. To the quantity of fat taken for our example, we apply in the beginning 80 to 100 lbs. of salt. Whether the applied salt is sufficient, is discerned by the previously brown color of the soap now turning into white, and in the kettle there appear all round ebullitions of the size of the hand (the soap boiling " in slabs"), the soap beginning to rise with force, and the froth vanishing. Until these signs appear salt must be added. Hereupon the boiling should continue for another hour and be then stopped, in order to cause any impurities yet in the mass to have time to settle. The fire being extinguished, the separation of soap and the sub-lye follows. When the eub-lye is removed from the kettle, 700 to 800 lbs." of water with 70 to 80 lbs. of salt are again put into it, and it is heated to the boiling point. After boiling up it should be investigated whether the " cutting of the pan" has been sufficiently attended to, which is discerned by the signs described above. Leaving the soap to boil for some time, the sub-lye is again removed. Although the second water has greatly increased the hardness of the soap, yet this hardness is not yet sufficient, so the third water must be prepared to cause the hardness to become perfect. To this end 700 to 800 lbs. of water, and 50 to 60 lbs. of salt are again heated to boiling, and again put into it. When it begins to seethe up it should be critically investigated to find if the proper quantities of salt and of lye have been applied. If salt is wanting then froth appears upon the surface of the boiling soap, and the latter burns easily. In this case salt should be yet added, until it boils up in regular slabs of soap. If too much salt has been taken, or more correctly speaking, the salt solution is too concentrated, the soap appears upon the spatula without connection, the lye drops rapidly off, and little gutters are formed. This fault is remedied by adding a few buckets of water. The Boap must yet be investigated by pressure. Upon the thumb of the right hand some soap is taken and rubbed on the palm of the left hand. The soap hardens there almost 312 TECHNICAL TREATISE ON SOAP AND CANDLES. THE FABRICATION OF SOAPS. 313 instantly, and now the thumb is pressed hard upon it and rubbed. If the sample there remains a cohesive slab, then the soap possesses the required firmness, is solid ; but if the sample crumbles, it needs water; if smeary, then lye is wanting. Then lye and salt of 15° B. must be added till the proper state of the soap is reached. Thereupon commences the operation of clear boiling or fitting. To attain this the kettle is covered one half with planks,and a sti rrer beatsdown the mass, so that it does not run over. The soap particles draw more and more together into globular grains—the soap "grains." The soap grains sink, and on the surface the kettle is filled with a light, flaky froth. To prevent the falling of the mass great heat is now needed. The fire is diligently kept up, the entire kettle is covered with planks and cloths spread over it. The soap seethes up with ebullition, and, to avoid running over, one of the boards is lifted and the froth is beaten with a long rod until it falls. Then the kettle is again tightly covered, a renewed ebullition ensues, and the overflowing is again prevented in the manner described. Gradually the violence of the ebullition diminishes, but in place of it a whistling sound is perceived in the kettle. From time to time one of the boards is lifted and the soap is watched. As soon as merely large perfectly translucent bubbles rise up, the soap is finished. After the fire is extinguished, the planks are removed, and for cooling the soap a few buckets of sub-lye are poured into the kettle. The soap is now ready to be run into the frames, when care should be taken that but very little of the sub-lye is transferred. After all the soap is in the frames they are covered with cloths. From time to time the sides of the soap in the frames are pressed back, as in becoming cold it contracts. Boiling with wood ashes is very similar to that with potash, and differs only in so far that the lyes of ashes are less concentrated. In consequence of this it is not possible to saponify the fat in the first water completely, this succeeding only after the second and third waters. Therefore, for the second and third waters weak lye is taken, and not water, as in case of potash. In order to saponify 453 kilog. Previous Next
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