How to Make Lye

WiNaDeYo · 10-16-2008, 06:57 PM

Yes, Gra’ma explains how they made lye soap on the tape I have…

They’d make a wooden troth using a hollow log, about 3 feet long. It had to be propped up on one end and a board had to be nailed into the bottom leaving space for the lye to flow out into a crock pot positioned underneath at the lower end. They’d fill the troth up about two thirds with green oak or hickory ashes and slowly add water. This process of adding water took all day. “Just keep a’putting water in that and let it soak down. It’d take…a day to get it good and wet…your ashes would get plum wet.” They’d keep adding water until they had accumulated about two gallons of the lye solution. This liquid was then put into a pot and they’d add grease to it (“old grease that had been saved all year in a jar for this purpose, old meat and skins, pork fat and some bones, whatever”). Then they’d build a fire around the pot to bring it to a slow boil: “not a too big a fire or it’d just roll everywhere. It’d all come out.” They would keep soap boiling for about three days. Her mama could tell when it was done, when it got thick. They’d then dip it out while it was hot and keep it in earthen jars. The “dregs” (bones, etc.) would be in the bottom but above would be just “clear soap, kinda yellow creamlike”. Leaving the “dregs”, they’d start up another pot. Pouring spring water on the ashes to make the lye. They’d make enough soap to last a year.

Gra’ma warned, though…
“..if you got too much lye in it (the soap), it’d eat your fingernails off. If you washed and put your hands in that soap, it’d just make your fingernails curl up. And so you had to be careful about that.”

I am sorry that I don’t know the amount of ingredients here…even my gra’ma didn’t know. Her mother didn’t tell her. She just used her intuition, I suppose. Throughout the audio cassette recording, Gra’ma keeps saying, “Now, that wasn’t my job, but mama knew...and she didn’t tell me…”

And, yes, the lye extracted was used to make the homony, too. Can’t tell you how much was diluted in the water though. Sorry…

10-16-2008, 06:57 PM	#12
WiNaDeYo Avalon Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Lombardy, Italy Posts: 222	Re: How to Make Lye Yes, Gra’ma explains how they made lye soap on the tape I have… They’d make a wooden troth using a hollow log, about 3 feet long. It had to be propped up on one end and a board had to be nailed into the bottom leaving space for the lye to flow out into a crock pot positioned underneath at the lower end. They’d fill the troth up about two thirds with green oak or hickory ashes and slowly add water. This process of adding water took all day. “Just keep a’putting water in that and let it soak down. It’d take…a day to get it good and wet…your ashes would get plum wet.” They’d keep adding water until they had accumulated about two gallons of the lye solution. This liquid was then put into a pot and they’d add grease to it (“old grease that had been saved all year in a jar for this purpose, old meat and skins, pork fat and some bones, whatever”). Then they’d build a fire around the pot to bring it to a slow boil: “not a too big a fire or it’d just roll everywhere. It’d all come out.” They would keep soap boiling for about three days. Her mama could tell when it was done, when it got thick. They’d then dip it out while it was hot and keep it in earthen jars. The “dregs” (bones, etc.) would be in the bottom but above would be just “clear soap, kinda yellow creamlike”. Leaving the “dregs”, they’d start up another pot. Pouring spring water on the ashes to make the lye. They’d make enough soap to last a year. Gra’ma warned, though… “..if you got too much lye in it (the soap), it’d eat your fingernails off. If you washed and put your hands in that soap, it’d just make your fingernails curl up. And so you had to be careful about that.” I am sorry that I don’t know the amount of ingredients here…even my gra’ma didn’t know. Her mother didn’t tell her. She just used her intuition, I suppose. Throughout the audio cassette recording, Gra’ma keeps saying, “Now, that wasn’t my job, but mama knew...and she didn’t tell me…” And, yes, the lye extracted was used to make the homony, too. Can’t tell you how much was diluted in the water though. Sorry…