[TheForge] Lye soap

[Barking Crow]

 Re:  Also a lye bath to neutralize
an object cleaned with muriatic acid?

You don't have to neutralize the muriatic acid after using it for derusting, 
just rinse the object well (hot water if possible) as the acid is water 
soluble.  The object will, however, rust like crazy as it is now cleaned of 
rust and the iron in the surface will quickly oxidize and form rust.  I like 
to treat the clean steel with phosphoric acid which will protect it for a 
time from rusting.

A lye solution is also great for cleaning burned or charred food from a 
stainless steel pot.  Its whats in easy off oven cleaner.

"If you come up with a reasonably attractive recipe, do post it. "

Most bookstores have books on soapmaking with lots of recipes.  Using 
coconut oil makes a very hard soap that lathers well in hard water.   Soap 
making is a great hobby and you can make a small fortune, if of course you 
start with a large fortune.   A quick google of soapmaking got lots of sites 
like


http://waltonfeed.com/old/soap/soap.html#set

This site says to use wooden spoons and glass bowls, we use stainless spoons 
and plastic buckets.  This site also says to never add the water to the lye, 
we always dump room temp water into the lye in a five gallon bucket (8 lbs 
water into roughly 3 lbs lye) without ever a problem.  I always wear safety 
glasses as the water will go to 180 degrees and may splash when you stir.

Jeff with the day off in beautiful cool Tallahassee