Hello all, hope everyone is still safe, now i probably should mention this, this video is for entertainment purposes only and i did refer to vegans as " bloody vegans" , my view on veganism is that it is a very good thing to practice due to the damage caused to the environment and the cruelty to animals is mass farming, it was only a joke and i totally respect and agree with veganism. happy days to all in this wonderful sunny weather. love and peace to all.

I was thinking how lucky this kid is to have such a cool family member

A couple of things you may have learnt after all this. If you add a couple of tablespoons of salt (plain sea salt will do) when you're mixing it helps it to harden. Also, a good hardwood ash is best for the lye, not a softwood. And if you leave the soap to air dry about 6 weeks it loses it's caustic properties and hardens up quite a bit more. My partner has been making soap for about 30 years. Edit; my partner uses goggles, chemical resistant gloves and a good respirator to protect her lungs from the caustic gases given off during the lye production stages.

I have made soap for years... a few tips. It is the fat used that makes the most difference. Duck fat keeps a softer soap. Would be better to use a tallow. Also be sure to use either glass, heat proof plastic, stainless steel or silicone when working with the "new" soap. It will literally eat through other metals. Storing the soap on a rack where it can get air flow all around will help the soap continue to cure. (I like to use a plastic rack made for keeping dishes from scratching a new sink.) Even soap made with modern lye will take a while to set up and then several weeks additional time AFTER cut to finish the cure. It will actually lose some more of the caustic properties as it continues to cure. Next on SAFETY. Using eye protection, chemical resistant gloves ... HIGHLY recommended. Lye will burn you severely or could blind you if you get it in your eye. (not worth a bar of soap for sure) Since lye is an extreme base you should keep a bottle of vinegar at hand to wipe up any splashes. The acid in the vinegar helps to neutralize the baseness of the lye. Still... I am impressed. Creating the lye from the wood ash is no mean feat alone. Then to be able to actually make a soap of any kind is doubly impressive. The main reason for using commercial lye is that you have a known strength. When you make soap it is very important to keep that fat to lye ratio right on the money. Each fat has a slightly different ratio as well and will add different characteristics to the soap bar. Some oils add lather, some add moisturizing properties and others help control the hardness of the bar. Olive oil for example makes a nice hard bar of soap, castor oil produces a thick lather and a fat like cocoa or shea butter give a soap moisturizing properties. For your next attempt I highly recommend trying a 100% olive oil bar. The cheaper olive oils actually make the best soap, so no extra virgins needed. LOL Also I would recommend using a purchased lye, so that the strength is a known. Even making cold processed soap with those ingredients is a skill set. Once you do this a few times... you will never want store bought bars again.

I've been quietly engrossed right up to the point where you said "Bloody Vegans" and that did me. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Oh how I howled with laughter, thank you all for the huge giggles.. Soap making is a great palaver definitely.. but well done for trying it.. will know not to try it at home thanks Gary and family... Take care all and please stay safe.. That's me off to work with a smile on my face xx

Of all the soap making videos I've seen lately, this one has been my favorite!! It was entertaining and educational. 😄

My grandmother made her own soap until the year she passed, She would give us grandkids a chunk of soap and a knife and let us carve. All the scraps then became her laundry soap.

LOL, the ending was priceless! Thanks for the laugh. I didn't see that coming. Stay safe and keep trying new skills.

The most entertaining video on soap making I’ve ever seen!!!!!!!!! And the young lad tooting while pops is talking had me in tears 😆🤣😂😂😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣

I chose this video as my first home making soap lesson and I'm still laughing....... Love you guys..... Now I have to start over.

:) Thanks for the smiles and giggles again. Glad you had a go.

This was so much fun, people in the olden days had their work cut out for them. But making lye was straight forward and might be good to clear a drain sometimes. Your humor is so fine!

LOL LOL you two are so dang adorable . LOL

Thanks for yet another great video. Glad to see that these crazy times have not diminished your humour. Stay safe..

Thanks for the great video! I would be lying if I didn’t admit that I remembered to like after the vegan joke 😂

Brilliant! Cheers

Another classic. Soap is now off my todo list 😀

This was such a great video. Thank you for it!!

I love your candor!! I am so glad my grandmother was British!!! I am a mix of 4 nations and love them all.

Loved it. You never fail to cheer us up LOL :D

Had fun watching this and reading the captions😄 lover up & old baba was it... Quality fun 👍

This is a great video,it took us back in time and I am fascinated.

What a lovely video, so much effort for not much return. Always look forward to your vids. Easy to understand, take care.

New Subscriber brother! Nice to have a good laugh every so often! Thanks!

I've often wondered about making my own soap....maybe I will give this version a miss and try with more friendly ingredients! Your attitude to life is so on a parallel with mine, but you are so hilarious with it. I tell everyone about your channel and I'm always eager for the next "episode" of informative fun and frolics. Keep them coming Gary - and James - because they are better than any tonic I know xox

Great video Gary and James it was both a history lesson with some science plus some maths. You certainly showed off your Chafford School Education to full effect 😂🤣

You guys are the most adorable I've seen in a LONG TIME. I've been making soap the "MODERN" way for over 10 years and I love your video!!! You made my Day lol A young friend of mine wanted to learn to make soap the FREE way using all natural "Old fashion" Ingredients. so I wanted to share this. But it's helped me too, and you can make a lovely liquid soap with this kind of natural Lye, that can be used on the body. Just have to cook it longer. LOVE YOU GUYS!!

Another super funny one mate. Loved the phone call parts. I almost needed soap to clean me pants. Take care!

Old timey soap was actually supposed to be slightly caustic since they didn’t want the soap going rancid in case there was any super fat present. So you technically did the recipe perfectly.

hahaha...just finished watching it, I'm still laughing. 17th century or not, low foaming soap is ideal for automatic washing machines. Your family must be so proud of you for passing the thickaspigus test and being accepted for membership in maths anonymous club. and...who doesn't like vegans? I'm quite partial to one myself with a good dollop of ketchup Love to all, take care xx

Loved it!

FANTASTIC

Great fun!

yall are awesome love the channel already

Finally a proper how-to video after hours of unproductive searching❣️

'Smells like a damp dog.' that was real fun. A good result for a first time. You gotta take into consideration they had been honing their soap making skills for generations. Well done all. Mark

nice one .i sure enjoy your videos i love how your son gets involved he doesnt realise how funny the young man is .keep up the good work and nice to see all is good with you and your family .take care and keep them comming

In all honesty, I quite enjoy the little comedies you guys throw in this video

Awesome video.

Love it thanks

"Spilt some on the carpet, looks like a dirty protest," AAHaa love it! subscribed!

Your son needs a homestead blog..too clever

That's a loving father right there

So funny with your son. Love it

Love your video and you sense of humor! Congrats for your soap test....I'm only on the lye stage for the moment....if I manage better I'll inform you 😉

The difference between the homemade lye that you made and the lye that soap makers use to make soap bars is the chemical composition. The lye that you made is potassium hydroxide. Commercial lye is sodium hydroxide. I believe that it is the addition of salt which makes the soap harden. Also starting with a harder fat will create a firmer bar of soap. I believe potassium hydroxide is used to make liquid soap.

Hahahaaaa, the reward for watching it all to the end!!

You could cut it up with a cheese grater, and add more fat to it. I did that with a lye soap fail, and it saved it. I couldn’t use mine for laundry as I used coffee and such. At least you measured. I just dumped lye in, gave it a stir and went to my child’s school performance. It took the enamel off my slow cooker. I was lucky. I did the maths later. I needed a much larger slow roasting pan to amend my mistake. Anyway, fun video. Habla for sharing.

Ha ha😄 quality great video cheers 👍

you guys are adorable

The kid is funny. Way to go!

I laughed my head off thanks for the entertainment!

you guys are so funny, great video

LOL....you guys are great. Subbed!!!

Your family is hilarious - love you guys - the fartin monkey is a ' refreshin ' touch

After putting the soap in the mold you want to cover it to keep it as warm as possible and that helps harden it.

Ha ha ha. Loved the ending

They would add salt to the mixture to firm it up, which sodium hydroxide already has it, so that's why so many use NaOH. Let the soap sit and cure for a few weeks, with plenty of air circulation to solve the caustic problem, since you didn't do a hot process soap. 😉

Super super video,thank you,I am trying to get my soap right from my wood ashes,I will do the egg floating test and then maybe boil it down,I have made something that looks like soap from the recipe in John Seymour's book but it probably needs to cure. Thanks so much,Fiona

Cute kid .

LOL Great fun Gary! I bet you would have rathered you had been upstaged by the child actor instead of upwind! LOL James is a riot, always having a good time. Thanks for showing why we should be thankful of some modern advances. Tell me what happens when you kidnap the queen, is there a lady in wait to take the thrown? Take care stay safe!

I have been told if the soap is a little soft you can add a spoonful of salt to harden the bar of soap, then after, the soap is made, you should leave it to cure for 4-6 weeks. I would love to try doing this experiment too, very well done

omgosh..you guys are so funny. I am still laughing that you said you bout blew your brains to bits trying to do the math. lololol

I loved this video, I loved that you took the time to make this video and try making home made soap like in the 1700's it was very informative and love your humor! Thanks so much for sharing I very much enjoyed it and learned a lot from it :)

Hi Gary! Great video! Your soap looked like fudge! Glad to see you're all keeping well, any luck with the bees yet? Jordan

Brilliant lol, so much effort in this video, at least the clothes will benefit from it team. It will work better next time, for sure.

All soap is caustic. That’s why you age it for several weeks, then it’s safe to use.

Put a cover over the soap to keep the heat from escaping and to help it jell and set reminder for next time, to add a spoonful of salt to harden the bar and it for 4 to 6 weeks to cure.

Hot process you cook it longer to saponify quicker. Cold compress you made just needs to cure for 6 weeks on a rack to reduce the alkaline. But, 3 years on you probably knew that. Your soap actually worked. You are both fantastic to watch. You actually made the soap making look easy.

I see you've gone down the best route, I've started doing that. Works out cheaper in labour hours. But if you want it to foam more there are several things 'natural' that you can add. Honey is just one, but that is also an emulsifier, so you need to get the ratio right. Keep moving onwards and upwards, love to you all. xx

Saw the picture, thought you were making fudge!! Nope... soap :)

Loving the NYC USA shirt there! One comment, when you're stirring etc and scraping the bottom of the metal pan with a spoon, you could be freeing up tiny metal pieces that will get into the soap. Recommend using a wood spoon. Otherwise well done mate!

If you let it cure (2-4months), it will be fine to use. Also tallow or Shea/cocoa butter is better than duck fat. Duck fat makes soft soap.

I'm just glad that kid knows the fouridated water is trash

A great fun video to watch . You always make me 😀 smile. Did they not have essential oils in the 1700s🧐

Your phone commentary is super funny you certainly thick enough to join cheers mate

Ahahhaa good stuff!

Just let it cure is an old video so probably it will be ok by now . My olive oil soap takes to cure 6 months cold process soap takes to cure 1-2 months. Lovely video

12:55 I love this kid! LMAO

Well if your mixture wasn't setting up into soap it's because the mixture is off either it had too much fat which makes it to greasy or it had too much lye which would make it burn your skin when using. Either way you would just add more of the other to fix it. If it's to greasy, melt it back down and add lye. If it burns you melt it down and add more far. Basically, and I can't remember which, the lye eats the fat or vice versa and makes the soap. So for every fat you have to have the right amount of lye to make the soap properly. Adding wax will make it look more like soap but it won't work like real soap.

Another video mentions the addition of salt for hardness. In combination with your wax, i imagine both must do a pretty good job of it.

I'd like to be friends with that kid. Hilarious!

Nice

So after making the soap you need to wear gloves to wash your hands? LOL I have had a bit of trouble with vegans recently but did find out a useful bit of information. What is the name of Bruce Lee's vegetarian brother? Brock Lee. Take care and stay safe. thank you for an educational and funny video.

Man holds up a duck and a log. Basic ingredients for soap. Check, and check. Let’s make some soap!! PS: James is flipping hilarious. What a kid!

انت كتير حلو شكرا لك متابعتك من سوريا

I liked learning how to make the lye and test it with the egg floating.

Hi, you're making soft soap when using potassium hydroxide soap, not hard soap as you can buy in a store. Also, woodash lye is a lower pH than commercial sodium lye, so you should not use the same measurements as for regular lye (a good guide is 1:3 fats and lye). Just mixing it with a stickblender like CP is likely not enough either, woodash soap is a hot process - it needs the heat for the chemical reaction to properly happen (probably why it is still a bit caustic). Adding enough wax to it would definitely harden it, but not because of the saponification LOL but because you've just made a cleansing salve! and a very nice one at that :) I also made woodash soap with my son, looks like both kids had a blast!

Nice video, if you want more hard soap, it help if you put some salt ( NaCl) in your mix.

Sounds like something I could use

you can melt it down and add a few tbs or oil and to fix the caustic-ness. also if it's too oily you can melt it down and add a bit more lye water

I'm a vegetarian, not a vegan. I just pretend you are making milk soap and I'm good. I love all the jokes and that's the first time I saw a real fart in a video. I'm trying to learn how to off grid and I love all the jokes So I subscribed.

👍

I think it would been better if you mix some salt into the lye and used more ashes for the lye and once you mix all together restrain in liquid form then let settle in mold Great job though

the electric blender was MADE for soap making....I can do most things by hand but soap...gotta go with the blender. good on ya both!

You can add a wee bit of sea salt ya to make it harden I think? To get it closer to sodium oxide than potassium? Maybe. Cheers!

When you're mixing the fat and lye, did you have it on heat?

Funny video, thanks. Can other ashes be used, like from plain charcoal? Wasn't your lye solution supposed to be higher-2 1/4 cups to 3 cups of fat?

What a palaver...but as you say it should wash the clothes well, and hopefully remove that smell from James trousers!!!