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How to make Soap
How to make Soap
Hygiene is a vital part of survival.
Here is an exert from the Army Survival Field Manual 21-76.
Extract grease from animal fat by cutting the fat into small pieces and cooking them in a pot.
Add enough water to the pot to keep the fat from sticking as it cooks.
Cook the fat slowly, stirring frequently.
After the fat is rendered, pour the grease into a container to harden.
Place ashes in a container with a spout near the bottom.
Pour water over the ashes and collect the liquid that drips out of the spout in a separate container.
This liquid is the potash or lye.
Another way to get the lye is to pour the slurry (the mixture of ashes and water) though a straining cloth.
In a cooking pot, mix two parts grease to one part potash.
Place this mixture over a fire and boil it until it thickens.
After the mixture - the soap - cools, you can use it in the semiliquid state directly from the pot.
You can also pour it into a pan, allow it to harden, and cut it into bars for later use.
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Ive seen that before too. Never made any but I would like to. You can also make some easier but not as effective soap by putting birch leaves is boiling water and letting it cool. And welcome to the forums.
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Thanks Jedi. We have that in a couple of other threads around here. Welcome to the forum. Why not wash your way over to the Introduction section and tells us a bit about yourself. By the way, do you know Luke Skywalker? He's from Philly I think.
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What works really well for getting greasy camping cook gear clean is just using some of the ashes from your camp fire for scrubbing out the pots. I suppose it sort of acts like soap as you have the main ingredients on hand: ashes, grease and water.
Try it on your next trip!
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Yes, just mix the ashes with the grease already in your pans and it works fine.
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