I would think we should have some fellas that have done this a time or two over their life times. Kind of a woman's duties in years past but I like to fiddle with mixing things so I am going to give it a whirl. Some batch mixes you need to cure for a few weeks some not so much. Going to make some big bars for laundry use and smaller ones for bathing. Scented and unscented.

I have some good essential oils I want to try blending in a batch. I thought I could blend a batch of Tonquin musk in some soap for deer hunting. Take on a good lather in the shower and head out to the woods.

Haven't made soap since I helped my grandma in the early 50's. Well I sort of helped in a kids way I guess. I remember seeing her use it for laundry a lot. She also used it for rubbing it in my teeth when she felt I needed it. LOL It was some nasty stuff, I would taste that soap for a long time before it dissolved enough I didn't taste it any more.

I am going to make a batch this coming week. I collected a good amount of bobcat fat I may use after I render it a bit. I have lots of coon fat I will use on the next batch.

Good on you. I've never tried it but we have a local woman who makes and sells her own soaps. A long time soap here is made with donkey milk. The gals love it.

Pete

That's really cool Bob. Are you going to do a tutorial? I remember my Mama telling stories of her and her Gma making lye soap(from wood ashes) over a open fire in the 40's. They were fond memories for her and I loved hearing them. I've always wanted to try it but never have, I'll be watching for sure.

My sister made some with beaver fat I want her to make some using the castor for essence.

I have lots of rendered fat oils from several fur bearers saved over the years. Over time I will attempt to make some soap from each specie when time permits.

Skunk oil, beaver oil, coon oil, coyote oil etc.

my great gramma made lye soap. i was pretty young when she died. the soap was an orangeish yellow.

I made lye soap with hog lard. We raised a couple of hogs a year when my boy was in 4H.
Still have some around here somewhere.
Its a good soap but not so great smelling.
I think my grand parents used to shave it and use as laundry soap. Maybe even soak it in water for liquid laundry soap.
good luck with your new project.
just

Leaf lard from a deer makes an unreal soap!
The trick is to find a lye calculator that has the fat you are using listed.
Then superfat by 3 or 4 percent. That way when the lye is done saponifying there is still some fat left in the soap.

I think you can use wood ash for the lye. If you have a wood stove that would be easy to get and your soap would be even more homemade

The trick with wood ash is that it is a guessing game as to the lye content.
Poor lye calculation is what gave "Lye" soap a bad name.
Even though lye is in all soap, without it there is no saponification, and it wouldn't be soap.
Hence you have things like "cleansing bars"

.

The problem here is finding the lye lowes did carry it but I’m not sure if they still do.

Bob, you are in for one heck of a treat if you render out the bobcat fat. Ever smelled 10,000 bobcats in one place before?

Billcat this fat is mostly all flank and chest fat. The belly fat i keep for lure work. It is very catty smelling.

If you can get in touch with Old Relic his wife makes some good smelling soap.

Here you can get 100% lye drain cleaner in any hardware store.
Make sure that you read up and follow the procedure to the letter.
Done right, it is a piece of cake, done wrong it can eat holes in your skin like nobody's business!
Don't ask how I know that.

Me too,,pretty much lard and hard wood ashes if I remember right.

My grandmas soap was a tan to yellowish color as I can best remember. M. mom helped gram make it. I was very young as well. It was probably around 1953-54 We had some bars long after gram died in the basement by the old laundry tubs. It was good stuff. I asked my mother today age 97 about the soap she said gram used lard she rendered from grand paps hogs.spring water and pure grade lye. A common household ingredient back in those days she said.

I made a batch of Lee soap out of bear fat one fall. I still have a chunk or two left.

Bob I know a couple of rope smokers who moon light as soap makers up in Austin Tx. They are looking for men who would drop bars of soap can I give them your number?