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Soapmaking
 Sap
Value & Oil Properties Chart
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TLC Soaps & Sundries Lye Calculator
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This chart below will help you with the different oils
so you can see what characteristics they will
give to your soap. These are based on my
experiences with making soap and how I feel
different oils seem to work. I have not used all
of the oils listed, but most of them, but have
added some that questions have been asked about
so that if you wish to use them you will have
info on them. Some books give the chemical
properties of the oils and these properties say
different things about how they should or should
not react in soapmaking. But I have found that
some do much differently than what the chemical
makeup of them say the will do when they are mixed with other oils.
In some cases
they are conditioning where their makeup will
say they are not. Anyway, hope you find this of
help in your soapmaking. :-)
Some of the oils you will see the word (special)
beside them. These are the oils that I enjoy
using not only in soaps, but in some Creams,
Lotions and Ointments also. These oils are not
only special for the conditioning they give, but
also the Vitamins and penetrating abilities they
have that our skin gets great benefit from.
You will also find the sections for "Calculating
Lye" and "Figuring liquid needed" and the
explanations of how to do these in processing
your own formulas. These are using manual
methods of calculating so if you do not have
access to a computer, you can still work out a
formula. Don't let this scare, it is much easier
than one might think. Remember that the Sap
Values are for making hard bar soaps using
"Sodium Hydroxide".
Under "Superfatting" you will find explanations
of what this is and the different ways in order
to add more moisturizing to your handmade from
scratch soaps.
What do the numbers mean? The numbers below are for making a hard bar soap using
sodium hydroxide (NaOH). The number (sap value) is the amount that it will take to fully
saponify 1 oz. of that oil. The numbers for NaOH are lower than the numbers for
Potassium Hydroxide (KOH), because sap values come from the use of KOH due to it being
the lye used to make soap before NaOH was developed. Potassium Hydroxide (KOH) is what is
used today to make a liquid soap. To calculate your formula by hand look at the calculating lye
section below. And if you wish to use our online calculator, you will find it here
TLC Soaps and Sundries Lye Calculator click to go to page.
NOTE: Please remember that all oils/fats, have a range
of sap values, so some places will have a different sap value listed then is
here or on our lye calculator, but they will all come out to be about the
same.
|
| Oil |
Sap Value |
Hard Bar |
Lather |
Conditioning |
Iodine |
Almond Oil
(Sweet) |
.136 |
NO |
stable |
high
(special) |
93-105 |
Apricot Kernel
Oil |
.135 |
NO |
stable |
high
(special) |
92-108 |
|
Avocado Oil |
.133 |
NO |
stable |
high
(special) |
80-95 |
Canola Oil
(Rapeseed) |
.132 |
NO |
light |
light |
105-120 |
|
Castor Oil |
.128 |
NO |
high |
moderate |
82-92 |
|
Cocoa Butter |
.137 |
YES |
stable |
high
(special) |
33-45
harder bar |
Coconut Oil
76° |
.178 |
YES |
high |
moderate |
-10
harder bar |
|
Corn Oil |
.136 |
NO |
light |
moderate |
104-129 |
|
Emu Oil |
.139 |
YES |
stable |
high
(special) |
90-103
harder bar |
Evening
Primrose Oil |
.133 |
NO |
light |
high
(special) |
135-165 |
|
Flaxseed Oil |
.136 |
NO |
light |
light
(special) |
105-115 |
|
Grapeseed Oil |
.133 |
NO |
light |
moderate |
125-142 |
|
Hazelnut Oil |
.1356 |
NO |
light |
high |
90-103 |
|
Hemp Oil |
.135 |
NO |
light |
moderate
(special) |
160-170 |
|
Jojoba |
.069 |
NO |
none |
high
(special) |
80-85 |
|
Kukui Nut |
.135 |
NO |
light |
moderate |
160-175 |
|
Lanolin |
.075 |
NO |
none |
moderate |
18-36 |
|
Lard |
.138 |
YES |
stable |
moderate |
43-45
harder bar |
Macadamia
Nut Oil |
.139 |
NO |
light |
moderate |
73-79 |
| Neem Oil |
.136 |
NO |
light |
high
(special) |
84-94 |
| Olive Oil |
.134 |
YES |
stable |
high
(special) |
79-95
harder bar |
| Palm Kernel |
.178 |
YES |
high |
high |
37-42
harder bar |
| Palm Oil |
.144 |
YES |
stable |
high |
45-57
harder bar |
| Peanut Oil |
.136 |
NO |
light |
moderate |
93 |
| Safflower Oil |
.136 |
NO |
light |
moderate |
86-119 |
| Sesame Oil |
.133 |
NO |
light |
moderate |
105-115 |
| Shea Butter |
.128 |
YES |
light |
high
(special) |
54-71 |
Soybean Oil
(liquid veg.) |
.135 |
NO |
light |
light |
124-132 |
| Sunflower Oil |
.134 |
NO |
light |
high |
85 |
| Tallow |
.141 |
YES |
stable |
moderate |
43-47
harder bar |
Veg. Shortening
(Soybean) |
.136 |
YES |
stable |
moderate |
90-95
harder bar |
| Walnut Oil |
.135 |
NO |
light |
moderate |
140-150 |
| Wheat germ Oil |
.131 |
NO |
light |
high
(special) |
125-135
|
| Oil |
Sap Value |
Hard Bar |
Lather |
Conditioning |
Iodine |
|
Beeswax |
.069 |
YES |
light |
light |
25-28?
harder bar |
|
Stearic Acid |
.141 |
YES |
light |
high |
37-45
harder bar |
|
NOTE: I have included Palm Stearic Acid at the
bottom, this can be used to make a harder bar of
soap. But if you use more than 3% to about 5% in
your formula you are going to have a problem
getting it poured up fast enough. This makes a
very hard bar of soap and aids in helping lather
last longer. It will also speed trace of your
soap, so you will need to have your fragrances,
herbs, etc., ready for adding within 5 to 15
minutes, again according to your formula and how
much hard oils you already have in it and how
you process it.
Superfatting or Lye Discount
Superfatting is when some of the oils are left
suspended in the soap to give more moisturizing
to the skin. One of the ways this is done is by
"discounting" the lye. If you look at the
saponification chart for the oils, you will see
that the sap values are for fully saponifying
the soap so there will be no loose oils in the
soap. The way that superfatting is accomplished
and lets use a 5% discount, is by taking the
amount of lye that you have calculated for your
formula and multiplying it by 95%. So say we
need 8 ozs. of lye for our formula, we take 8 x
95%=7.6 oz. of lye needed to make a soap that is 5%
superfatted. This will be explained more under
"Calculating Lye". The purpose of superfatting
the soap is to give a more moisturizing quality
to the soap, therefore making it milder for the
skin.
You can also add the oils at trace when making
your soap. I do like calculating the full
amounts of oils that I am going to use so that I
know about how much superfatting I will be
getting from the soap. I then can hold out a few
ozs. of the special oil that I want suspended in
the soap. I feel that when adding at trace the
lye process has slowed down a bit and the oil
added then will be the oil that is more
suspended in the soap. Experimenting with this
process has brought me to this conclusion. One
can also make a superfatted soap when
Handmilling soap by adding a tsp. or so per lb.
of soap being melted to add more moisturizing to
the soap.
Calculating Lye
This is really a very easy process of
multiplication and addition. When you look at
the Sap Value chart you will see a decimal
number beside it, this number is the amount of
lye that it takes to saponify 1 oz of the oil.
So lets take a formula and break it down and
find what is needed to make it fully saponified
and then break it down to make it 5% superfatted.
We will use a 5 oil formula for this.
6 oz Olive Oil
6 oz Lard
6 oz Shortening
2 oz Castor Oil
2 oz Coconut Oil
Now to calculate the amount of lye needed for
each oil we take the sap value of the oil and
multiply it by the number of ozs. that will be
used. Refer up the page to the chart to see what
the sap value is for the oils used.
Olive .134 x 6 = .804
Lard .138 x 6 = .828
Shortening .136 = .816
Castor .1286 x 2 = .2572
Coconut .190 x 2 = .380
When we total these figures we get 3.08 oz. of
lye needed to fully saponify the soap. Now this
will make a very hard bar of soap, but will give
no moisturizing to the skin. So now in order to
superfat to add moisture to the soap, we will
take a discount of the lye and bring it to 5%
superfatted. We will then take the 3.08 and
multiply by 95% and this will give us 2.926
round up to 2.93 oz of lye to make a 5%
superfatted soap.
If you wish to superfat even more you would take
away from 100 the amount of superfatting you
want. Here are a few more listed to help.
6% superfatting is 94% x's the total amount of
lye to get the amount you need
7% superfatting is 93% x's the total amount of
lye to get the amount you need
8% superfatting is 92% x's the total amount of
lye to get the amount you need
9% superfatting is 91% x's the total amount of
lye to get the amount you need
10% superfatting is 90% x's the total amount of
lye to get the amount you need
etc.
Figuring liquid needed and doing a liquid reduction
This process is to help your figure out the
amount of water or water/milk or herbal teas you
will need to use for dissolving your lye. I
figure my liquids by taking the total weight of
the oils and dividing by 3, this is approx 33%
liquid used. All the formulas that are on
the site have the water figured at 33% and at
this percentage it makes for a firmer bar out of
the mold. And one can reduce the liquid more by
discounting the water a bit more, but be careful
not to go to low when making your soap or you
can have a bar that is brittle and possibly lye
heavy because there was not enough water to help
the saponification stage complete.
Cold
Processed (CP) soaps work best when doing the
discount of the water. Please remember that for Hot Processed (HP)
soaps it is really best to use all the water
for HP soaps. And I find that
the 33% that I use works just fine for me and that is the total amount
that I use in any formula.
So for a 48 oz. formula it would be 16 oz. for
liquid instead of 18 oz. of liquid which is
the old amount that would be used by the books and some online sources.
I go even
further sometimes and reduce my liquid by
another 3% in batches 5 lbs. and over then using
30% liquid. So for 80 ozs. it would show 26 ozs.
for liquid when 80 is divided by 3, 33% liquid
and not the 30 ozs. of liquid which is
the old amount that would be used by the books and some online sources.
And then reducing it
again by 3% by dividing 80 by 30% would make it
24 ozs. for liquid. I usually round down from
any decimal that might come up to the nearest
whole number.
The larger amount of liquid that
you see me referring to were the figures that
come up when using the lye calculators that are
on the net. Some of them have now changed that to show ranges to amounts
of liquid that can be used. With
using the less water calculations, you have
plenty of water to dissolve the lye and make the
mixture saponify, also making the soap not so
wet when cut and dry faster for faster packaging and selling.
You can also use multiplications to figure your
liquid needed. Take 80 ozs., a 5 lbs. total
formula and multiply it times 33%, this will
give you the 26 ozs., again rounding down to the
whole number and if you want to take a further
reduction you can us 30% and this will give you
the 24 ozs. This is for milk, water or herbal
teas used as your liquid for you soap. Here is
our base formula we will figure what liquid we
will need for it.
6 oz Olive Oil
6 oz Lard
6 oz Shortening
2 oz Castor Oil
2 oz Coconut Oil
Take the total of the oils, 22 oz. and multiply
by 33% and you get 7.26 oz. of liquid needed,
you can round this down to 7 oz. And if you
want to reduce the water further use 30% as you
number and you will get 6.6 oz. needed, again
you can round this down to 6 oz.
The 30% is as far
as I would go in reducing the liquid for the
smaller batches of soap that are from 16 oz. of oils to 32 oz. If the amount of oils in the formula are 36 oz. to
64 oz., then
one can go to about 25% to 27% for the reduction. For amounts above 64 oz.
of oils you can go lower if you like. But I do recommend that one never goes
below 22% when reducing the water, milk, herbal tea, etc. in soap formulas.
If you wish to reduce more for the larger batches of soap,
that can be done. I have gone as far as 22%
liquid used for my batches are are over 80 oz. of oils.
This makes for a very quick trace, hard bar, so it is best to have processed
several batches of soap to know what a light/medium trace is, which is best
to pour soap at, in my opinion. Remember though if making and HP soap it
is best to have at least 33% water or water/milk
in the soaps.
All info posted to site in 1998. Updated in 2004.
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