Lye

[Chef Isaac]

I was asked to make some cold pressed soap for a few honey customers. Where do I buy the lye?

[taipantoo]

You can make it with hardwood ashes and water.

[odfrank]

When I used to boil frames in it, I think I bought it at the supermarket.

[Dick Allen]

Betterbee sells Red Devil brand lye, but I imagine it has to be shipped HazMat. It's not as common in the stores as it once was. I took Betterbee's basic soapmaking class last March, and the instructor advised against using products like Drano because she thought they contained other ingredients besides lye.

I found some in Lowe's. It's sold as Roebic brand crystal drain opener. On the back of the container is the statement: "Roebic Crystal Drain Opener is 100% sodium hydroxide (caustic soda)." As I remember, it was located in the household cleaners section of the store.

[berkshire bee]

google lye an you will get a list of suppliers. Camden grey has one with the lowest prices. I've gotten mine at Betterbee. These are sodium hydroxide. If you make it with wood ash I believe you get potassium hydroxide. From what I've read the thing with making your own is it's hard to control the strength.

So I checked out camden grey and there were two complaints about them. One was about poor quality of essential oils, and bugs in their herbs. Also complaints about bad service etc. One person said they would only buy containers from them. Anyone ever dealt with them?

[nutso]

I've bought from these folks - they're fast, professional, and their prices are competitive. Their shipping rates are quite reasonable - the best deal is to make one order to maximize the cost of shipping since there's a pretty broad range of pounds that ship for the same dollars. Seems like a lot of companies make some of their money on shipping.

Hollie Mulhaupt CEO
Texas Herbal Body Solutions
http://www.texasherbalbodysolutions.com
Texas Natural Supply
http://www.texasnaturalsupply.com
1-866-975-9753 Toll Free
512-266-8141 (Locally in Austin, TX)
512- 266-0929 Fax

Good luck!

[Bizzybee]

Ace hardware has it.

[Grant]

I'm in the same boat. I'm going to try to make soap this winter, mostly for my farmer's market stand in the summer. Likely make some plain soap (what ignorant people called "lye soap," but technically, it's ALL lye soap), some honey & oatmeal.

I have been inspired by Susan Miller Cavitch's "The Soapmaker's Companion." I'm shopping for wholesale lots of oils right now.

My lye source is the local farm supply store. They sell three-pound buckets of 100% lye in the plumbing section for opening sewer tile, along with the conventional 18-ounce can for opening drains (around $3.79). Rumor has it that Red Devil quit selling ley at Wal-mart and the grocery stores SUPPOSEDLY because the drug dealers were buying it to make meth.

I guess it's a secret that meth dealers don't shop at farm supply stores.

Grant
Jackson, MO

[Beaches' Bee-Haven Apiary]

Lazy Bee sells it for a good price. My mom makes soaps with out hive products and faced the same problem when they made it illeagle to sell it in most stores! here's a link to their site: http://www.lazybeestudio.com/ They have the best price we've found yet.

-Nathanael

[berkshire bee]

I just went to the site but when I tried to link to soap making supplies from 2 different places it said page is not here?

[Fuzzy]

"Where do I buy the lye?"

Ebay -- Search for Sodium Hydroxide -- Can't miss it

[Desert Viking Ranch]

We make a lot of cold process soaps and get all our lye from AAA Chemicals. I have spent a lot of time searching for the cheapest lye (including shipping) and these guys have it, their lye is top notch stuff, and their containers are great (we buy the 2lb bottles, 6-8 at a time, which last all year).

http://www.aaa-chemicals.com/sodium-hydroxide.html