SMF

I will definitely pass this along to Melody and let her try this. Thanks!!! Jay: If you google "DIY laundry soap" you'll find a few variations on a theme with Fels Naptha Soap, washing soda, and borax being the main ingredients. I'm considering trying it but I'm fairly convinced my wife w...

Good times. There are, of course, several possibilities ... here's what comes to mind: 1. Drain is clogged. This could be the drain fitting on the tub (inside the machine), drain hose, or the plumbing piece that's part of the house. I get a little splash on mine when the drain pump starts, making a ...

So I gave the last batch to my brothers-in-law, however I had a 1 lb block of stearic soap sitting around with nothing to do. About 3 months ago I bought a 14oz tub of lard for the purpose of making shave soap. This morning I whipped up a new batch of shave soap. I made about half a pound of soap us...

The Pinaud bay rum reminds me of the old days in the barber shop, but when applied straight is 1) too strong a scent, and 2) too cloying/lasting (my hands smell like it at the end of the day ... yuck). So what I do is put a splash in my hand (maybe 3 drops) and then water it down with some CVS ethyl...

Any company that made lube for the Merlin engine stands in good stead with me. Nice. Interesting bit from Wikipedia: The "Silkolene" brand name The Silkolene brand name has a long history, with the company originating in England. Initially, it was called Dalton and Company, being named aft...

I'm surprised that there are no comments about the USA-Portugal game. I had to listen to it on the radio (was driving back from Williamsburg, VA, from a field hockey tournament) and it was quite exciting. I wasn't happy with the last-ditch goal initiated by Ronaldo, although I do have to say that 1)...

Seems odd to me that the blades would dull that quickly. I use Bic Sensitives and I LOVE them. They are my goto razor ... I can get several weeks of excellent 3-pass shaves with 1. I bought a 12-pack bag of these puppies and I think I've used 4 of them ... it's entirely possible that I could use a 1...

Gents: Any thoughts on the relationship between a soap's "thirstyness" (when making lather) and the hydration used during saponification? For example, I make my soap with low hydration, about 30%. My soap has been described as "thirsty" and I'm wondering if upping the saponificat...

Way back when this thread was new (about a year ago) we had some discussion regarding tragacanth gum.

Did anyone ever get any and try it?

Did it do anything to the soap?

Regards-
Dave

Gents: Sorry if my initial post seemed obvious and/or cryptic. I've been using VDH cheapo boar brushes for at least 10 years ... the majority of that time I was also using Williams shave soap. The badger brush is (obviously) significantly different as the bristles are much softer and a bit "flo...

I asked for one for a Fathers Day and got one...my first badger brush.

Much softer than the boar, I immediately tried it to make a test lather. It's significantly different than the VDH boar brush.

Interesting.

Haha.

Unfortunately my iPhone takes some not-so-great pictures ...

Cheers-
Dave

Wendell:
Admittedly the first version of this experiment is ... shall we say ... a bit informal. The next experiment will involve mechanical milling in my food processor.

I had another shave with the franken-Yardley and it was excellent. Pic of the lather below.

Cheers-
Dave

So it appears as if CVS no longer sells Williams. How about that. I decided to press on with Yardley English Lavender. Note the pic ... Yardley is to the left, on the top is my bowl of stearic soap. In the plastic tupperware container I put in a few pieces of Yardley (the yellow stuff ... ... relati...

Pete: The first thing I will try is to cut a puck of Williams in half and place it in a small tupperware container...I'll then fill in the space next to the half-puck with a piece (about the same size) of stearic soap. I'll then use this to load my brush followed by face lathering. If this fails, I ...

... or maybe a more accurate title: "An Experiment in Making a Bad Shave Soap into a Good Shave Soap." Since stearic acid is the key ingredient in assuring lather stability, it occurs to me that making stearic soap and adding it to "a poor performer" ought to make it a better per...

My wholewheat version comes out very homogeneous with small air bubbles throughout, but it is denser that I would like -which is true of every wholewheat loaf I make by any means this last couple of months. The dough rises just as much as the white version, then collapses when you take it out of th...

Men's field hockey is an excellent sport. I played it growing up, but it's not very popular this side of the Pond. It sure looks like fun ... it's too bad that it's a "girls' sport" here in the United States. My daughter plays both indoor and outdoor field hockey and really enjoys it. -Dave

I've been following the FIH field hockey World Cup ... the USA ladies are doing quite well, interestingly. Should be fun to watch the playoff bracket.

... sorry for going off topic a bit ...

...

Squire:
Sounds like a bit of a rough patch, glad to hear you and yours are OK.

Future in-laws that don't drink. Errr ... on the upside more for you when you get home! (ouch)

Hope everything works out for the best.

Cheers-
Dave