Soap -Turning Slivers into a Single Cake

I like the idea of just putting the slivers in a jar of water and using it for hand washing.

I do same. The main problem is that sometimes I don't let the small piece get small enough and it doesn't have enough contact area. Soaps with a slight concave surface work best for this.

Yup!

Works for me too.

Stu

That's pretty much the technique I use, but take it a step further. Rub the two pieces together to 'friction weld' them. This also probably serves to push out most of the moisture that might get caught between them.

Me too. I just make sure both the sliver and the host are well wet, compress the two in the palms of the hands to form the sliver against the host bar and by the next day, they have been melded together. The amount of money I save by extending the use of a bar of soap is absolutely miniscule, but the emotional return on investment of penny pinching can not be underestimated.

Waste not, want not.

Liquid soap is the potassium formulation, solid soap is the sodium formulation. Can use water as a solvent and press the material into a solid bar again then dry. Pressure is more the answer to this problem, as you indicated by pressing the pieces into bars.

Wait till your wife's not looking and cut the foot off a pair of her pantyhose. Put the slivers in there and tie it closed. No, No! Not that! I meant put the soap in the cutoff foot, not in her pantyhose! Whew.

In the soap industry it is just pressed to cake in molds. If the quantity is large, it can be extruded.

Bioramani

I think some of us really need to get a life.

I see you're here. (And hiding.)

Hah!

We're enjoying this. It's a fundamental profundity of life. S.

Rather rude for a guest. Who are you to critize how people spend their time?

I have tried this many times during the years and for some reason, I usually get a black fungus growing with in a couple of weeks after making the slurry, blending, and drying out. I tried stainless pans, glass pans, and plastic for the dehydration.

Makes me wonder how much protein is in soap and what fungicides are used at the factory.

I do have a life, just an over inquisitive mind, like any good tinker.

I remember my grandmother had a rubber mold for soap. She put her scrap pieces in the mold with water and they dried into a new cake. (She had raised her family during the Great Depression and had many clever ways to pinch pennys.)

And yes, I have no life.

Hi guys,

during and after the war my grandparents had a small wire mesh basket into which all the slivers of soap went. I personally was never able to keep slivers of soap together whatever I did, I have tried all the ideas in this thread but none worked - they all came apart at the next washing!!

Just wanted to share a war time experience!

Have fun

Sleepy

During the Second World War soap was hard to come by. They used to sell small (3" x 3") medium mesh bags with a draw string.

The leftover pieces of soap were placed in the bag and the drawstring tightened. Wet the bag and scrub.

Even circa 1994 soap was hard to come-by in Zaire ... virtually worth its weight in gold well, silver anyway...

When our boat pulled up dockside at "Banana Base", people literally scrambled towards us with every imaginable hand-made / hand-carved object you could imagine. And the favored thing for which they wanted to trade was soap, as there was no factory in-country producing same.

I will never forget asking one of the locals: "What is your principal unit or denomination of currency called?", with the response being "the Zaire".

Further, asking: "What is a Zaire note worth?" , the response was a gigantic Ear-to-Ear grin, with a (laughing) "NAU-THING!!!"

The things we take for granted, eh?

Thanks, SS.

Unfortunately, I am not allowed any pointed objects here at the home.

Since you have already been given a GA, I'll add one vote to it.

I used tooth picks once to join the bars. That was a mistake. I forgot to take the toothpicks out before I tried to use it. Looked like I'd been in a cat fight.

Lehman57: Seriously I take all my broken soap pieces (I used to have more from my Motel stops, when I travelled More) place in a tall shaving cup, if any pieces are longer than the top of the cup, I cut it in half. Leave this cup with warm water in it, upto half way on the taller slivers of soap. This is where I leave my Shaving Brush, it always ready when I wish to save with my Cheap Bic Razors. Canada' Senior Retired Traveller,Carl.

Since the question was asked!

I use a bar of soap until it becomes to small to handle then store it on my shower rack. When i have three or four pieces I toss them into the shower basin and leave them for as long as it takes to soften them to the right consistency, when ready mold them into one cake and back to the rack to dry out. There is a loss of scent but a satisfaction of waste not want not, it works great.

Alternatively cut a slit hole in a large sponge and insert soap use as required.