Important: Safety Warning
This page directs the use of hazardous substances — such as benzine, gasoline, lye, or strong acids — for household tasks. These materials are highly flammable, corrosive, or poisonous, and the practices described have caused fires, burns, and poisonings.
This information has been left in for historical purposes but should not be acted upon.
Cold Soap
Mix twenty-six pounds of melted and strained grease with four pailfuls of lye, made of twenty pounds of white potash. Let the whole stand in the sun, stirring it frequently. In the course of the week, fill the barrel with weak lye. It is much easier than to make a lye of your ashes, while quite as cheap as to dispose of your ashes to the soap-boiler.