Ivory bath soap ???

[larryw]

I have seen here & other places, Ivory
bath soap mentioned as an additive
to different lubes. Also, in a box of
"Stuff" from an old old caster i received many many moons ago, were several bars of Ivory soap?? What is it used for
& why, as far as lube goes ????
There was also a large slab of what I thought was bees wax?
but when I unwrapped it, it is light pink & had a slight smell
of ATF , any ideas on that one. If it was just bees wax not a
problem, could use it for all sorts of stuff but, light pink &
ATF smell?? Me no habla that stuff ????? But I still have it!!
Thanks everyone, Take care & be safe...

[trapper9260]

I use it to make my boolit lube with ATF . It is the old NRA boolit lube that calls for some in it ..I do not have the mix with me now . Yes you use bees wax also in it. The light pink that smells like ATF is the lube that was made , that is how it looks when done. I put it in my Lyman 450 bullet lube & sizer. on here some time ago I found someone made the molds to make to put it in your 450 . The Ivory soap help in the mix of what you use to make the lube. To have it all stay mix.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Felix says about Ivory soap one of his formulas, "The soap base gives our concoction body and keeps
our ingredients in emulsion"
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...ull=1#post6855

If the percentage of Soap is high enough and incorporated/cooked correctly in a Lube formula will chemically change the ingredients into a Soap Grease, significantly raising the melt temp.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...how-to-make-it

In smaller percentages and not necessarily cooked as hot as SL-68B, but cooked longer (as Felix lube requires), it will lengthen the melt temp range (creating a "gel state"), which will likely raise the "liquid state" melt temp a small amount.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

SNIP...

There was also a large slab of what I thought was bees wax?
but when I unwrapped it, it is light pink & had a slight smell
of ATF , any ideas on that one. If it was just bees wax not a
problem, could use it for all sorts of stuff but, light pink &
ATF smell?? Me no habla that stuff ????? But I still have it!!
Thanks everyone, Take care & be safe...

I wonder if that is Junior's 411 lube"

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...l=1#post293583

[redhawk0]

I believe Felix mentioned it was a source for Sodium Stearate. IIRC...It's a binding agent....chemically speaking. I've used it when making Felix Lube.

redhawk

[EDIT] - found my file. This was compiled from a long thread regarding Felix lube...but right from the man himself back in the early 2000s.

Bullet Lube Recipe-Felix.pdf

[Rcmaveric]

You use the soap as a binder for all your ingredients. It helps saponify all your grease and oils and holds them all together. Also helps raise the lubes melt temp. Soap lubes are better for hot weather and great for climates with drastic temp differences (cough cough Florida). Gives you a nice moldable plasticized lube. Once solidify, it doesnt remelt all that easily.

Bee wax by its self does a great job holding your lube together, but can suffer to heat and hot sun and foul your powder. Adding paraphin wax can stiffen your lube and raise melt temp, but can make your lube too hard and flaky but can also melt and foul powder

Its the sodium stearate in it that does the magic. Its just cheaper and easy to buy ivory soap.

Read through the Lube Quest post to learn more about soap lubes.

That pink stuff is most assuredly soap bullet lube.

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[Hip's Ax]

I remember Felix posting this explanation on why he used Ivory bar soap and not the powdered chemical Sodium stearate. Read the Felix Lube sticky in this forum, its a great read.

"Sodium stearate is the most questionable ingredient because of impurities, either from a manufacturer as the "pure" chemical which it ain't ever going to be, or as scraped from a soap bar. I think the purest I was ever going to pay for from a manufacturer was something under 65 percent. Ivory and most homemade simple soaps have that amount. But, every soap batch I have ever made, or bought as Ivory, has been significantly different in the amount needed to glue the lube constituents. ... felix "

[John Boy]

Here’s a read .... all lubes fully detailed ... http://www.lasc.us/LubeIngredients.htm

[edp2k]

Keep in mind that, many years ago (1960's? 1970's) sodium stearate was an ingredient in ivory soap and many other soaps.
That, and steric acid, is what made soaps actually (chemically) be soap.
The "steric" name indicates that the source of the fat was beef tallow, or possibly some other animal tallow/rendered animal fat.

The classic soap is a bit rough on the skin (dries it out).
Since then, companies have gradually and continually changed the formulation of bar soaps to include, and have more and more of,
other "soaps", such as sodium palmate (made with palm oil or olive oil), and other soaps made with various types of vegetable oils.
These non-stearate soaps generally clean your hands just as well as Sodium Stearate but are not as harsh to your skin,
and thus the ladies liked it better. It may even smell better.
Thus soap companies named "palm-olive".

My point is, a number of years ago (10?) I read the ingredient label on a bar of ivory soap and neither sodium stearate nor
steric acid was listed as an ingredient, and the various other kinds of soaps, like sodium palmate, were listed.

Moral of the story: there ain't no sodium stearate in ivory soap no more.
That's probably why Felix noted that he had to use more and more ivory soap in his lube to get the same effect,
and Felix has been gone for a number of years, so ivory soap has probably changed even more since he last used it.

Now the question is, does sodium palmate and other similar non-stearate soaps have the same properties
for our lube making purposes?
I don't know. I am GUESSING it does but you need more, as empirically shown by Felix's anecdotes.

FYI this is similar to the statement that "tin can be gotten from used toothpaste tubes".
Maybe in the 1950s/1960s but for the past 40 or so years they have either been aluminum or now plastic,
ain't tin no more .

[John Boy]

http://www.lasc.us/LubeIngredients.htm#sodiumstearate

[longbow]

As stated above, the Ivory soap or sodium stearate binds/chemically changes the ingredients to make the lube homogenous like a grease.

Many years ago I made simple lube recipe from Lee (IIRC) that used paraffin and oil. It turned out kinda like a slushy as the oil and wax emulsified but didn't bind. It worked but I am sure the oil would and could bleed off and contaminate powder.

A few years ago I wanted to make Felix lube but of course didn't have beeswax so used paraffin. I also used Lucas Red 'N Tacky grease because I had some. The result was okay but not Felix lube and didn't stick to boolits very well. I then added an oil treatment to make it stickier. That worked well and I still use it. The addition of the Ivory soap makes it look and act like a really thick, sticky grease.

Longbow

[imashooter2]

Bought some Ivory today. It is definitely changed from just a couple years ago. The bar had a very high water content. It plugged up a grater. I wound up putting it through one of those crank graters that are used to put hard cheese on salads and such. The curls are sitting on a paper towel to dry for a few days. Not sure whether I’ll use it in lube or not.

[trapper9260]

When I use it in my mix, I just shave off what feels right to me and go with it, It been working ok for me all the years I been using .

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Bought some Ivory today. It is definitely changed from just a couple years ago. The bar had a very high water content. It plugged up a grater. I wound up putting it through one of those crank graters that are used to put hard cheese on salads and such. The curls are sitting on a paper towel to dry for a few days. Not sure whether I’ll use it in lube or not.

don't be afraid of the moisture, it will boil off...and that boiling action will help it get incorporated into the mix quicker. Fresh Ivory soap has always had a pretty high moisture content, if what you had a few years ago, sat on the store shelf for several months or a year, some moisture will evaporate out, even in the wrapper.

For preping fresh Ivory for lube cooking, I just use a knife and shave off thin wafer/slivers.

[imashooter2]

This stuff was really wet. Higher moisture content than I’ve ever seen in a bar soap. It was so soft I cut inch chunks off the bar to feed the grater like cutting meat.

The moisture isn’t what is giving me pause for using it in lube. I’m concerned it won’t do the job of keeping the oil in the wax like the good old days.

[farmbif]

sounds kind of like an experience I had with a couple big boxes of candles I bought on clearance. thinking they would be a cheap source of paraffin. well turns out they Are definitely not paraffin, I';m not sure what they are made of but the stuff aint even slick and cannot get them to drip when burins or if I put a flame to the side of one. can't shave them with a knife either they just chip up and crumble. manufacturers these days are finding all sorts of inexpensive substitutes and many times there's no way to tell what is actually in the stuff. more reason for me anyway to just stick with white label lube premade stuff that I know will properly lube my cast boolits

[Shanghai Jack]

Going waaaaaaaaaaaay back, it seems to me that the old recipes didn't use bar Ivory bar soap but Ivory Flakes.

[Pressman]

Ivory flakes is easier to mix. It's great when mixed with gasoline, you get homemade napalm.

[Rcmaveric]

I use soap lubes. Really helps here where its hot.

Pink stuff is bullet lube.

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