Calcium Soap Again

[Black Beard]

I made some calcium soap at the weekend. Stearic acid plus calcium hydroxide makes calcium soap plus water. Did it by melting the stearic acid then sprinkling the calcium hydroxide and stirring for a long time on a low heat. It bubbles a lot, becomes self heating for a while and eventually clears to be calcium soap. I used excess stearic acid as I didn't fancy shooting lime down my gun. The soap cools to become a brittle whitish material that can be powdered easily.

It dissolves in to hot castor oil nicely. I now have a kilo of Felix lube made with calcium soap instead of sodium soap. It might lubricate better than normal lube, not tried it yet.

Stearic acid is pretty cheap and you need very small quantities of calcium hydroxide.

BB

[leftiye]

Please let us know how it works when you find out. I would not have made it because I feel that it might not be equal in characteristics. Sodium does have a higher propensity to rust, I believe, but it seems to work fine. The other problem with making it is to get the Ph neutralized properly.

[Black Beard]

I just put in a little extra stearic acid. The internet seems to suggest it shouldn't be a problem on carbon steel.

[Nueces]

I'd like to see a test!

File or sand down a bit of steel to a smooth, clean surface, wash it with alcohol, then smear some of your concoction on it and wait a few days to test for corrosion.

[Black Beard]

http://smt.sandvik.com/en/materials-center/corrosion-tables/fatty-acids/

Looking good at normal temperatures. Better than soft soap, which is rated at 2 at 20 degrees.

Calcium stearate is used as a corrosion inhibitor (eg alox) and there is a lot on line about using faty acids as them to.

Apparently, iron can cause stearic acid to break down over time and become a bit smelly. Worth remembering to clean your gun if you use it.

[bruce381]

actually excess alkali would be better for steel rust protection than excess acid.
industrial lube grease are ALL over nutralized to be alkaline.
for rust protection steel likes high pH as in alkaline

[Black Beard]

actually excess alkali would be better for steel rust protection than excess acid.industrial lube grease are ALL over nutralized to be alkaline.for rust protection steel likes high pH as in alkalineI know, but shooting calcium hydroxide down the barrel didn't seem like a good idea.

[Black Beard]

I know, but shooting calcium hydroxide down the barrel didn't seem like a good idea.

And when I checked the hardness of calcium hydroxide mineral (portlandite) it is 2, which is less hard than copper or aluminium and only a bit above raw lead. It won't do much to a steel barrel (hardness 7+). This is good news and excess calcium hydroxide it is...

At least 74g of Ca(OH)2 to 569g of Stearic acid

or at least 910 grains to a lb.

I still don't think the excess stearate (pH 5.6) will matter but it is nice to know.

[bruce381]

do a test on clean sanded steel plate. And believe me (or not) when I tell you industrial grease will NOT pass any industry rust tests with excess acid present, they are all alkaline.

[runfiverun]

I'd check like Bruce say's, he knows this stuff inside and out.
Ph is a concern and not just for the barrel, a soft lube can get into areas you wouldn't think about looking for it.

[Black Beard]

I now have some bullet lube with some slightly acidic soap in it- probably about 20g excess stearic acid in a kilo of lube. This is going to push up the acididity a little but lanolin, beeswax and castor oil are a little acidic anyway (scary what you can learn off the internet).

I am tempted to put in a little extra calcium hydroxide anyway. That will help neutralise anything. I need to re-melt it anyway as it is not soft enough for my sizer yet. What do you think?

[runfiverun]

I'd just swipe one of my Ph tester strips through and see what the Ph is.
you can also neutralize the ph with a little baking soda, it won't hurt anything.