How to make lye from sodium hydroxide

The Basics of Making Lye

Lye is an alkaline solution that is used to make soaps, as a cleaning product, and sometimes as a solution to cure foods.

It is potassium hydroxide, sometimes called caustic soda, and has a pH of about 13.

How to make lye from baking soda

Where to buy lye

How to make lye from salt

How is lye made from ashes

What is lye used for

This level of alkalinity can burn your skin and corrode some materials so you need to take precautions when making lye.

One way to produce lye in your home kitchen is with rainwater and hardwood ash, which you will have to collect.

You need a wooden barrel, metal containers for the ashes, a rain barrel to collect the water, and safe containers to capture the leached lye water. The process involves boiling the ashes from a hardwood fire (soft woods have too much resin to mix with fat) in a little soft water—rainwater is best.

What is lye

Boil for about half an hour, let the ashes settle to the bottom of the pan, and then skim the liquid lye off the top.

A drill is necessary to make the holes in the barrel, and you will also need small pebbles and straw. Tools for testing pH, such as strips or a meter, are helpful when testing t

how is lye made commercially

how sodium hydroxide is made