- 1). Find a suitable bucket in which to make the lye from wood ash. The bucket should be deep and can be made from plastic. One such container is an old diaper pail. A five- gallon bucket is also suitable but is smaller than an old diaper pail.
- 2). Use a screw driver to make a hole in the bucket one-eighth inch in diameter and one inch from the bottom. Use care so that the plastic does not crack in the process of creating the hole. As long as you drill the hole slowly, you shouldn't have any problems.
- 3). Use the nail to plug the hole in the pail or bucket. The nail should fit securely so that no liquid can come out from between the hole and the nail.
- 4). Place the bucket so that the contents can drain into the smaller bucket. You may need to prop the bucket up on another object, such as a chair. Just be sure that the chair you are planning to use is not something you want to use again aside from when making lye. An old plastic lawn chair works great for this purpose.
- 5). Slowly add the wood ash to the bucket with the hole in it. Be sure to use ash from hard wood, as hard wood ash creates a better lye from wood ash. Use only the white ash, not the charcoal bits. The black bits of charcoal are not needed and can be discarded at this point. Fill the bucket at least half way with the white wood ash slowly as to not kick up too much dust.
- 6). Boil soft water to fill the bucket or pail halfway with water. The softest water available comes from the sky in the form of rain or snow. If rain water or snow is available, use that. Tap water is also okay to use to make lye from wood ash, especially if your home uses a water softener.
- 7). Put on the safety goggles and rubber gloves before slowly pouring the boiling water over the wood ash in the bucket. The water and wood ash will probably fizz and bubble. The water may also appear to just sit on top of the lye, which is also fine.
- 8). Keeping the gloves and goggles on, remove the nail from the bucket. The lye water may begin to drip from the bucket with the wood ash into the empty bucket at this point. If the water does not begin to drain out right away, don't worry- sometimes the process just takes a little while.
- 9). Leave the buckets alone for several hours to several days. When all the lye water has dripped into the previously empty bucket, you can proceed to the next step. Plug the hole with the nail.
- 10
Using safety goggles and rubber gloves, carefully pour the lye water from the bucket into a pan that you plan to never use for food. It's a good idea, if you don't have such a pan at home, to go to a thrift store or resale shop to pick one up cheaply. Be sure the pan is not lined with Teflon coating. - 11
Bring the lye water to a boil on the stove. Be sure no food is on the stove when the lye water is boiling and be sure to continue to wear safety goggles and rubber gloves throughout this process. Replace the now empty bucket in order to catch the lye water. - 12
Slowly pour the boiling lye water onto the wood ash, still wearing rubber gloves and safety goggles. The liquid and ash will hiss and bubble at this point. - 13
Unplug the hole by removing the nail to allow the lye to drip into the bucket in which the lye water was collected previously. Let the set-up sit for another several hours to several days. - 14
Place the egg in the cold lye water. If the egg sinks, the lye is not strong enough. You'll have to repeat steps 10-14 until the lye is at the correct strength. If the egg floats on top of the lye water, it is too strong. Add some fresh water to the lye and repeat steps 10-14. If the egg floats on the water with a little water above it, the strength is just right. Proceed to step 15. - 15
Place the lye water in the sun in a protected area for several weeks until the water evaporates and crystals form. At this point you can use your lye crystals to make soap!
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