Are you tired of your soap sticking to your plastic molds? Perhaps a wooden soap mold can make the difference and help you preserve your soap without necessarily losing part of it.
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When you first start making soap, you start making small matches. However, if you truly get into it, you’ll start making soap in large quantities, which means that you’ll need bigger and more useful molds.
What if we told you that making a wooden soap mold is extremely easy?
Here we explain how you can make a DIY wooden soap mold with things that you already have at home. This thorough guide will help you put together a soap mold that will continue to be useful for several years.
How big is a soap mold?
As you probably know, there are numerous shapes and sizes of molds. However, in general, and ideal size is 13.2″ Length, 9.8″ Width, and 2.6″ Height. But most people use soap molds with different measurements based on how much soap they make in a single batch.
Thus, if you’re trying to find a soap mold that’s big enough to fit all the soap bars you’re trying to make, we recommend not to look for soap molds that fit any particular recipe.
For instance:
Suppose you typically make around 10 soap bars with each soap batch. Let’s say that each bar has dimensions of 1″ thick x 3″ wide and 2″ tall. In this case, you can use a log mold with measurements of 10″ long x 3″ wide x 2 and a half or 3″ high.
However, note that these dimensions are not universal. The size of the mold you’ll use should be determined by the materials you use. You can use lye and oil calculators to help yourself find the right fit for your recipe.
But personally, I think it would be best if you stick to molds that you like based on their size. If you continue searching for a soap mold that fits “perfectly” in a particular recipe, you’ll end up spending money unnecessarily but most likely also end up very frustrated.
How to make wooden soap molds (step by step guide)
Here’s how you can make a wooden soap mold in easy steps. We’ll guide you through the whole process, from choosing the preferred wood for the mold to determining the dimension of the soap mold’s board.
Making wooden soap molds is always a better option than choosing other options because:
- It’s easy to store them.
- They are versatile, and you can easily change their dimensions easily.
- You don’t have to invest that much to build it. Some extra additions to the mold are optional.
- If you make them properly, they can grow to be essential tools in your soap-making process.
With that being said, let’s start exploring how you can make a wooden soap mold in easy steps. First, we’ll start by collecting the right materials.
What supplies do you need to make a wooden soap mold?
The first step to make your wooden soap mold is to collect the items you’ll need, which are the following:
- Wood glue: Wood glue is an optional ingredient, but it can help you securely fasten each board.
- Wood screws– Like wood glue, the wood screws will help you fasten the boards securely.
- Steel bolts and nuts – You’ll need four sets of steel bolts, as well as their nuts. You can choose among the different options available -whatever you think works best for you. While it is recommended to use bolts with a diameter of 5/8″, you can use any other option you think is suitable.
- Steel washers: This is optional, but it is highly recommended if you wouldn’t like the bolt’s head and the nut to “dig” into the boards.
A power drill will be necessary for you to predrill the holes where your screws and bolts go in. You don’t need to get anything expensive. The standard drill bits the power drill you have at home can do a perfect job.
You may also need a saw to cut the wood boards into their desired size.
What about the wood?
You can use pretty much any type of wood you like. Most soap artisans recommend using one of the following woods as they’re better insulators:
- Poplar
- Pine
- Baltic birch plywood
These woods are affordable and easy to work with, although pine is known to be best for prolonged use. Also, be sure the wood you’ve chosen hasn’t been chemically processed or contains glue, which may add toxic chemicals to your soap.
How do you determine the dimensions of a soap mold’s boards?
The next step is to determine the dimensions of the boards. Here are some tips you can take into account:
- The end boards of your soap should go in accordance with the side boards when it comes to height. They should also be about one inch taller than the desired fill capacity of the mold.
- The end board should fit the width of the soap loaf you usually make.
- You can change the end boards if you want to modify the width of the cavity. If that’s what you want, you can also opt to make diverse sets so you can modify your wooden soap mold based on the amount of soap you’re trying to make.
- You can calculate the length of your side boards if you add the thickness of the end boards and the length of the soap loaf you usually make, plus 3 inches.
- As for your base board, its length should go in accordance with the side boards. As for the width, you can find out the optimal dimensions by adding the height, the width of your desired soap loaf, and the width of your side boards.
You can use the instructions if you want to make a personalized wooden soap mold. However, here we have a few examples for the dimensions of each board you can take into account. These dimensions are a good match for soap molds with the following measurements: 3.5 inches wide x 2.5 inches tall x 10 inches long.
- Base bard (only one unit) – 14.5 inches long x 6 inches width
- Side boards (two units) – 4.5 inches long x 3.5 inches tall
- End boards (two units) – 3.5 inches wide x 3.5 inches tall
These dimensions are hugely versatile. It’s highly recommendable to use them if this is your first time working with wood.
Building the wooden soap mold
Step one
Take the side boards and drill the holes where you’ll put the bolts. Make sure that the drill bit matches the bolt’s diameter. Drill two holes in both ends.
You can guide yourself by marking the center of the board, then making the end of the soap cavity, and then using a ruler to measure the optimal placement of the drill holes. Please make sure they are even with each other. If you don’t want to do the same job twice, you can put each piece on top of each other. This will also make sure that each side has even drilled holes.
Step two
Next up, we’ll start creating the base of your wooden soap mold. You can begin by lining up one side board on the base board’s bottom. Then, use a pencil so you can line up where you’ll place the wood screws. Once done, you can proceed to predrill the holes.
When you finish with this, you can add a thin layer of wood glue t the top edge of the base board. Then, you can proceed to clamp the side board into the base.
Step three
The last step is to assemble your new mold. The holes should indicate how you can start building it easily.
You can put washers in the spaces between each bolt and the wood. Once you finish tightening the nuts onto the bolts, you’ll have finished your soap mold. You can proceed to line it and use it as necessary.
If you want to make your soap mold bigger in width, you can opt for exchanging the end boards for different-sized ones, as mentioned above.
Conclusion
Wooden soap molds are an excellent option if you are tired of your soap sticking to the mold when it’s time to unmold them. They are easy to line and extremely resistant in the long term – plus, they are hard enough to keep the soap secure at all times.
You can also modify this DIY project for the soap mold to match a silicone liner. This way, you won’t need to line it every time you’re making soap, making the process even more straightforward.
Wooden soap molds are the best option when it comes to making soap. While purchasing a premade can be a bit expensive, making one yourself is quite affordable and easy!
