Wooden Soap Molds
Wooden soap molds are exceedingly popular within the homemade soap making community and for very good reasons.
First of all, wood is a great insulator making it an ideal material for a soap mold.
Why is it important that your mold be able to retain heat? During the homemade soap making process, your soap will drastically increase in temperature due to the chemical reaction that occurs when lye is mixed with your oils.
It's widely considered to be best practice to let that heat diminish gradually allowing your soap to "cook" and cure from the heat of the reaction.
I feel that this is best done through using wood soap molds to form your product.
Although I personally cover my soap with towels or blankets to ensure proper insulation, some soap makers claim that the wood itself offers enough insulation for this step to be skipped.
Wooden soap molds are also less expensive and offer more advantages then molds made out of synthetic materials.
Nowadays you can find molds formed from many different substances.
Some of the prominent substances on the market include silicone, Acrylic plastic, stainless steel and HDPE.
Let's take a look at how wooden soap molds compare to the other types: Silicone soap molds are expensive, won't last an impressively long time and may shrink with extended use if not produced properly.
Furthermore, according to some soap makers, silicone may retain fragrances altering the intended scent of your product.
Wooden soap molds, on the other hand, are not very expensive, will last an extremely long time and will obviously never shrink.
Because a wood soap mold needs to be lined with paper, there is no chance of scents being transferred from batch to batch as long as the liner is replaced after each project.
Acrylic plastic soap molds will release your soap nicely, but are expensive and crack prematurely requiring repeated replacement.
Wooden soap molds are less expensive, won't crack due to normal use but must be lined with freezer paper.
Stainless steel soap molds will last just about forever but offer little to no insulation making the curing process rather difficult.
Wooden soap molds provide great insulation properties but, of course, will not last as long as stainless steel.
Finally, HDPE soap molds are very good if you are willing to fork out the money for one.
I strongly feel, however, that the traditional wooden mold is a better bang for your buck as the only benefit of HDPE molds are that they don't need to be lined.
As you can see, the main negative of using a mold made out of wood is that it must be lined with some type of non-stick paper.
Trust me; this is really not a big deal.
After some practice, lining your mold will become second nature and you will be able to do so in under a minute.
After weighing out all the pros and cons I personally feel that soap molds made out of wood are the best option out there.
Although they do need to be lined, the fact that they will be long lasting, cost effective and a great insulator makes them my personal pick.
First of all, wood is a great insulator making it an ideal material for a soap mold.
Why is it important that your mold be able to retain heat? During the homemade soap making process, your soap will drastically increase in temperature due to the chemical reaction that occurs when lye is mixed with your oils.
It's widely considered to be best practice to let that heat diminish gradually allowing your soap to "cook" and cure from the heat of the reaction.
I feel that this is best done through using wood soap molds to form your product.
Although I personally cover my soap with towels or blankets to ensure proper insulation, some soap makers claim that the wood itself offers enough insulation for this step to be skipped.
Wooden soap molds are also less expensive and offer more advantages then molds made out of synthetic materials.
Nowadays you can find molds formed from many different substances.
Some of the prominent substances on the market include silicone, Acrylic plastic, stainless steel and HDPE.
Let's take a look at how wooden soap molds compare to the other types: Silicone soap molds are expensive, won't last an impressively long time and may shrink with extended use if not produced properly.
Furthermore, according to some soap makers, silicone may retain fragrances altering the intended scent of your product.
Wooden soap molds, on the other hand, are not very expensive, will last an extremely long time and will obviously never shrink.
Because a wood soap mold needs to be lined with paper, there is no chance of scents being transferred from batch to batch as long as the liner is replaced after each project.
Acrylic plastic soap molds will release your soap nicely, but are expensive and crack prematurely requiring repeated replacement.
Wooden soap molds are less expensive, won't crack due to normal use but must be lined with freezer paper.
Stainless steel soap molds will last just about forever but offer little to no insulation making the curing process rather difficult.
Wooden soap molds provide great insulation properties but, of course, will not last as long as stainless steel.
Finally, HDPE soap molds are very good if you are willing to fork out the money for one.
I strongly feel, however, that the traditional wooden mold is a better bang for your buck as the only benefit of HDPE molds are that they don't need to be lined.
As you can see, the main negative of using a mold made out of wood is that it must be lined with some type of non-stick paper.
Trust me; this is really not a big deal.
After some practice, lining your mold will become second nature and you will be able to do so in under a minute.
After weighing out all the pros and cons I personally feel that soap molds made out of wood are the best option out there.
Although they do need to be lined, the fact that they will be long lasting, cost effective and a great insulator makes them my personal pick.
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