Lining wooden soap molds

by Sherri
(Wilmington, NC)

A friend has made an ingenious soap mold for me, I think...

It is a wooden "box" with plastic inserts for exact soap cuts.

The bottom and top come off and the soaps should push easily out of the middle.

The problem is that the middle cannot be lined.

Do you know if the lining in standard wooden molds is solely to ease soap removal, or will the wood/soap touching cause other problems?

As always, advice, comments, and suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Answer:

If I understand you correctly, the plastic grid does not come out of the wooden soap mold leaving the raw soap in contact with the outer wooden ring?

The wood will stain the soap and will slowly deteriorate over continual contact with the lye in the soap.

The soap will also stick to the wood edges and be quite difficult to remove.

If possible, I would have your friend make the grid removable as well. That way you can put the bottom on the mold, line it and then insert the grid.

Unmolding would (theoretically) be easy as well. You would just have to remove the top and bottom, slide the soap out and push the soaps out of the grid.

Another option would be to glue/tape thin pieces of plastic in each grid slot that has wood contact.

Good luck,
Cathy