at last! soapmaking made easy!

Posted on | November 29, 2009 | 7 Comments

i’ve always had an indecent amount of fun making soap.
but nine years of it has certainly taken it’s toll on my right shoulder.
i’ve got some crunching clicking damage in there, exacted from years of whisking huge vats of thick soap, like an utter madwoman.
but me no complain.

for ages i looked around to some alternative mixing arrangement that suited our style of soapmaking and worked with all the elaborate finishes we like to fool around with.
in june i decided on the mighty mixer from an american soap equipment company and after a lot of emails quizzing them on how it worked exactly (i really should have just flown there and tried the thing out, but it all worked out ok in the end), i bought it and had it shipped over.

after a bit of a learning curve to use it most efficiently, we were roaring along beautifully, but with one small problem. the design of the thing required us to raise and lower very heavy buckets of oils and then raw soap, so the mixer blades went INTO the buckets.
it wasn’t possible to tilt and slide….we had to manually lift…while stooped over….and then dexterously kick an arrangement of chopping boards and crates delicately and accurately into place beneath the bucket.
just hideous, really and such a strain too.

i pondered for a couple of weeks.
i needed something that would either
1. lift the mixer and lower it
or
2. lift and lower the soap buckets

one day i had an absolute brainwave.
i recalled a brochure i had seen, with a particular item in it.
a sort of hydraulically operated small platform, capable of lifting 150 kilos as high as i needed it and certainly small enough to fit in around the mixer legs.
to pump it up is the work of two seconds with a foot pedal.
to lower it is but a simple squeeze of a hand lever.
the action is smooth, nothing is spilled or slopping around.

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