Saponification Chart for Soap Making

A saponification chart or saponification table takes out the guesswork of soap making and wondering how much lye or caustic soda, also known as sodium hydroxide, you should be adding to each type of fat that you decide to use. Elaine White, the American Soapmaker, is responsible for the following chart.

Knowing the exact amount of caustic soda or sodium hydroxide should be added to the different oils or fats that you may use is important, because if you add too much, it could burn your skin. If you add too little, your soap will contain excess fat which will cause your soap to go rancid.

Use the following saponification saponification chart or table for making soap by multiplying the number of grams of oil or fats by the figure stated and this will give you the exact amount of sodium hydroxide to saponify it. For example, if you are going to use 150 g of sunflower oil or olive oil, multiply 150 x 0.134 which will give you 20.1 grams. You can round up or down your numbers accordingly, and therefore I would only add 20 grams of sodium hydroxide or caustic soda to the sunflower or olive oil to get the correct balance and to saponify your soap.

If you are working in ounces, follow the same process, using the figures on the saponification chart but the amount of sodium hydroxide you will need will be expressed in ounces. Therefore 16 oz of sunflower or olive oil will be multiplied by 0.134 resulting in 2.1 oz of sodium hydroxide. Add 2 oz of caustic soda to your soap.

If you are using more than one type of oil in a single soap recipe, do the above step for each oil used on the saponification chart and then total your results together to get the total amount of lye needed. By using the saponification chart learning how to make soap suddenly became a whole lot easier!

* Don't forget to use sodium hydroxide listing for making hard soaps and potassium hydroxide for making liquid soaps.

* The term lard on the saponification chart is pig fat.

Oil	Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH)	Potassium Hydroxide (KOH)	Oil	Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH)	PotassiumHydroxide (KOH)
Apricot Kernel	0.1350	0.1890	Maize	0.1360	0.1904
Arachis	0.1360	0.1904	Mink	0.1400	0.1960
Avocado	0.1330	0.1862	Mustard	0.1241	0.1737
Babassu, Brazil nut	0.1750	0.2450	Neat's foot	0.1359	0.1902
Beef Hoof	0.1410	0.1974	Neem	0.1387	0.1941
Beeswax, White	0.0690	0.0966	Niger-seed	0.1355	0.1897
Brazil Nut	0.1750	0.2450	Nutmeg Butter	0.1160	0.1624
Butterfat, Cow	0.1619	0.2266	Olium Olivate	0.1340	0.1876
Butterfat, Goat	0.1672	0.2340	Olive	0.1340	0.1876
Canola	0.1240	0.1736	Palm Butter	0.1560	0.2184
Castor	0.1286	0.1800	Palm Kernel	0.1560	0.2184
Chicken Fat	0.1389	0.1944	Palm	0.1410	0.1974
Chinese Bean	0.1350	0.1890	Peanut	0.1360	0.1904
Cocoa Butter	0.1370	0.1918	Perilla	0.1369	0.1916
Coconut	0.1900	0.2660	Poppyseed	0.1383	0.1936
Cod-liver	0.1326	0.1856	Pumpkinseed	0.1331	0.1863
Coffee-seed	0.1300	0.1820	Ramic	0.1240	0.1736
Colza	0.1240	0.1736	Rape	0.1240	0.1736
Corn	0.1360	0.1904	Rapeseed	0.1240	0.1736
Cottonseed	0.1386	0.1940	Rice Bran	0.1280	0.1792
Earthnut	0.1360	0.1904	Ricinus	0.1286	0.1800
Flaxseed	0.1357	0.1899	Safflower	0.1360	0.1904
Florence, aka Olive	0.1340	0.1876	Sesame Seed	0.1330	0.1862
Gigely Tree	0.1330	0.1862	Shea Butter	0.1280	0.1792
Goose Fat	0.1369	0.1916	Shortening (veg.)	0.1360	0.1904
Grapeseed	0.1265	0.1771	Soybean	0.1350	0.1890
Hazelnut	0.1356	0.1898	Sunflower Seed	0.1340	0.1876
Hemp Seed	0.1345	0.1883	Sweet Oil	0.1340	0.1876
Java Cotton	0.1370	0.1918	Tallow, bear	0.1390	0.1946
Jojoba	0.0690	0.0966	Tallow, beef	0.1405	0.1967
Kapok	0.1370	0.1918	Tallow, chinese vegetable	0.1345	0.1883
Karite Butter (Shea)	0.1280	0.1792	Tallow, deer	0.1379	0.1930
Katchung	0.1360	0.1904	Tallow, goat	0.1383	0.1936
Kukui Nut	0.1350	0.1890	Tallow, sheep	0.1383	0.1936
Lanolin	0.0741	0.1037	Teal/Teel/Til	0.1330	0.1862
Lard	0.1380	0.1932	Theobroma	0.1370	0.1918
Linseed	0.1357	0.1899	Tung	0.1377	0.1927
Loccu	0.1340	0.1876	Walnut	0.1353	0.1894
Macadamia	0.1390	0.1946	Wheatgerm	0.1310	0.1834

Now that you have the saponification chart under your belt visit our Making Soap page for more information on how to make soap at home. You will also find Soap Recipes for the three main types of soaps; hand-milled soaps where you do not have to use raw lye, cold process and hot process soaps.