To Ned Heite and others---OK, I'm a city girl and have never made soap. But I
have been following this thread and I have a wonderful little book called "The
Forgotten Arts---Yesterday's Techniques Adapted to Today's Materials" from
Yankee Magazine by Richard M. Bacon. Book One (1975) includes soad-making and
I cannot fathom how you could make soap in a pit such as you describe, Ned.
How do you heat the contents of your pit? Yes, it seems you have some of the
ingredients which could be used to make soap, though my reference says nothing
about oyster shells. Must be my lack of imagination, or I'm misundertanding
your scenario. Could you amplify?