Introduction
Many members love their shave stick, however, not all shave soaps are made in the shave stick form. This page is intended to help you transforming the shape of your shave soap puck into a shave stick. The question sometimes comes up on the forum[1]. This process could be called stickification. Other threads to consider would be the following:
The Methods
There are various methods discussed here that can or cannot work for you, depending on the shave soap that you are using and the container that will host the soap. Keep in mind, YMMV!
Biscuit-Cutter Method
You can use a hard plastic container to package up many soaps: no tools needed. These pictures use an empty Brut deodorant package and a puck of Charismata barbershop, a hard soap. This approach can also be used with Tabac, MWF, and most other soaps.
Tips: The label peels off easily, and the remaining deodorant is water-soluble. You can also apply a very thin coat of mineral oil, so that the stick can slide easily. If you forgot to do this and the soap gets stuck, try freezing it for an hour to shrink the soap a little. If you use oil, use only a little - and do not use an oil that could go rancid.
Dimensions: The Brut deo round has an inside diameter of 37-mm, much larger than Palmolive or Speick but a bit smaller than Tabac. The plastic base weighs about 6-g and the sleeve weighs about 17-g. So if you remove the cap and the stick weighs in at 100-g, you have about 77-g of soap.
Tips: The label peels off easily, and the remaining deodorant is water-soluble. You can also apply a very thin coat of mineral oil, so that the stick can slide easily. If you forgot to do this and the soap gets stuck, try freezing it for an hour to shrink the soap a little. If you use oil, use only a little - and do not use an oil that could go rancid.
Dimensions: The Brut deo round has an inside diameter of 37-mm, much larger than Palmolive or Speick but a bit smaller than Tabac. The plastic base weighs about 6-g and the sleeve weighs about 17-g. So if you remove the cap and the stick weighs in at 100-g, you have about 77-g of soap.
Remilling Method
This technique will work with most soaps and is better for harder soaps. Softer soaps such as Provence Sante can be formed without grating or with the Biscuit Cutter method. The soap puck is Muhle Sea Buckthorn and the twist up stick is from West Coast Shaving (about $2).
Remilling Method Revisited
After several years of using shave sticks, it's too much work to grate most soaps and is usually unnecessary. If the container will allow (doesn't have a center screw shaft), use the biscuit cutter method. Otherwise one can often cut the soap into slices or chunks and just press into the container.