Soapmaking Oil Properties and SAP Chart

This is the full reference table behind every calculator on the site: all 94 oils, with their saponification values, the published range each value sits in, and the five quality numbers. Sort any column by clicking it, or filter by name or category. Each row links straight into the lye calculator at 100% of that oil, so you can see what it does on its own.

94 oils

Oil	SAP KOH	SAP NaOH	Published range, mg KOH/g	Iodine	INS	Hard	Clean	Cond	Bubbly	Creamy
Aloe butter * Butter	0.240	0.171	—	9	241	74	63	9	63	11
Apricot kernel oil Soft	0.195	0.139	185–199	100	91	6	0	93	0	6
Argan oil Soft	0.191	0.136	185–195	95	95	15	1	81	1	14
Avocado butter Butter	0.187	0.133	—	67	120	31	0	61	0	31
Avocado oil Soft	0.186	0.133	177–198	86	99	22	0	70	0	22
Babassu oil Hard	0.245	0.175	245–256	15	230	85	70	10	70	15
Baobab oil Soft	0.200	0.143	—	75	125	29	1	67	1	28
Beef tallow Animal	0.200	0.143	190–202	45	147	58	8	40	8	50
Beeswax Wax	0.094	0.067	87–104	10	84	90	0	50	0	50
Black cumin seed oil Soft	0.195	0.139	—	133	62	16	0	83	0	16
Borage oil Soft	0.190	0.135	—	135	55	14	0	68	0	14
Camellia (tea seed) oil Soft	0.193	0.138	—	78	115	11	0	85	0	11
Candelilla wax Wax	0.044	0.031	—	32	12	68	0	60	0	60
Canola oil Soft	0.186	0.133	182–193	110	56	6	0	91	0	6
Canola oil, high oleic Soft	0.186	0.133	182–193	96	90	6	0	90	0	6
Castor oil Soft	0.180	0.128	176–187	86	95	0	0	98	90	90
Chicken fat (schmaltz) Animal	0.195	0.139	—	69	130	33	1	59	1	32
Cocoa butter Butter	0.194	0.138	188–198	37	157	61	0	38	0	61
Coconut oil (76°) * Hard	0.257	0.183	250–264	10	258	79	67	10	67	12
Coconut oil (92°, hydrogenated) * Hard	0.257	0.183	250–264	3	258	79	67	10	67	12
Corn oil Soft	0.192	0.137	187–193	117	69	14	0	84	0	14
Cottonseed oil Soft	0.194	0.138	—	108	89	26	0	71	0	26
Cranberry seed oil Soft	0.190	0.135	—	150	40	8	0	92	0	8
Cupuaçu butter Butter	0.192	0.137	—	39	153	43	0	44	0	43
Deer tallow Animal	0.193	0.138	—	31	166	45	1	48	1	44
Duck fat Animal	0.194	0.138	—	72	122	36	1	58	1	35
Emu oil Animal	0.190	0.135	—	60	128	32	0	55	0	32
Evening primrose oil Soft	0.190	0.135	—	160	30	0	0	89	0	0
Flaxseed (linseed) oil Soft	0.190	0.135	188–196	180	-6	9	0	90	0	9
Fractionated coconut oil (MCT) Soft	0.325	0.232	—	1	324	100	100	0	100	0
Ghee / butterfat Animal	0.227	0.162	213–235	30	191	55	15	22	15	40
Goat tallow Animal	0.192	0.137	—	40	152	69	16	31	16	53
Goose fat Animal	0.192	0.137	—	65	130	27	0	64	0	27
Grapeseed oil Soft	0.181	0.129	176–194	131	66	12	0	88	0	12
Green coffee bean oil Soft	0.185	0.132	—	85	100	46	0	50	0	46
Hazelnut oil Soft	0.195	0.139	188–197	97	94	8	0	85	0	8
Hemp seed oil Soft	0.193	0.138	190–195	165	39	8	0	90	0	8
Illipe butter Butter	0.185	0.132	—	33	152	62	0	35	0	62
Jojoba oil (liquid wax) Wax	0.092	0.066	88–98	83	11	0	0	12	0	0
Kokum butter Butter	0.190	0.135	185–195	35	155	60	0	37	0	60
Kukui nut oil Soft	0.189	0.135	—	168	24	8	0	91	0	8
Lanolin Wax	0.106	0.076	—	27	83	0	0	0	0	0
Lard Animal	0.198	0.141	190–205	57	139	42	1	52	1	41
Laurel berry oil (Aleppo) Soft	0.198	0.141	—	74	124	42	26	58	26	16
Lauric acid Fatty acid	0.280	0.200	—	0	280	100	100	0	100	0
Macadamia nut oil Soft	0.195	0.139	190–197	76	119	14	0	61	0	14
Mango butter Butter	0.191	0.136	185–195	45	146	49	0	48	0	49
Marula oil Soft	0.192	0.137	—	73	119	18	0	79	0	18
Meadowfoam seed oil Soft	0.169	0.120	—	92	77	2	0	98	0	2
Moringa oil Soft	0.192	0.137	—	68	124	14	0	73	0	14
Murumuru butter Butter	0.238	0.170	220–250	25	250	82	73	18	73	9
Mustard oil Soft	0.173	0.123	—	101	72	4	0	41	0	4
Myristic acid Fatty acid	0.247	0.176	—	1	246	99	99	0	99	0
Neem oil Soft	0.193	0.138	—	72	121	39	2	58	2	37
Oat oil Soft	0.190	0.135	—	104	86	17	0	79	0	17
Oleic acid Fatty acid	0.202	0.144	—	92	110	0	0	99	0	0
Olive oil Soft	0.190	0.135	184–196	85	105	17	0	82	0	17
Olive oil, pomace Soft	0.188	0.134	182–194	84	104	17	0	83	0	17
Palm kernel flakes (hydrogenated) * Hard	0.247	0.176	230–254	20	227	90	66	4	66	24
Palm kernel oil * Hard	0.247	0.176	230–254	20	227	75	65	18	65	10
Palm oil Hard	0.199	0.142	190–209	53	145	50	1	49	1	49
Palm stearin Hard	0.199	0.142	—	48	151	67	2	33	2	65
Palmitic acid Fatty acid	0.215	0.153	—	2	213	98	0	0	0	98
Peach kernel oil Soft	0.191	0.136	—	108	87	8	0	91	0	8
Peanut oil Soft	0.192	0.137	187–196	92	99	11	0	82	0	11
Pine tar Other	0.060	0.043	—	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Plum kernel oil Soft	0.194	0.138	—	98	96	3	0	91	0	3
Pomegranate seed oil Soft	0.190	0.135	—	22	168	6	0	92	0	6
Pumpkin seed oil Soft	0.195	0.139	—	128	67	19	0	83	0	19
Raspberry seed oil Soft	0.187	0.133	—	163	24	3	0	94	0	3
Red palm oil (unrefined) Hard	0.199	0.142	190–209	53	145	50	1	49	1	49
Rice bran oil Soft	0.187	0.133	180–195	100	87	26	1	74	1	25
Rosehip seed oil Soft	0.187	0.133	—	188	10	6	0	89	0	6
Safflower oil Soft	0.192	0.137	186–194	145	47	7	0	90	0	7
Safflower oil, high oleic Soft	0.190	0.135	186–194	93	97	7	0	92	0	7
Sal butter Butter	0.185	0.132	—	39	146	50	0	42	0	50
Sea buckthorn seed oil Soft	0.195	0.139	—	165	30	10	0	88	0	10
Sesame oil Soft	0.188	0.134	187–195	110	81	15	0	83	0	15
Shea butter Butter	0.179	0.128	170–190	59	116	45	0	54	0	45
Shea oil (fractionated) Soft	0.185	0.132	—	83	102	16	0	84	0	16
Sheep tallow (mutton) Animal	0.194	0.138	—	54	156	51	14	31	14	37
Soy wax (fully hydrogenated soybean oil) Hard	0.192	0.137	—	1	191	98	0	0	0	98
Soybean oil Soft	0.191	0.136	189–195	131	61	16	0	82	0	16
Stearic acid Fatty acid	0.198	0.141	—	2	196	99	0	0	0	99
Sunflower oil Soft	0.189	0.135	188–194	133	63	11	0	87	0	11
Sunflower oil, high oleic Soft	0.189	0.135	188–194	83	106	7	0	88	0	7
Sweet almond oil Soft	0.195	0.139	190–200	99	97	7	0	89	0	7
Tamanu oil Soft	0.208	0.148	—	111	82	25	0	73	0	25
Tucumã butter * Butter	0.238	0.170	—	13	175	77	71	13	71	6
Ucuuba butter Butter	0.205	0.146	—	38	167	31	0	49	0	31
Vegetable shortening (hydrogenated soy, older Crisco) Hard	0.192	0.137	—	93	115	26	0	70	0	26
Vegetable shortening (palm-based, e.g. current Crisco) Hard	0.193	0.138	—	111	82	25	0	74	0	25
Walnut oil Soft	0.189	0.135	189–197	145	45	9	0	78	0	9
Wheat germ oil Soft	0.183	0.130	—	128	58	19	0	75	0	19

SAP, iodine, INS and fatty-acid profiles: SoapCalc oil list, retrieved 2026-08-19, except where its SAP value was wrong and has been corrected (Murumuru butter; see the notes below). Published ranges recorded for 41 oils from the soapmaking and lipid literature and pinned by tests. Quality numbers are calculated from each oil's fatty-acid profile with SoapCalc's method, so they're comparable with the figures you already know.

What the five numbers mean

Property	Usual range	What it is
Hardness	29–54	The saturated acids: lauric, myristic, palmitic and stearic. How firm the bar is and how well it survives a wet dish.
Cleansing	12–22	Lauric and myristic only. How aggressively the soap strips oil. Well above the usual range, most soapers find a bar harsh.
Conditioning	44–69	The unsaturated acids plus ricinoleic. A relative index of mildness, not a measurement of anything on skin.
Bubbly	14–46	Lauric, myristic and ricinoleic. Big, fast, loose lather.
Creamy	16–48	Palmitic, stearic and ricinoleic. Dense, stable, small-bubble lather.
Iodine	41–70	Degree of unsaturation. Lower means a harder, longer-lasting bar; higher means softer and more prone to going rancid.
INS	136–165	An older single-number summary derived from iodine and SAP. Treat it as a rough sanity check, not a target. Plenty of excellent soaps sit well outside it.

These are relative indices computed from fatty acids, not measurements of a finished bar. They're for comparing one recipe with another, and they're useful for that. They are not claims about what soap does to skin, and a bar that scores outside every range can still be excellent: a castile is far too "conditioning" and far too little of everything else, and it's one of the oldest soaps there is.

The asterisk: why coconut's numbers understate it

The quality columns are sums of eight fatty acids (lauric through linolenic), because that's the profile most soap calculators carry, SoapCalc included. Those eight don't include caprylic (C8) and capric (C10), which lauric tropical fats contain in quantity. So for Aloe butter, Coconut oil (76°), Coconut oil (92°, hydrogenated), Palm kernel flakes (hydrogenated), Palm kernel oil, Tucumã butter the profile accounts for less than 95% of the oil, and the hardness, cleansing and bubbly figures are computed from an incomplete picture. They understate what the oil does.

You can see the same gap from the other side: the saponification guide predicts SAP values from these profiles and matches the published figure for most oils, but comes out several percent low for coconut and palm kernel oil, because the acids it can't see are the lightest ones. The measured SAP values in the table above are unaffected; they were measured on the real oil.

Notes on specific oils

The table is deliberately spare. Where an oil needs a word of warning or a usage rate, it's here:

Aloe butter: Aloe extract in a coconut-oil base; saponifies like coconut.
Babassu oil: A coconut substitute with a similar profile and a slightly gentler reputation.
Beef tallow: The original soap fat. Hard, creamy, long-lasting bars; interchangeable with palm in most recipes.
Beeswax: Hardness at 1–3%; more makes a waxy, lather-killing bar.
Candelilla wax: Plant wax; 1–2% for hardness at most.
Castor oil: The lather booster (ricinoleic acid). 5–8% is typical; above ~10% bars turn soft and sticky.
Cocoa butter: Hardness and stearic acid; above ~15–20% bars can crack.
Coconut oil (76°): The standard coconut oil. Big lather, hard bar; drying above ~30% unless superfat rises.
Flaxseed (linseed) oil: Very high linolenic: a rancidity risk. Use sparingly if at all.
Fractionated coconut oil (MCT): Caprylic/capric triglycerides: not a soaping oil in any quantity; very high SAP.
Ghee / butterfat: Butterfat. The same values SoapCalc lists as “Milk Fat, any bovine”, so it also stands for the fat in milk.
Grapeseed oil: High linoleic, so a short shelf life in soap. Published SAP values vary more than most oils (176–194).
Jojoba oil (liquid wax): A wax ester, not a triglyceride; mostly unsaponifiable superfat in soap.
Lanolin: Wool wax, mostly unsaponifiable, with no fatty-acid profile: its lye is counted, its bars are not.
Lard: Inexpensive, conditioning, hard; a 1:1 palm substitute.
Murumuru butter: SoapCalc lists 0.275 for murumuru; supplier certificates of analysis put it near 0.238, which is what this site uses. At 0.275 a high-murumuru recipe would come out lye-heavy.
Mustard oil: Rich in erucic acid, which is outside the eight fatty acids the property bars track, so its bars read low.
Olive oil: The backbone of gentle soap. 100% olive (Castile) is soft and slow to trace and needs a long cure.
Olive oil, pomace: Traces faster than virgin olive.
Palm kernel oil: Behaves like coconut: lauric-rich, cleansing, bubbly.
Palm oil: Hardness and creamy, stable lather. Lard or tallow are the closest functional substitutes.
Pine tar: Saponifies partly; no fatty-acid profile. Enter it so the lye is right, ignore its property bars.
Pomegranate seed oil: Iodine and INS as published are wrong: 22 is inconsistent with the 78% linolenic listed beside it, which implies roughly 222. Treat this oil as highly unsaturated and quick to go rancid.
Shea butter: Conditioning and creamy; little lather or hardness on its own. Usually 5–15%.
Stearic acid: The shave-soap hardener and lather stabilizer. Melts high and traces instantly.
Sunflower oil: Linoleic-rich; keep it modest or the bar is prone to DOS.

Common oils, printable

94 rows is a reference, not a wall chart. The sheet below is the 18 oils most recipes are built from, sized to fit one page beside the scale.

Oil	NaOH	KOH	Range	Hard	Clean	Cond	Bubbly	Creamy
Olive oil	0.135	0.190	184–196	17	0	82	0	17
Coconut oil (76°)	0.183	0.257	250–264	79	67	10	67	12
Palm oil	0.142	0.199	190–209	50	1	49	1	49
Lard	0.141	0.198	190–205	42	1	52	1	41
Beef tallow	0.143	0.200	190–202	58	8	40	8	50
Castor oil	0.128	0.180	176–187	0	0	98	90	90
Shea butter	0.128	0.179	170–190	45	0	54	0	45
Cocoa butter	0.138	0.194	188–198	61	0	38	0	61
Sweet almond oil	0.139	0.195	190–200	7	0	89	0	7
Avocado oil	0.133	0.186	177–198	22	0	70	0	22
Rice bran oil	0.133	0.187	180–195	26	1	74	1	25
Sunflower oil, high oleic	0.135	0.189	188–194	7	0	88	0	7
Palm kernel oil	0.176	0.247	230–254	75	65	18	65	10
Babassu oil	0.175	0.245	245–256	85	70	10	70	15
Mango butter	0.136	0.191	185–195	49	0	48	0	49
Hemp seed oil	0.138	0.193	190–195	8	0	90	0	8
Stearic acid	0.141	0.198	—	99	0	0	0	99
Beeswax	0.067	0.094	87–104	90	0	50	0	50

SAP as grams of lye per gram of oil. Range is the published spread in mg KOH/g — the reason superfat exists. Usual: hardness 29–54, cleansing 12–22, conditioning 44–69, bubbly 14–46, creamy 16–48.

How to use this without overthinking it

Recipes are built from a few oils doing different jobs, not from optimizing five numbers. A hard oil for structure, a soft oil for mildness, something lauric for lather if you want bubbles, and a small amount of castor to hold the foam together will get you a good bar every time. Put it through the recipe builder, look at where the bars land, and adjust the one that's furthest out. Chasing all five into the middle of their ranges produces a competent, forgettable soap. The interesting ones are usually deliberately outside on at least one axis.

Oil properties chart

What the five numbers mean

Notes on specific oils

Common oils, printable

How to use this without overthinking it