wick trouble

[Stacey]

Can you help with my wick problem?

I know I have to prime the wicks before pouring. I've attached the tab and glued the tab to the container and pulled it straight with a wick pin...(sorta..I used a clothes pin but it was tight) but I've had some trouble with the wick not burning straight. Sometimes it bends or tilts so the wax is melted good on one side but not the other. :?

I was using a recycled cut off beer bottle and 2/0 wick on the roll. The wax I was using is recycled church candle wax. Usually an almost equal blend of parafin and beeswax. You can't get a really straight answer for the actual blend ratio. Trade secret and all that. I'm cool with that. I really like the economy of using church wax. Read=FREE!

Advice for a newbie on how to get straighter wicks? Should I dip the wick more than once for priming it? Would that help?

Suggestions? TIA!

 

[jcandleattic]

Is the 2/0 a square braid wick?
I never prime my wicks and they burn just fine. But I also know my exact blend of wax, that way I also know the scent load and which wicks will work best, etc,.
To avoid the burning to one side I twist the wick then pull it tight and hold it in place with a wick holder - in your case - the clothes pin.
Also, you may need a bigger wick with the beeswax in the blend.
It would also depend on the paraffin - is it a blend? Straight paraffin? High melt point or low melt point - all those details will factor in which wick to use and how it burns with your applications.
And because beeswax burns hotter than straight paraffin does, haveing it in a container may not be the best idea, but I can't say 100% on that since the only thing I use beeswax for is my luminaries, and I don't make wicked candles with it.

Probably way more unnecessary information than you were looking for, but there it is anyway.

 

[Stacey]

Yup the 2/0 wick is a square braid. I got the wicks for our 100% beeswax candles and this was the size wick that was recommended by the supplier. Since I'm burning a blend of the wax that contained 50% beeswax, I figured it would be good to at least test with.

Twist the wick to pull it tight? Got it. I'll try that. Thanks!

The candles I've tested so far in the recycled beer bottle seem to do ok. The glass of course gets warm but not insanely hot. I did more research on using recycled containers and there seems to be a certain risk with it but again, research showed that there is risk in all glass containers. Even mason jars and glass containers that are labeled for use as candles.

But the research that I did wasn't specific on wax(es) and/or blends. So if beeswax burns hotter then that is something to take into consideration.

Perhaps I would be better off using container wax for the beer bottles and use the recycled church wax for pillars and tapers. Afterall, that's what they started out their life as....Tapers.

Thanks again for the advice.