Sponiebr

Hmmm. No, you don't want to kiln dry the wood... You want to deep fat fry the wicks in oil or wax. Now just what precisely do I mean by that? I mean heat up some mineral oil or wax and treat the wicks as though they were food and fry them until you get no more bubbles out of the wicks... The deep fat fry method also gets the oil or wax soaked into the wood so that moisture doesn't get back in there... WHY would I suggest that because wood is like DRY right? You know that lovely snap, crackle, pop you get out of your camp fire? Well that same effect can be had out of your baked, or kiln dried, or non-deep fat fried wood wicks also! However, in the wood wicks it will likely occur without the lovely extra fire to relight your wick and in very close proximity to molten wax. These lovely snap, crackle, pops do a lovely job of decorating everything around them with wax spatter. ETA: So, yeah the wood IS popcorn dry and it WILL behave just like popcorn. I'm not tell'n... I'm just say'n... YMWV...

That's the SPIRIT! Git in there and give them sticks HELL!!! GET MAD! YEAH! I don't want your damned LEMONS! YEAH!!! What am I supposed to do with these!? (Oh, sorry... I got a little excited there.) I might have mentioned this but, if I didn't, the concept of BOILING all of the molecular water out of the wicks is important... You will be a happier camper if you deep fat fry the water out of the smashed up wood... Just a suggestion.

Wow... YEah this sounds really weird to me. How has the humidity been while you are making these salt bars? Not that it would make any difference... I was just wondering... I think your key statement here was "darker" and then you immediately wrote "oil" but you did not write "coconut oil", though I inferred that is what you meant... I'm just guessing, that it's that oil that you are being sold as "coconut oil" that is in fact NOT pure coconut oil but probably some horrible blend of a "little bit" of coconut oil and some other terrible thing that clearly does not like salt... I'm guessing that your vendor is correct in saying HE ISN'T having problems with the new coconut oil because HE isn't USING it... (technically he wouldn't have been lying either.) Still it's puzzling because it is giving you no problems with the other formulations... I personally don't have much experience in making salt bars, with like actual salt crystals in them. My soaps have been brine the few times that I have made them. Brine will cause glycerin to separate out... So if the new coconut oil has water in it, that might be an issue that I guess could conceivably cause this. Basically if there is water in the coconut oil it is dissolving your salt and that's why you are getting the separation. Ok... SO you could test this theory out by heating some of the coconut oil in a pot like you are going to deep fry food in it and if it foams up and boils or starts to pop and spatter with nothing in it you've got wet coconut oil. That could also be what is causing the color change... IF it is wet you might dial your water content back and see if it fixes the problem or not. It would help if you had some pure coconut oil that you could use a fixed measure and weight it and then compare the same measured volume to the new darker coconut oil... But if it's an adulterated oil, that has been adulterated with water, the people behind it will most likely have made the same weight to volume as regular coconut oil... Apart from the CO being wet, I haven't got a clue. Let us know what you find out though. HTH, Sponiebr The Executor of Bad Ideas and Sundry Services.

Did you boil them in wax or oil? The wood fibers being spread out is not to get air into the burn (well, it sorta does, but not really... let's not bother with surface area just yet) it's to in crease capillary attraction of the wood fibers so that they pull fuel from the melt pool into the combustion... Without the "pre-loading" they won't wick liquid wax worth a damn because the small amount of the flame that you initially light is just the wood burning and it uses up what would otherwise be the combustion surface that the wax is vaporizing off of... Effectively the smashing of these wicks (done before the boiling in wax, or soaking in mineral oil), is to get even strands of wood fibers running unbroken in effectively the same manner that we would see in a string or braided wick. I mean, you can USE a bit of stainless steel braid as a wick and it will work (DON'T DO THIS the wick heats up and can catch the whole container on fire). My point is that it's not really so much the material as it is the mechanics of why and how a wick works that accomplishes the work here. Back when I was a kid there were the cutesy glass candles that weird kitschy stores used to sell down at the mall where it had a little tear drop shaped bulb with a fiberglass wick and they burned scented lamp oil. In such cases a fiberglass wick is fine because the fuel source is fixed but in a candle we like consumable wicks because they follow the melt pool of the candle as it goes and don't have to be trimmed back while they are on fire every few minutes. Combustible consumable wicks also insulate the heat from the rest of the fuel source, (fiberglass would do this too but it won't follow the melt pool, steel braid will conduct the heat into the fuel (e.g. wax) and heat the whole mess up until YAY! FIREBALL IN MY BEDROOM!!! (not GOOD...) On my experiments, I was burning 100% pure stearic acid (ok NOT PURE there was a drop or 2 of FO in there...) Finding fuels and getting them to burn isn't really the issue, the main issue is balancing the burn rate with the feed rate. If your wicks are too wide they will use up more fuel than they can deliver and go out. If they are too high above the melt pool they will burn more than they can deliver and they will go out. If they are smaller than what they can burn it's fine you will just have a dinky little flame and they will continue to burn unless they aren't burning with enough flame to maintain a melt pool, in which case they will not be able to feed fuel and, GUESS WHAT... Yeah, they will snuff out. Each time a wood wick snuffs itself due to lack of fuel it will get shorter until you DON'T have enough of the wick to use anymore above the candle surface... Then you can't light them to watch them burn out... BTW I believe you mentioned earlier about using an accelerant? That's not what I was talking about. The naphtha was only to rinse the oil or paraffin out of the wood so that you could replace it after it was dry with your normal pouring wax... NO ACCELERANTS in candles! Bad IDEA... Terrible idea that I wouldn't even do. even though I lay claim to being Mr. Bad Ideas 99.9% of my "bad ideas" work really, really well... Anywho, don't give up... There's a delicate balance to be found here, you just gotta find it. Cheers, Sponiebr The Executor of Bad Ideas and Sundry Services

OH! KEWL!!!! Okay so, I'm NOT a chandler BUT, I AM a total pyro! Quite literally actually, as my whole family is in professional pyrotechnics. NOT THE POINT! So, as you have correctly deduced the surface tension thing is rather important to getting the wicking action down. ALL of the above will work fine as wood wicks but for one tiny, teeny-weeny, super easy, modification. You ready? I'm fiddna give you the SECRET MODIFICATION! You sitting down? Wait for it... (Oh this is gonna be) LEGENDARY!!! Here it is!!! (Drum roll please!!!) HAMMER TIME! (ta-da! ) Are you as impressed with me as I am? Good! Seriously, the popsicle sticks or the bamboo skewers or ANY of these will work it you take a hammer and pound them so that you spread out the wood fibers. Even just a twig out of the yard will work. I found the bamboo skewers (3mm-4mm diameter) to be actually TOO GOOD of a wick. I got HUGE FLAMES off of those things. Next comes the dehydration bit and it's rather important. After you've knocked the fiber out of them, basically you've gotta deep fat fry them in wax of some ilk. I just used paraffin as that was one I could get REALLY hot, but you could use clear mineral oil as well... Hell, you can use any oil or fat you want, as long as you can get the temperature up to the point that when you put the stick into the hot oil/fat/wax it begins to bubble. After you get the oil up to that temperature just fry them in that until you get no more bubbles. If you used mineral oil then take them out and dry them out on a bed of paper towels and (if you REALLY wanted to get'm clean), Soak in a bath of naphtha and blot dry a few times. Or just blot them dry and soak in some hot wax of your choice. They'll come clean with that naphtha pretty quick and then you will have pristine wood wicks to dip with your scented wax of your choice. Make no mistake about it though, a priming with a wax is necessary for the wood wicks to burn reliably later on. The real trick here is to get a uniform fiber density and a uniform width. You may only need to smack them once or twice, some you may want to pound the living bejesus out of. Ideally you would have a mangle or other roller type arraignment set up that would roll and break up the wood fibers under a specific weight every time. Another handy wood that works VERY well with minimal effort and is usually pre-cut to specific widths and has a very uniform fiber density is balsa wood. Like 1/16 in thick light density balsa strips are sometimes good to go with no modification. Base tabs are just TOO easy. I tried making tabs out of soda cans and blah, blah, blah too damned much WORK! I get a baggie of those micro sized binder clips and put one of those at the bottom and then just remove the little wire bail handles (just a pinch in the middle near the base (clip side) of the wire bail and they come right out. You can then put a dab of silicone caulking at the bottom of the clip and glue it inside your jar. Cost wise: Well, you tell me... $1 for 100 popsicle sticks and $1 for 10-12 binder clips (sometimes there are more in a pack I haven't bought any in a LONG time) The bamboo skewers are VERY promising if you can get the burn rate dialed in. As for me, I've got soap to make... HTH! Slainte, Sponiebr The Executor of Bad Ideas and Sundry Services

Well... It depends a lot on what the colorant was. Oxides, can morph in the presence of lye. Yellows and oranges made from iron oxide being the worst offenders but hydrated ultramarine, tin and manganese oxide purples can roll to varying shades of gray and blue also. IME Oranges won't shift back once they get that crappy brown muted look, but I've had yellows turn from infant poop brown back to a seemingly pleasant-ish yellow after they've cured. Vegetable colorants can go ALL OVER the map. Alkanet could be pink, gray, blue, purple, brown, just whatever it feels like at the moment... FWIW I didn't have almost any issues with oxide morphs in HP, mostly I suspect, because the colorants were added after the cook and after I added the FO so I could adjust as needed. Even though I know it should have happened I can't remember ever getting any serious vanilin browns with the HP either... If I know for a fact I'm headed for a vanilin brown I try and incorporate the brown into the actual coloring scheme, like with my pumpkin pie scented soap I will not add the FO to the highlighted portion of the soap and I'll add just a little yellow to the main body of soap so that it ends up turning a pumpkin pie brown and the orange ends up looking like bits of pumpkin... (I'm good at shooting around walls too...) I see I haven't actually answered anything... (Tsk, tsk... Well, that's just typical...) So, yeah vanilin isn't you're only color changer, the alkalinity and the type of colorant can cause the color changes, some of which are permanent and some temporary... Yeah... Imma go cut some lemons up... HTH! Sponiebr The Executor of Bad Ideas and Sundry Services

LOVE IT!

YEAH! I like BF's idea! Go get lit in a tunnel! <<<<<<-------------------Now THAT's a PLAN!

It might interest you to know that I am the sound of rain upon the.... No, that's not it... Oh! I know... I haven't been under a car... (much) Nope! I've been make'n soap. (and some side lined abominations... ) I'm tryna check in on CS at least a few times a day. Next we work me back up to actually writing on the boards everyday...

AMEN! @Trappeur To hell with them! I wouldn't dump out a whorehouse chamber pot on them if they were on fire. They should be STRONGLY encouraged to go BACK from whatever rock they crawled out from. (I AM being nice, but this PISSES me off to NO end!)

Speaking of Goldie's idea there Trapp... Get that bag of cat food and run a trail of kibble down to their cabin. Lead that skunk right up under their house.

Sooooo, my MOTHER shoves a used bar of soap (not a soap I made by the by...) up in my face yesterday as I was getting ready for Church. She want's to know what was in it... I smelled her coming into the room reeking of Patchouli. ME:"That's patchouli mom." MOM: "Oh, well I really like the smell, can you make it?" Me: "Yeah I can as soon as I get the Indonesian EO. BUT If I MAKE THIS FOR YOU... I'm MAKING it in YOUR KITCHEN!" So the upshot is where are all'y'all Getting your Dark Indonesian Patch from? (would anyone have about 4 ounces to spare?) TFTH! Cheers, Sponiebr The Executor of Bad Ideas and Sundry Services.

@scrubzz@Kerven@LightMyCandleCo@moonshine For anyone using silicone: The silicone can be softened up by soaking in a little Naphtha (Ronsonol/Zippo Lighter fluid, Coleman Liquid camp stove fuel). Brake cleaner or even nail polish remover will work in a pinch. The naphtha will soften ALL types of silicone rubbers.

You're missing your dessert... Here's a serving with some ice cream on top. Yes. It's PI a la mode...

I use V*.43= Oils in oz. So 12x12X2 mold would be: 288*.43= 123.84 oz. (124 oz.) 3.5*2.75*12= 115.5*.43= 49.665. Volume for a tube: V = π*r2*h*.43 (radius is 1/2 diameter or D*.5) SO! 3" x12" column mold: 3*.5= 1.5 1.5*1.5=2.25 2.25*3.1416*12=84.8232 84.82.32*.43= 36.473976 HTH! Sponiebr The Executor of Bad Ideas and Sundry Services

I'm not exactly a newbie, but OK, yeah, I am confused...

I went and pulled up the spec sheet for the GE 100% silicone II Window and Door Sealant (The link is below), and it's showing 400F as the maximum temperature for elasticity which is to say that's the maximum that they guarantee it maintaining structural integrity. So, yeah... If your roof gets up to 400F your skylight will stay sealed, the shingles and roof will have slid off, but that skylight will be water tight!----- Dammit! Red Permatex RTV's max is 600F continuous. Permatex's claim to fame is that it is supposed to stand up to hot fuel and oil as well as high temperatures. For engines it's required, for candles, meh... Kinda like bringing a Howitzer to a turkey shoot. So <$5 for 3 oz. or $4.47 for 10 oz... If it was me, I'd be willing to try it out to see if it was as good as the permatex at least... I'd be willing to bet the clear silicone could withstand the wick burning right down to the tab without any deterioration. The clear would look better at the bottom of a glass jar too, (Y'know if you took the sticker off and actually looked at the bottom of the jar) https://www.builditsolar.com/References/Caulks/Silicone II Window &amp; Door - TDS[1].pdf

Ok... (YIKES!) Wow! Yeah, um, High temp Permatex will work fine, but it's EXPENSIVE (at least compared to other alternatives). And now for the disclaimer: I DON'T MAKE CANDLES, so you are forewarned. I DO make a LOT of other things that have high temps and (ok, I'll just say it: I use non "standard" stuff in fixing cars all the time.) It's the knowing WHERE and WHEN you can use a non standard part or adhesive is really key but knowing WHAT the materials are made of... Oh; that is the real magic. I really like to approach things like this as though I were a monster sized factory making product "X". How would they go about sticking their tabs into the jars? Why are THEY able to do this and I'm NOT? Unless it's a synthesizing materials situation, I find that 99% of the time I can do it almost exactly the same way that the factory does it. I can just about guarantee that "BIG CANDLE INC" is using a solvent based adhesive to stick wick tabs down (if they stick them down at all). If you really want a Type 2 Silicone adhesive to stick your candle wicks down just get a squeeze tube (or get a caulking gun tube if you're in mass production) of clear Type II 100% silicone caulking. It'll work FINE, and a tube will last you probably 10 lifetimes. (You will have to keep it properly sealed and all.) Just out of curiosity, why aren't all y'all using a contact cement like "Weldwood"? Yeah, it's got all kinds of nasty solvents in it and junk, but we're talking about a dot in the bottom of the jar and a dot on the tab, not bathing in the stuff like me. I'd do all the jar bottoms in one shot and then do all of the tabs, by the time you are done with the last tab everything will be ready to stick together and BOOM! Yer done. You could leave them in the sun for a day to gas off if you are concerned about the smell. (Small disclaimer: rubber can deteriorate over time when used exclusively with petroleum based products *e.g.: paraffin.*) Anyway, just thought I'd offer those alternatives if it could help. Also, if you are going to stay with the Permatex, ( or any of the above suggestions) go with Walmart. I hate them as much as any human, but they DO have the best prices I've ever seen on adhesives. HTH! Cheers, Sponiebr The Executor of Bad Ideas and Sundry Services

SOMEBODY'S got "rocks" that's for damn sure.

Excerpt from the article: "When I read 'occult,' I think, OK, they don't want me to sell unbaptized baby blood or like, they don't want me to say, 'Buy this chicken and I'll sacrifice it for you,'" Katie said. "I get that and maybe you shouldn't sell that on the internet anyway." Yeah, MAYBE baby blood might not be the best thing to sell on the internet... I mean at LEAST not on the OPEN web. Darknet, sure. You can get anything on unlisted services. Still, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot on banning any sort of craft items? Chargebacks? Really!? Uh, no... Makes no sense to me at all.

In all seriousness I appreciate the input. It appears I have a "personal" problem... (If you can call OCD a personal problem) I will work on this! It's gonna be hard NOT to wash them...I'm flip'n out just thinking about not washing them. XANAX!!! STAT!!!!

My molds aren't exactly your average wood mold. They're adjustable to any length within their maximum range down to 0.0 pour space. You can even adjust them as you are actually pouring. Let's say you have too much soap for a particular pour, you can lengthen the mold to accommodate the additional soap in the middle of the pour. Shortening the mold length during a pour is a little more tricky, but it can be done. Anyway, the floating end blocks are particularly susceptible to cracking and I had to keep the end blocks from splitting as they were already starting to crack. I decided I can't afford the DOS risk, so I just made up some more of my mineral oil and beeswax wood sealer.

@Trappeur I stink at explaining... then of course my fingers get oil on them and I am constantly washing them. I'll bet I didn't make one lick of sense here...... It's the SKUNK what's do'n it to ya... Poor Trapp all flustered and covered in FO... And @TallTayl YAS!!!! This is the GOLDEN secret!

Yep, all except my laundry soap are high temperature fluid hot process. Basically you can get HP to be really fluid by adding in sodium lactate, your superfat, and extra water content at the right points in the cook. Add them too early, it seizes, add them too fast or cold and it seizes... They do shrink some during the "cure" at this point, but I'm working on balancing the method a bit more on the dry side. Valerie Mosher is where I learned about this method.