xxxAlpha71xxx

You mean it's not? I just follow it up with some bacon grease to flush it on down the pipes.

I pulled out the puppy pads earlier this week and that's brilliant. Wickectomys are where I generally make the majority of my mess but this works great. I picked up a box of disposable medical gloves which keeps me from getting it all over my hands then transferring it to anything I touch. Now, I just need to find a white lab coat and a stethoscope and my wickectomy equipment will be complete.

Instead of making a new thread I'll go ahead and ask this here. @TallTayl What should I be looking for in a melt pool? Full pool with around 1/4" depth seems to be the common answer but should I always expect an eventual full pool? If I'm not getting that should I consider another wick if all other burn characteristics are good? Or should I let it ride even without a full pool as long as the wax eventually melts? I know it should theoretically be ok as long as there is eventual wax melt but I also expect that not having a full pool is detrimental to hot throw? Do you always look for a full melt before you are satisfied with a wick/container/scent combination?

That completely hit home right there. I bought a wick trimmer off of Amazon and I noticed that it leaves some frayed material at the end of the wick. Didn't realize that could cause an issue but makes sense. Thanks!

I've read that mushrooming can be caused by overwicking. I've also read that it can be caused in some instances by underwicking. Is there anything you can look for, any signs or indications, that would give an idea as to whether it is being caused by over or under wicking? Pic is of an LX20 in a pint jar, 6006 wax, no dye, 6%FO, 20 minutes into burn

I trim before every lighting. How much depends on how much was left after the last burn. I try to trim them to around 1/4 in. On a side note, here's a test candle that had the wick cut but wasn't down to 1/4". Wife didn't realize and lit it. Here's the flame. :). Trimmed the wick down and it's burning fine. Told her for the umpteenth time that she had to trim the wick because I was making candles, not torches. The fact that my wife forgets doesn't breed a lot of confidence that the customers will trim every time. But I figure as long as I do my job to educate them what they do with that information is up to them. You can give a person a book but you can't make them read it

I've got a lot of time on my hands (retired now) and this kind of intrigues me. Customers may not see or care about then but I'm a bit ocd and they bug the heck out of me. I've got a buddy that's a chemical engineer and I tossed the idea at him this morning, the thought being that during production there is a significant temperature change going from 170F to an average room temp of 77F or so. If you could find a process to eliminate or minimize the wet spot issue during the cooling stage (such as slowing the rate of cooling) when you have that significant temperature drop then it shouldn't be such as issue once they have hardened when the temp change will most likely be +/- 15 degrees or so, which is a lot less significant. He tended to agree but also agreed that more testing would have to be done to confirm it. We both also theorized that if you did see some of the issues crop back up that they would be minimal in comparison to what can happen during the initial cooling process. At this point this is one of those "it looks good on paper" things and it may end up not holding water but I've got way too much time on my hands so it gives me something to do regardless of the outcome. I'm typing on my phone so I may have wandered a bit around the yard to get to my destination but I think the general idea is there.

I've been experimenting today and I think I've stumbled on a way to eliminate or at least minimize wet spots. It's nothing that would be realistic for a large scale candle maker. Well, it could but it would take a lot of space and some fabrication. Anyway. Vacuum. Cooling the candles while under a small amount of vacuum pressure has shown success on, so far, eliminating the major wet spots I was getting. I've been doing it on a small scale with a quick vacuum lid I cobbled together with a brake fluid pump. For my purposes I'm thinking something like one of the stainless steel restaurant steam table pans. Fab a gasket for the lid. Stuck on a fitting, fill th candles, apply the vacuum and walk away. I'm going to continue these experiments and will try to cobble together the multi unit pan this weekend. I'll let you know how it goes. So far I've done 4 under vacuum and none of the issues I've seen this far. Very small sample size so too soon to give it a thumbs up but looks promising.

I know this is an old post but I ran across this last weekend. We have a little indoor antique and craft market where 100+ vendors have various booths. We went looking this past weekend to see what people were selling candles for and how they looked/smelled. There were several vendors selling candles, soap, and the like but all from national names everyone knows. We ran across one booth that was entirely candles, soap, melts, etc. You would swear just looking at it that everything in it was locally produced. The company that houses the vendors take care of all sales and the vendors are not actually on site so there's no one for you to speak with. We bought one of the candles just to see how the local competition was doing in the event that we actually move forward with a long term goal of setting up a little business of our own. Just this morning I actually started looking at the lid and there in little tiny letters was a website. I said cool, let's check out their website. Not a local craftsman at all but a chain that I'd never heard of based in one of the Northern states. Not really a lie per se but the booth was definitely set up to be a tad misleading. I won't mention any names but the name of the company was even such that you would think that it was a small local operation.

I lit one today that has been sitting around for almost two weeks. Still wasn't real fond of it. I'm thinking of dropping the % and see if it mellows out some.

Dear Abby 1,2,3 and 4: Thank you for all of the info. 1). I have lye and simple green ordered from Amazon. 2). We already use copius amounts of paper towels. Time to buy stock. 3). I just happen to have a box of Amazon basics puppy pads collecting dust in the closet because the only thing our Yorkie wanted to use them for was as a blanket to take a nap on. 4). We used a ton of D-limonene in the Petro lab I used to manage. Can't believe I didn't think of it. Thank you all, Spic and Span in Tennessee

Dear Abby, So I'm messy. No, you don't understand. I'm #messy. Right now I'm using rubbing alcohol and some cut up old towels to keep my tools and my work bench clean. But did I mention In messy? Especially when it comes to re-wicking. I'll go through 10 of those cut up towel rags like it was nothing. There's only so many towels I can take before my wife notices they are missing and it's such a pain in the rear to try to clean them. Certainly can't just toss them in the washer. What do you guys use to keep everything clean? Is there some magic spray I can use on my tools? Some super duty wax breaking up detergent that would let me wash the towel rags in the sink? Yours truly, Toweless in Tennessee

Good point which leads me to an interesting thought. The lids I have for these jars are the glass ones. They seal pretty tightly. I wonder if capping them is forcing enough air into the jar that it moves the wax around and creates wet spots and the like. That needs some testing methinks.

That's what I would have thought otherwise, and it may very well be but I've seen that exact same thing on some of the status jars that I've put together. Sometimes on one side, sometimes on the other, sometimes on both. The jars I'm using do have a slight curve in the bottom-but only on one side, with the glass curving up from one side to the other. I've often wondered if this one sided curve was causing some of my issues.

Looking at the bottom of that jar I'm seeing the exact same issue, with like a big air bubble on one side or sometimes both sides. I was able to get rid of it by heating my oven to 170 degrees, sticking the candles in, then turning the oven off and letting the candles cool as the oven cools. That's just not feasible if/when I get to the point where I'm trying to make more than a few candles at a time. Let me know if you find a cure and I'll do the same Here's a pic of candle that was made with the oven cooling.

Is that the 12 oz status jar you are using? It's 12 oz holding 9 oz of wax, 3" diameter. I'm finding that depending on scent either CD 16 or 18 wicks are what is working for me with these jars, which is a far cry from the CD 10 I started with. I get pretty good HT with most of the scents (6%) I've tested so far except for FC's lavender. Of course, I'm also using 6006 so that could be the difference.

What series did you end up preferring for the status jars? I've got a ton of the 8 and 12 oz sitting in my closet. Regarding those status jars, did you have trouble with air pockets in the bottom of the status jars? Not so much on the 8 oz but struggling with the 12 oz.

Candles: Description: Kind of Lavender wax used: 6006 fragrance load (%) 6.5%-8% average cure time: 2 weeks Wax additives: None container: 12 oz status jar, 3" diameter wicking notes: Zinc 51, CD 14, CD 16 Cold throw: Not so much Hot Throw: Not that great Notes: I've tried multiple FO% and multiple wicks and just can't seem to get a decent HT. Recommend: The scent isn't all that bad. If I could get a decent HT I would recommend it but without I'm just not feeling it. I have three burning at the moment, two at 8% in a status jar and one at 6.5 % in an 8 oz tin and they are overpowered by by the one fierce that I have burning. I'm going to make another and let it cure for a month and see if there is any difference. If there is I will update this post.

Candles: Description: Well, Pina Colada wax used: 6006 fragrance load (%) 7.0% average cure time: 2 weeks Wax additives: None container: 12 oz status jar, 3" diameter wicking notes: CD 16 Cold throw: Decent Hot Throw: Great Notes: There is a definite coconut scent in the background but it's not an overwhelming coconut. Maybe a hint of pineapple mixed in. A "sweet" fragrence. Recommend: Yes

Candles: Description: Hard for me to describe. A hint of pine but not overwhelmingly so. Definitely a scent for him or her. wax used: 6006 fragrance load (%) 6.5% average cure time: 2 weeks Wax additives: None container: 12 oz status jar, 3" diameter wicking notes: CD 18 Cold throw: Good Hot Throw: Very good Recommend: Yes

I used this in 6006 @ 7% in a 16 oz square mason jar with handle, CD 16 wick. By far the strongest scent I've tested so far and it definitely smells like apple. Just for comparison I tried a Premier wick. The CD wick spread the scent throughout the house. Not so with the Premier.

Candles: wax used: 6006 fo load: 7% wicking: standard: CD 16 container: glass, 12 oz Status Jar, 3 inch diameter cure time: 2 weeks CT: strong HT: strong* This is my runner up for the scents I've tested so far. Wife loves it. I love it.

Candles: wax used: 6006 fo load: 7% wicking: standard: CD 16 container: glass, 12 oz Status Jar, 3 inch diameter cure time: 2 weeks CT: strong HT: strong* This is probably my favorite fragrance so far. Smells great. Throws great. Get this, you won't be disappointed.

I know exactly where you're coming from. Our #1 step in QC when diagnosing root cause was to eliminate the variables. A lack of patience coupled and an overabundance of enthusiasm coupled with a dose of unrealistic expectations caused me to make that left turn at Albuquerque (if you're not old enough to remember Bugs Bunny and Looney Tunes I forgive you for not knowing the reference.) but I'm getting back on track now.

Thanks CR and Forrest!. Yeah,that was part of my problem. I jumped into it with my eyes wide shut and started tossing together multiple scents with multiple containers with multiple wicks. I'm giving myself a bit of a reset and going back to exactly what you recommended.