angelcandles

My candles look great and appear to be burning well. However, when I go to relight them in the morning after I’ve blown them out for the night, the flame grows very tall and a small trail of black soot comes up from it for about 3 seconds every time. Then the flame gets smaller and the soot disappears and it burns like all is well. Is this normal? It’s been a long time since I’ve purchased a candle from a store so I can’t figure out if this is normal or if my wicks are off.

I'm having a hard time wicking my soy wax and I think one of my CDs is looking good. The flame is a bit high (1 inch) but it isn't burning too hot to hold the jar and it is reaching a very near FMP on the second or third burn, with some hang up. One thing is though, when I pick up the jar and sort of swing it from side to side I sometimes get a little poof of soot coming off the wick. Is a little soot normal? Is having no soot achievable?

I think I’ve found a great wick for my jar and wax. BUT, I lit my candle today at 11am and here it is 11pm and the jar is a little too hot to touch on one side (it doesn’t burn me but I would not keep my hand there longer than 2 seconds). I want my candle to be comfortable to touch and hold at all times. 11am - 11pm is a long time to burn a candle but we never know how long a customer will keep theirs lit. How do you judge that a jar is too hot?

Interesting. Can you recommend a slightly easier to understand soy wax for a soy beginner? I know soy is notoriously temperamental but maybe 444 is not the right fit for my novice skills. I can try more variations in my pour temps.

I have a strange problem. I made a candle using 444 wax. Heated til 185 F, poured at 149 F. When it cooled, it had a smooth surface...all except for a strange line like a crack where the wick was. I thought it looked odd, so I poked the crack and it fell down, showing me that it was a "false top", like a thin layer of wax on the surface, that when poked gave way to rougher textured soy beneath it. I attached some photos. You can see another crack like line in the right hand side of the candle in the first photo. What is going on here? I'm stumped.

I thought I found a wick for my 4630 wax (34-40 for my 3 inch tumblers and three 28-24s for my 4 inch tumblers). However, once all the candle is burned down, there is a huge amount of residue on the sides of both tumblers. Is this normal? Should I settle with this wick or should I expect a cleaner burn than this? The first photo is my 3 inch tumbler, the second is my 4 inch tumbler. There is no sooting or other problems with the wick whatsoever.

This is a long video! I will watch all I can. Thank you.

Aah add soy! I think it's best for now to eliminate the variables and see if I can get a good burn either in my tumbler jars or my apothecaries. I may just need a jar adjustment. Will make all the tests I can with the few wicks I have left in both my jars to compare. I have ordered the CD sample pack, I hope I have enough LXs left to test with now, you have really tempted me to go for them.

Yes, sounds like I got it wrong. I will retest with the few wicks I have, see if anything pulls through now that I know the difference between tunneling and hang up. So many wicks/candles I've vetoed because I thought they were tunneling...well, maybe it was just hang up! I agree, I have a single wick Ikea candle that has hang up. My multiple wicked Bed Bath & Beyond candles don't have hang up, I will keep that in mind. I am going to retest with my LXs (if I have any left) and see if I can get a good burn.

Wow, it must be the jar making the difference then with the LX 18. I can't imagine what other major variable there could be. I have some apothecary jars, maybe I'll give them a shot with my new CDs (just ordered the sample pack) as well as my tumblers and compare results. I'll keep in mind that I'm not looking for an FMP in the early burns. Just wondering, when do you categorize a candle as "tunneling" and not "well, maybe it just needs to burn a little more to melt down the wax on the edges of the candle"? I have tested LX 18-20, my notes say there was soot on the first burn. I have not tested 51z-60z, I have a 51z-32z, I'll move to the CDs if there's not a good result.

Smoking wick, large flame. Of course there were some (smaller) sizes of HTPs, Zincs, and LXs that did not soot, but I wasn't satisfied with my melt pools (seemed too small, no FMP after 4 hours of being lit). Also, weak flames on second burns was a common occurrence with the smaller wicks.

Yes I am. And I will say that one Zinc wick looked good to me (44-32). This wick gave me my best melting pool but when I tried a second burn, the sooting was there. I think I will start off with the CD sample pack (they've been recommended to me multiple times). If those don't work, I will branch out to paper core and RRD, maybe my best best is to find wicks in RRD and paper core equivalent in size to the 44-32.

I'm about to order a sample pack of CD wicks from Flaming Candle to try and finally find a wick for my 4630 wax in a straight tumbler jar (3 inches). LX and HTP and Zinc sample packs were all failures for me (sooting, every one of them). I am thinking about getting the Premier wick sample pack too but am not sure how they work in a 4630. Anyone have any experience? Also, I've heard paper core wicks work well with 4630, but I can't seem to find a sample pack that includes a wide variety of sizes.

Have heard about the leaning with HTPs and my tests with them all sooted, so HTPs are out for me. LX wicks sooted also. I've ordered a sample pack of CDs, we'll see how these go.

Unfortunately I veto’d this HTP 41, the soot was just a “no” for me. I wouldn’t accept it from a store bought candle. I’m trying an LX 16 next. I am waiting on some more wax in the mail and from there will do some major testing of every possible wick. I’m sure I’ll have something new to post then! Lol. Thank you for your guidance.

I have to say the hang up is so not aesthetically pleasing to me. Here’s some photos of my candle, it’s been burned about 5 hours by now. The hang up on the sides is about 1/4 inch tall. There is also sooting at this point (mild, but there). How can a wick be too small to give an FMP yet still big enough to soot? 😣

Burned it for 3.5 hours, no FMP but a nice wide burn nonetheless. Lit it up again and it’s beginning to tunnel. Guess I do need to wick up after all.

Thank you for all the info. I’m a little confused. If not a FMP, what should I look for on a first burn in your opinion? I tried burning this candle with the HTP 41 again and sure enough it is beginning to tunnel. I think this wick is just too small.

What, in your opinion, should I look for on a first burn if not a FMP? HTP 41 was too small, tunneling happened.

No drafts but I had done a goofy thing which I think may have messed with my test results. I tested many wicks at once, but since I don’t have much wax at this time, I poured each jar only about 1/4 of the way full. I think that the sooting may have happened because of the flame struggling for oxygen deeper in the jar. Still, I feel like even when a candle gets down to the last inch or so, there should still be no sooting, right? I can’t decide if I should trust these results or not.

Yes, I am trimming to that length. I am retesting with an HTP 41 because I was told that an FMP on a first burn is not important. I have been burning this 41 for two and a half hours now. No FMP, the flame looks great (no sooting, about an inch tall). Not sure if it will tunnel. I thought an FMP was standard on any burn so I’m a little confused on what to look for now. Some photos:

Well I’ve just tested an LX 18, LX 20, LX 22, Zinc 44-24-18, and an HTP 73 and all had immediate sooting issues. What the heck is going on?

Wow I’ve never heard that before. Why is that? Can you share any more guidance for test burns? I thought an FMP was the ideal effect from any burn over an hour. I plan on testing my first burn (once I find the right wick) for 4 hours (a power burn) as I believe this is how most people burn candles (it’s how I burn mine)

Looks like I should test with an 83 and also my zincs and LX’s. Guess it’s just testing til I get a winner!

Ok. I’ll give my LX sample pack a try.