ErronB

Permatex Red High Temp RTV Silicone, even with a pair of pliers you're have a hard time getting that tab off once it's set. I just use wick stickers now because I don't pour at high temps, but if I did I'd be using the RTV.

I have one of those tabletop hotplates that I set on a lower temp to stop it dropping dramatically if I need to, I think the whole 'burn off' thing is a bit overblown though unless you're heating past the 200's. I've not had issues with fragrances not binding as it cools apart from 1 time, was a vanilla, had to keep that up to like 190 the whole time. If you're using cotton wicks then backing off the FO percentage like Forrest suggested would help with the temp, and would be better burning. The scents I use are typically quite weak so I have to go balls to the wall on fragrance load and because I use wood wicks it doesn't change the burn characteristics much. I'm testing 2 of those lab co waxes at the moment and they are very nice, but I'll probably stick with 4627 just because of the beast hot throw and ease of use.

Just out of curiosity, if you've used wood wicks for years and nailed the sizing, why would you want to switch over to cotton?

That's the thing, there's room for someone to go on YT and set the record straight, but anyone who makes great candles doesn't want to put their valuable knowledge and techniques online like that for people to just copy it. That's why the whole candle making thing on there is always going to be toxic like that and people will believe it's the right way to do things because of his following. He's a genius if you think about it, he doesn't show how to make a decent or safe candle, but is going to make many thousands of $$$ by doing workshops all over the country showing his methods lol.

If you thought that video was good, watch the one where he talks about curing time being BS. He generalizes everything too much on some unique situations, if he's getting a good scent throw with 464 after a day or 2 then he's obviously got a very lucky selection of FO's.

Here's one I found from my dodgy batch of 6006, that is a CD12 wick believe it or not and the first burn was for 6 hours, the others were shorter and I could see it just wasn't having it so I threw it aside. I've never needed a wick that kinda size before and the HT was a bit weird too. Used up my newest slab from TFC with much smaller CD / LX and was burning just fine. I'm glad I don't use it anymore lol.

This did happen to me recently, and I even tested it again just to be 100% sure with the same fragrance. 2 different slabs of 6006, same containers, same LX 16 wicks, one burned as usual, no problem at all, other one wouldnt even reach FMP, in the 8oz JJ, and I'm not talking about a little bit of hang, this was a lot more. I thought it was just me and my luck since most other people who have been using it for years say they've not noticed anything different and I just didn't get along with it very much. Now I just use 4627 or Joy Wax depending on how I want to wick it and had no issues yet.

Wood, this type : https://www.northwoodcandlesupply.com/collections/candle-wicks/products/sample-pack-dual-wood-wick Not the Premiums, they're too thick for 6006. I couldn't get a regular wick to burn worth a crap in anything bigger than a 8oz JJ with 6006 (as you already know lol), the wood is all I could use. Plus it's a lot easier testing wood you get a FMP quicker, not gambling on waiting for 2 or 3 burns hoping you'll get one in bigger vessels. And if you wanted to get really technical you could cut the wick thinner towards the bottom so it doesn't burn as hot. Can't do that with a regular wick!

Lol... no kidding. I made some melts with it not long ago and had to literally smash it with a hammer to break it down. Has a beast HT though!

I've tried the twist and it did work for me, but you have to be careful not to twist too hard or the wick will come out of the tab. The closest foodie scent I had tested in 4630 was Vanilla Pumpkin Marshmallow and HTP was burning just fine.

Thanks everyone for your input, I settled pretty quickly on 4627 after some tests. I absolutely hate the wax consistency and wicking is still a pain but with wood and HTP's it's doing pretty good so far. Almost got the 'take no prisoners' HT I wanted, but I still prefer my melts!

Thanks for your input Much appreciated. Haven't tried any BCN FO's yet, I'll give those a shot soon.

I don't know what I was thinking and I know better, I'm embarrassed I even made this post. I had tested other waxes like 464 for a very long time before 6006 and I was really convinced I must be doing something not quite right because him and his FB group were all making their candles the same way lol. I'm not usually that gullible. I was under some weird impression this wax was a completely different beast, and it is, but not in the way I thought originally. I ended up moving onto other paraffins because the mushrooming and wick fussiness was too much effort when it isn't my favorite wax. On top of that, the last slab I tested actually had better HT, weird. I haven't been using it for years so I don't know how consistent it's been over a long span of time but I did read a lot of people complaining about the same thing. If there's any newbies to candle making reading this, DO NOT BELIEVE THE YOUTUBE CANDLE MAGICIANS, listen to Laura and be careful what you watch! lol.

I"ve used the 600 a fair bit, I really like the texture and dye looks nice in it, but because it's about 50% soy a lot of scents are gonna need a good week and a half or so to come out of their shell. I had good luck with CD and ECO, which is weird because I don't often use those wicks in any other wax. HT is not bad for the kind of blend it is, but obviously if you've got 4627 you're not going to be impressed. 6006.... it just doesn't like me lol. I gave up on it because the type of scents I use it just wasn't impressive to me. The sinkholes thing I'm very familiar with but it's not that hard to work through, I used mostly tins so I just poured cooler at like 140 ish and didn't really see many sinkholes or bad dips providing I let them cool somewhere out of the way like in a covered box so they don't cool too fast, but if I was using glass I'd be preheating the jars and poking around the wicks even if I don't see a hole just to make sure there aren't any hiding, then use a heatgun. It's a real love or hate wax, I prefer the straight paraffins myself.

The only pumpkin I can handle from The Flaming Candle is the Vanilla Pumpkin Marshmallow, I'll admit it is nice but it's really strong. Made some melts with it and the HT blew the doors off.

Have you tried Problend 600? It's got that nice finish and is around 50/50. I think it might be too much hassle to use 650 for a container, it would probably shrink a lot even mixed up a bit. It does make some great melts though! The texture is just right, not soft and not brittle.

It's called DIY Candle Making Beginner To Advanced. Yep, and unfortunately that's their only way to try and compete in the lion's den with everyone and their dog starting a candle business. There's so many people spending a fortune to get a business up and running then sharing their sob stories about how they don't understand why they haven't sold anything. The reality is, unless you have something that nobody else has then you're just going to be competing in a low price market where those types of customers are going to be looking for the cheapest best looking candle.

I'm not an expert but I do have a lot of experience with that wax. I was disappointed with the HT being a paraffin wax and all, it threw more along the lines of a parasoy like Joy wax for me, but I had some decent burns with HTP's. The zincs acted a bit weird for me, the melt pool was smaller than what I'm used to. I don't think the extra 1% load is going to help that much with the HT in that wax, but you just never know with candles, you might get a good surprise.

I wish all the newbies starting candle businesses would watch this and realize how important safety is, the candles I've seen most of them showing off in FB groups is downright scary.

Definitely agree with the too much advice bit. There's way too many people thinking it's a one shot trick where there is a magic combo for everything. But even if you gave someone a perfect FO / wick / wax / container, doesn't mean they could make an amazing candle. Kind of like making a cake, you can give 2 people the exact same ingredients but doesn't mean the end result will be the same. Pouring a good candle comes from experience and knowledge. If I was starting over I would have just bought the full wick pack from lonestar which has all of the wicks in it, and a couple of the most popular containers like a jelly jar and tins. I create my own FO's so I already had a huge library of oils to mess with, but if I was starting out I would just buy some top seller packs with the tried and tested ones from a couple of places. Buying too many and not knowing enough about them causes a lot of problems, I decided to buy a bunch of new ones from The Flaming Candle when I was testing 6006 and it just so happened that the ones I picked had piss poor HT so I thought I had problems with the wax, you just gotta test test and test. The wax part has too many variables in it, depends what you want out of a candle. I started out with 464 a long time ago, I hated it for several reasons, but I was able to figure out what more I wanted out of a wax to decide on my next one. For me, it was something I could never get exactly what I wanted so I basically spent thousands on dollars on nothing but knowledge. I can pour a good safe candle now and understand the process, but I find melts are a lot better for HT and a lot safer, so I stuck with those.

I'm up for the candles having some flaws like wet spots, at the end of the day they are only gonna come back again when the temps mess with the glass lol. The mushrooming thing though, just can't deal with it as bad as it is in 6006, burns too hot compared to the other waxes I use. That's true, it does mushroom less but it's still too much to deal with when I get better results from other parasoys. Problem is, I can't even avoid all these issues by using wooden wicks over cotton etc because it burns so hot, the flame is erratic after a short time with little control no matter what size you use. As you probably already know, blends with more soy are a lot more stable (like 50/50), or even Problend paraffin on it's own isn't so hot and cures faster with the scents I use so I think I should just drop the old ball and chain from this wax now lol. The only thing I like about it is I can get away with using less FO. If the wicks weren't such an issue I would have settled on the apothecary jars with double zincs, I made one along with the JJ with LX that you suggested the other week and it's a decent performer minus the major mushrooms (tried it with 44/24, 44/32, and 51). I use that, and Joy wax at the moment. I'm still experimenting with more straight paraffins. Wasn't impressed with 4630, gonna give 4627 a try next I think.

Just following up with my results after testing this. You're absolutely right 6006 does benefit from leaving it longer than a couple days, and the wick size you suggested was pretty much bang on right. Unfortunately it mushroomed like crap after the first hour at only 6% load, and did it the same with some other FO's I use too. I take my hat off to anyone who has found a wick that gives good HT and doesn't mushroom bad with 6006, I couldn't do it after spending months testing it, I'll be sticking with my other parasoy blends. Thanks for everyone's suggestions!

Right, around the wick is the norm with 6006. Your containers also play a part in it, if you're using glass and you heat it first then you get better glass adhesion and less holes providing you also let them cool slowly.

It looks like a horrible monster from Stranger Things or something, I absolutely hate it, but the zincs don't flop over and they have a nice controlled flame in paraffin so I end up going back to them for that kind of wax now and just deal with it. I was big on using wooden wicks in paraffin recently as there is no mushrooming, the HT was decent and fast FMP, but it's difficult to get a decent controlled flame, it gets really annoying trimming the wick to 'exact' measurements.

I've only really had bad sinkholes in 6006, the other waxes are minor heat gun fixes usually. I let them set on some cardboard or in a box away from A/C and I don't have that problem often anymore apart from with wooden wicks, they are the worst for this type of thing. If I was selling them though, I'd totally be stabbing every candle with a kebob skewer all the way down around the wick just because my OCD would be tripping.