Sponiebr Posted November 5, 2016 Share Posted November 5, 2016 (edited) I know this may be a tad forward but all this talk about wood wicks has gotten my imagination all up in a tizzy. I was wondering if one of y'all might be up for a little experimentation? (coughs) Uh, so could someone try wicking a candle with a piece of straw? I mean like a piece of real straw, not hay or a soda straw. I would probably guess that you'd have to boil the hell out of it in some wax or oil to drive out the molecular moisture, and maybe fill the core with wax separately? (I make soap, and bad ideas I dunno) I dunno why, but I have some strange feeling that an open ended piece of straw might work pretty well. Then again I don't make candles... Just candle curious. Slainte, Sponiebr the Executor of Bad Ideas and Disastrous Notions. Edited November 5, 2016 by Sponiebr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trappeur Posted November 5, 2016 Share Posted November 5, 2016 (edited) Huh??????? I don't get it...wick a candle with a piece of straw? For what reason? Trappeur Edited November 5, 2016 by Trappeur 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sponiebr Posted November 5, 2016 Author Share Posted November 5, 2016 29 minutes ago, Trappeur said: Huh??????? I don't get it...wick a candle with a piece of straw? For what reason? Trappeur Actually, Trappeur you're the one I had in mind for this experiment, 'cause yanno the horses. But, I digress. So there are these wooden wicks and apparently they're all unpredictable and don't want to work with certain waxes and certain FO's (yadda, yadda, yadda...) but they make this nice crackling noise like a log fire when they burn. So I got to thinking how that all works and I wasn't really feeling the whole true wicking action of a thin slice of wood. Wicks can work by surface tension feed but, meh, they work better with capillary feed. I've made improvised wick and fuse out of a great many things before, hair, fiberglass, a bundle of copper wire, (don't try that or the stainless steel metal braid), pipe cleaners (not great either the wire heats up the fuel/wax/fat)... all kinds of crazy stuff. But all of these had one thing in common, capillary feed/ saturation feeds. For a more precise definition I'd have to say they worked by wicking... <--- see what I did there? And then as I thought about these strange wicks it struck me that even though straw frequently has a shinny outside "skin" the interior of straw is very absorbent and might wick pretty well. I was thinking that someone might try this and find that the straw gives a crackling pop also, and probably without so many limiting factors as the wood wicks seem to have. So with these concepts in mind I was wondering if someone with all of the gear, and knowledge might give this a short test to see if it would work. That's the theory, intent, and scope of the operation. (*This message will self destruct in 10 seconds.*) 9 seconds 8... -Sponie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonstar Posted November 5, 2016 Share Posted November 5, 2016 1 hour ago, Trappeur said: Huh??????? I don't get it...wick a candle with a piece of straw? For what reason? Trappeur lol lol lol !!!!!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sponiebr Posted November 5, 2016 Author Share Posted November 5, 2016 10 minutes ago, Moonstar said: lol lol lol !!!!!! People say it's a thin line between genius and madness and I'm here to tell you it is a broad stroke of gray. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonstar Posted November 5, 2016 Share Posted November 5, 2016 14 minutes ago, Sponiebr said: People say it's a thin line between genius and madness and I'm here to tell you it is a broad stroke of gray. Lol !!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trappeur Posted November 5, 2016 Share Posted November 5, 2016 35 minutes ago, Moonstar said: lol lol lol !!!!!! I know!!!!! lol, lol I'm as dumb as a box of rocks because I don't understand a thing what Sponiebr is even talking about! lol, lol....Do you? lol And what is a straw supposed to look like.....because the only straw I know of and have is horse hay! lol I know you have to be reading this post Sponier, lol.....And you thought of me when you put up this thread? oh my! Just because I have horses? Hey! Moonshine! You have horses....maybe you have some straw and can make this for Sponiebr? I'd love to help you out here Sponier, but I'm really lost in the dark here....Well, that's nothing unusual. My father used to tell me all the time I'd get lost in a closet. Guess he was right! ha! Trappeur 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trappeur Posted November 5, 2016 Share Posted November 5, 2016 28 minutes ago, Sponiebr said: People say it's a thin line between genius and madness and I'm here to tell you it is a broad stroke of gray. It must be......I think you meant a stroke a black. Trappeur, lol 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sponiebr Posted November 5, 2016 Author Share Posted November 5, 2016 25 minutes ago, Trappeur said: I know!!!!! lol, lol I'm as dumb as a box of rocks because I don't understand a thing what Sponiebr is even talking about! lol, lol....Do you? lol And what is a straw supposed to look like.....because the only straw I know of and have is horse hay! lol I know you have to be reading this post Sponier, lol.....And you thought of me when you put up this thread? oh my! Just because I have horses? Hey! Moonshine! You have horses....maybe you have some straw and can make this for Sponiebr? I'd love to help you out here Sponier, but I'm really lost in the dark here....Well, that's nothing unusual. My father used to tell me all the time I'd get lost in a closet. Guess he was right! ha! Trappeur Well, you're the only one I knew that had horses... Straw is rather large in diameter compared to hay and it has a hollow core. Straw is usually the stalks left over from cereal crops. e.g. wheat, oats, barley etc.. Basically all I'm talking about is using one of these thin straw tubes as a wick by itself (e.g. no wick inside of it) so that when it burns it'll snap, crackle and pop. Just a concept I thunked up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonstar Posted November 5, 2016 Share Posted November 5, 2016 22 minutes ago, Trappeur said: I know!!!!! lol, lol I'm as dumb as a box of rocks because I don't understand a thing what Sponiebr is even talking about! lol, lol....Do you? lol And what is a straw supposed to look like.....because the only straw I know of and have is horse hay! lol I know you have to be reading this post Sponier, lol.....And you thought of me when you put up this thread? oh my! Just because I have horses? Hey! Moonshine! You have horses....maybe you have some straw and can make this for Sponiebr? I'd love to help you out here Sponier, but I'm really lost in the dark here....Well, that's nothing unusual. My father used to tell me all the time I'd get lost in a closet. Guess he was right! ha! Trappeur No clue whatsoever lol ! But this post got a big laugh outa me - with everyone in my house sick /one with pneumonia I needed this laugh lol ! Sponier I have a feeling your a very interesting individual lol ! and quite comical I might add Thanks for making me laugh this morning ! Trappeur - Lost in a closet lol ! OMG that is so funny because I use to say that to my one daughter and she'd get so mad at me. It's now a family joke - you know the kind where no one else knows nor gets why your all laughing so hard and then you start laughing even harder because others think that lol ! Ahhhh good times lol ! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trappeur Posted November 5, 2016 Share Posted November 5, 2016 Yes, Moonstar, those were the good old days for sure. I used to get so mad too at my father for saying that to me. He thought it was funny and would laugh right after he said that, but I wouldn't be. I'd go stomping off into the bedroom swearing under my breath....And now that my father isn't here today, I can laugh at this...your right, the good ole days. On another note back to Sponiebr, you know what, I have straw...use that for bedding for the horses. But I'm thinking if you were to put a piece of straw into a candle, it would definitely burn immediately right down to the wax, but I'm sure it would extinguish right away and that defeats your purpose. You know what I mean. And too, you have to use the correct size wick for your wax and thats where testing comes in. Now if you wanted to test straw, there's no such thing for a certain straw size....so how could you do any tests? Trappeur 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jcandleattic Posted November 5, 2016 Share Posted November 5, 2016 I'm with Trapps first response. For what purpose? To what end? Let's say it worked - which is very highly unlikely - what then? It's not like a supplier is going to be carrying straw as a viable wick option. Wood wicks are hard enough to find as it is. And even if you could find it, you would end up with some of the same problems as you do with the wood wicks which is finding the correct size. Not all straw (or wood wicks - even supposed same size wood wicks) are created equal, and there would be no way to regulate that without years of lab testing and proven results. Brings me back to the saying - just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should do it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfroberts Posted November 5, 2016 Share Posted November 5, 2016 I wouldn't touch that with a ten foot pole. I don't find wood wicks to be unpredictable or difficult to work with. And just like other wick types, they will work better in some combos than others. Overall though, I'd say they are probably more versatile than a lot of other wick types available. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallTayl Posted November 5, 2016 Share Posted November 5, 2016 I use straw to bed my horses and poultry. It is very brittle and not suited in my opinion to this kind of experiment. At all. The straw breaks into a million dusty bits when handled. And i would not want to breathe the dust, mold, or other particles lit or unlit. In the old days - like really old days - people would use reed but like all natural Materials it is not predictable. This time of year a lot of people use straw to decorate. Go grab a handful and see what I mean. Grab a block of canning paraffin from the grocer and give it go. You must have a can or jar to to lend to the experiment. Then let us know what happens! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sponiebr Posted November 5, 2016 Author Share Posted November 5, 2016 6 hours ago, Trappeur said: but I'm sure it would extinguish right away and that defeats your purpose. Hum, yeah a wick that burns out at the wax isn't optimal... 6 hours ago, Trappeur said: .so how could you do any tests? Tests? You do this? I mean it's not like you're rubbing a candle on your face or anything... (oh, wait, fire inside the house... right, forgot about that for a second...) 4 hours ago, Jcandleattic said: Brings me back to the saying - just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should do it. Pish! Do you think Lela Warren (aka: Glittersniffer) would have gain the notoriety she has today with that kind of an attitude? I dare say no, no she would not. 4 hours ago, TallTayl said: Grab a block of canning paraffin from the grocer and give it go. Oh... Gulf wax... Yeah, I might have a few hundred pounds of that laying around actually... I don't think it's been mixed with anything, but I honestly don't know. Either way it should still burn. o.O This'll be interesting. If you see me on the News, DENY EVERYTHING! Slainte! Sponiebr the Executor of things that make you go hmmm... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sponiebr Posted November 6, 2016 Author Share Posted November 6, 2016 I can't tell if this wax is straight paraffin or if it's been mixed with something else, (there is a very good chance that it does have something else mixed with it to greatly increase the melting temperature). Also what are some of the temperature melting point ranges that you try for in your wax? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.