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Science behind candle burning and safety.


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Hello everyone. I ran across a YouTube video made by a “retired candle scientist”. The information he gives is VERY informative and helpful if you want to make your candles better, and as safe as possible. For me, I'm always looking at ways to better my product. Hope this interests you, and I hope this wasn’t already posted.  Happy candling..😊

 

 

 

 

 

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On 7/18/2019 at 9:57 AM, ErronB said:

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.

Which FB groups? I've been looking for a few... Can you pm me if you can't state publicly?

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8 hours ago, MTMade said:

Which FB groups? I've been looking for a few... Can you pm me if you can't state publicly?

It's called DIY Candle Making Beginner To Advanced.

7 hours ago, NightLight said:

What’s scary is reddit candle making thread. People making two candles then selling on Etsy. No mention of getting insurance or whatever. People throwing stuff into their candles for decoration. Yikes!,

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.

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On 7/18/2019 at 9:39 AM, Jupiter’s Delight said:

Hello everyone. I ran across a YouTube video made by a “retired candle scientist”. The information he gives is VERY informative and helpful if you want to make your candles better, and as safe as possible. For me, I'm always looking at ways to better my product. Hope this interests you, and I hope this wasn’t already posted.  Happy candling..😊

 

 

Great, thanks for sharing this video, sounds interesting. I'll have to spend some time and watch it all.

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How refreshing to watch a truly useful youtube candle making video!  Thanks for sharing that!

As I rep candle lines at wholesale I've been asked to have a manufacturer provide testing results or to send candles to a retailer's preferred test facility as a PO (purchase order) requirement and condition of the sale but I've never seen it done and it was great to see him explain the reasons behind each test and measurement.  

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On 7/19/2019 at 10:37 PM, Laura C said:

 

Great, thanks for sharing this video, sounds interesting. I'll have to spend some time and watch it all.

 

I did take the time to watch his video and take my own notes, it was well worth it, one of the best videos I've watched all year. I now have some new benchmarks to address when I resume my wick testing and you gotta love the infrared thermometers. 🕯️

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2 hours ago, Laura C said:

 

I did take the time to watch his video and take my own notes, it was well worth it, one of the best videos I've watched all year. I now have some new benchmarks to address when I resume my wick testing and you gotta love the infrared thermometers. 🕯️

 

Yikes, I posted some questions about his video on YouTube and he seemed bothered by it. I hope I'm just misunderstanding the tone of his reply as he obviously misunderstood the tone of my questions and comments. LOL. I hope I'm wrong. I was not doing anything offensive or critical and didn't mean to sound like I was. Seems like you can't have a conversation with anyone these days without "offending" someone. 😝 LOL.

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On 7/19/2019 at 10:48 AM, MTMade said:

This is great! I will probably watch more than once. 🙂 Did he mention trimming the wick between burns? I might have missed it...

The testing standard is to trim wicks to 1/4" after each 4 hr burn per the document he has in the link. 

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1 hour ago, Laura C said:

 

Yikes, I posted some questions about his video on YouTube and he seemed bothered by it. I hope I'm just misunderstanding the tone of his reply as he obviously misunderstood the tone of my questions and comments. LOL. I hope I'm wrong. I was not doing anything offensive or critical and didn't mean to sound like I was. Seems like you can't have a conversation with anyone these days without "offending" someone. 😝 LOL.

He's no fan of paraffin candles, that much is clear!  

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On 7/19/2019 at 1:48 PM, MTMade said:

This is great! I will probably watch more than once. 🙂 Did he mention trimming the wick between burns? I might have missed it...

 

53 minutes ago, pughaus said:

The testing standard is to trim wicks to 1/4" after each 4 hr burn per the document he has in the link. 

 

I haven't had time to read all his documentation yet. And no, I don't recall him every trimming the wicks during the video, only at the beginning. I sure wish he would have wiped off the black soot on the jars after commenting on it, it was disturbing me, LOL.

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Just when I think I’ve got my wicking down!! Measuring these carbon balls! 

 

I keep rewicking my candles- going down a size. Some of them with this last wickectomy are burning as they should, but the scent throw seems to have diminished! Ugh!

 

One still has a carbon ball, but now is not giving me a full melt pool. What does that mean? Wrong wick type altogether? I’m going to give it another go tmw and see if it catches up but it’s not looking good. 

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Laura I thought your comments were straightforward and professional, I did not think they were offensive at all.

 

I wondered about the soot as well.

 

But the comment he gave about burning candles where we breath and that the wax is refined in the same barrel as diesel fuel, candle wax is the throw away from diesel fuel.......

 

off to to make some candles today!🌸

 

 

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1 hour ago, CandleRush said:

 

But the comment he gave about burning candles where we breath and that the wax is refined in the same barrel as diesel fuel, candle wax is the throw away from diesel fuel.......

I get a burr under my blanket from broad statements like that 🙄

 

Highly refined paraffin is inert, used in food preservation and medical procedures because it is so. If wicked well in a candle, it is no worse than soy, coconut, palm, beeswax, air perfume spray or any other home air pollutant. 🤷🏻‍♀️

 

Personally, I didn’t think any of his final results that “passed” were all that great.  I’d keep trying other, more favorable wicks.

 

as for full melt pool early on, bfroberts wrote pretty much my thoughts. If that hot early in the candle where there’s virtually no air current warming the jar you will be in for a potentially dangerous surprise further down as the heat begins to build. 

 

Some onfthe best paraffin retail candles ive purchased and burned never reached a FMP even once during the burn. The jars were spotless and never a single puff of soot through the entire burn whether timed or power burning.  The scent in the air was pure and delightful. 

 

It is about BALANCE. Balance the heat needed to feed fuel to your wick.  Balance the wick material and size to the fuel being burned. 

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I don't really understand the purpose of this video.  All this testing, and at the end he considers that a "successful system"???   What am I missing?  I don't get it.  I've got a shelf full of failures that are better than that.  


        

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