Forrest Posted October 15, 2019 Share Posted October 15, 2019 I’ve started a project to make 6006 candles and give them long cure times. Back in June I make my fall/Christmas candles and I made enough of each to supply my family. This weekend I burned two of them. The first was perfectly wicked. The second may be a little under wicked, but I’ll need another burn or two to be sure. I wicked these candles based on them being over wicked at two weeks. If my best guess was wrong I’ll have to do w wickectomy and replace all the wicks. That got me to thinking, why not cure the candles without wicks? Then after four months I could wickectomy my best guess wick and do a proper wick test on them. When I got the wicking right I could add wicks to all of them. While that is potentially more work I could do it while I am watching TV, so it wouldn’t take up any useful time. I suspect people might think me a bit odd if they knew I had bags full of unwicked candles under the bed, but I’m OK with that. BTW the HT on the first two candles I tested was excellent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallTayl Posted October 15, 2019 Share Posted October 15, 2019 You could do that. Sometimes waxes are a bit difficult to wickectomy cleanly, but it is doable. especially Doable if you don’t mind a top off using fresh wax for appearances and to void fill if the core gets mangled. wickectomy is nearly impossible To do cleanly for wooden wicks, but you could stuff a placeholder in there. Likewise palm waxes, and similar brittle or hard (and opposite super soft) waxes are a challenge. happy your candles are working well! Huzzah! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forrest Posted October 15, 2019 Author Share Posted October 15, 2019 36 minutes ago, TallTayl said: You could do that. Sometimes waxes are a bit difficult to wickectomy cleanly, but it is doable. especially Doable if you don’t mind a top off using fresh wax for appearances and to void fill if the core gets mangled. wickectomy is nearly impossible To do cleanly for wooden wicks, but you could stuff a placeholder in there. Likewise palm waxes, and similar brittle or hard (and opposite super soft) waxes are a challenge. happy your candles are working well! Huzzah! I usually use my little heat gun after a wickectomy to get a smooth surface, if I had several candles I’d break out the big heat gun. But generally speaking a perfect surface is not required on free candles. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallTayl Posted October 15, 2019 Share Posted October 15, 2019 my issues were below the surface... if the hole/plug were not totally set into the hole all the way to the bottom the wax would immediately leak into that space ruining the entire candle. It was the equivalent to a cavity on a traditionally poured candle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallTayl Posted October 15, 2019 Share Posted October 15, 2019 Another thing just occurred to me. Wickectomy makes it difficult to stick a real wick. The jar is slick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strugglebrother Posted October 16, 2019 Share Posted October 16, 2019 5 hours ago, TallTayl said: Another thing just occurred to me. Wickectomy makes it difficult to stick a real wick. The jar is slick. I do it but only for testing purposes, its impossible to get a wick sticker or any type of glue to stick to the bottom again as, its as you say slick.. I core the wick out and insert a new one without glue and heat gun it together... But that's only while wick testing. You could use a bigger wick clip, one that is almost as big as the bottom of the jar. Then it would hold the wick more stable, but there is more wax to core out So you might as well then carve out all the wax and remelt. Not sure if the cure cycle starts again then.. All solutions seem to lean back to a catch 22 Does 6006 change that much over time. Is it mostly soy or paraffin in it? I can't remember the ratio but if I remember its 70/30 or 30/70? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forrest Posted October 16, 2019 Author Share Posted October 16, 2019 10 hours ago, strugglebrother said: Does 6006 change that much over time. Is it mostly soy or paraffin in it? I can't remember the ratio but if I remember its 70/30 or 30/70? Yes it does. It is only 30% soy so you wouldn't expect it to need soy like cure times, but it does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strugglebrother Posted October 16, 2019 Share Posted October 16, 2019 2 hours ago, Forrest said: Yes it does. It is only 30% soy so you wouldn't expect it to need soy like cure times, but it does. Can't it just be that different room temperatures when you are burning these candles that make them perform differently. Cold weather vs warm weather? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forrest Posted October 17, 2019 Author Share Posted October 17, 2019 3 hours ago, strugglebrother said: Can't it just be that different room temperatures when you are burning these candles that make them perform differently. Cold weather vs warm weather? No, you can tell a big difference in the HT with longer cure times, and but you also need a bigger wick. The one I just tested was overwicked after two weeks cure, but now it needs at least one size bigger, maybe two. I've turned off the AC, but it is about the same temp in my house as when I tested them the first time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kandlekrazy Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 I use a bamboo skewer as a place holder if not wicking, problem is after first wick test your wax has to be soft enough to run that skewer back down to try another size. Heat gun is all I need to clean up after inserting wick. 1 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.