Forrest Posted March 23, 2020 Share Posted March 23, 2020 I like HTP wicks, but the bending has always been a problem for me. The two solutions I have seen are putting the wick off center, or twisting them. I have tried twisting them with limited success, but I came up with an idea that seems to work for me. I hold the wick by the tab and the top and heat the part of the wick that will be in the wax with a heat gun. As soon as the wax coating on the wick gets soft I gently twist the wick and take it away from the heat. The wax hardens quickly and the wick stays twisted. The wick might untwist when you pour hot wax on it, but in my case I have a wick sticker on the bottom and a wick holder on the top so this has not been a problem. I have done this twice now and both times had good results both times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallTayl Posted March 23, 2020 Share Posted March 23, 2020 I do similar, but heat set after twisting. Either seems to get to the same end. Yours might be much tidier since the coating won’t crack like it does when twisting cold. In some cases I have had extra success by dipping the cooled twisted wick into a high melt point wax (Palm usually) to help stiffen a bit more for use in soft waxes. Now to figure out for sure if the twisting is enough to overcome the HTP shortcomings... the flatness / coreless feature of the wick still results in it being pulled to lean off-center during burns just by its own weight in taller jars. the curling of the top is more than enough to slowly drag the wick over. Extra support needs to be from the bottom at the weakest point: where the tab ends and the wick is pinched to secure the tab. Usually the tabs are folded over to fit in the bags. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forrest Posted March 23, 2020 Author Share Posted March 23, 2020 32 minutes ago, TallTayl said: I do similar, but heat set after twisting. Either seems to get to the same end. Yours might be much tidier since the coating won’t crack like it does when twisting cold. In some cases I have had extra success by dipping the cooled twisted wick into a high melt point wax (Palm usually) to help stiffen a bit more for use in soft waxes. Now to figure out for sure if the twisting is enough to overcome the HTP shortcomings... the flatness / coreless feature of the wick still results in it being pulled to lean off-center during burns just by its own weight in taller jars. the curling of the top is more than enough to slowly drag the wick over. Extra support needs to be from the bottom at the weakest point: where the tab ends and the wick is pinched to secure the tab. Usually the tabs are folded over to fit in the bags. In my very limited testing it still bent slightly. I'm hoping that the bend will rotate as it burns down. In a previous test I got an off center MP to rotate 180 degrees Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErronB Posted March 25, 2020 Share Posted March 25, 2020 Interesting, I will definitely the heat gun idea. I can see how this would help with the rigidity of the twist. I usually just offset them slightly but that's only if I'm using 73 and up, the smaller ones barely curl over enough to effect the MP for me. I am still messing with wood in 4627 because the fast HT is a beast, now that they changed the wood type in some of the wicks they have some interesting results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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