Burn Test Feedback

[fruit.tart]

I've been combing through the archives of this form for the last few months and have been learning so much more about candle making than I could've ever imagined (so a giant thank you!) From what I've garnered so far, I began conducting some burn testing on a naked wax blend (no FO) of 6006 / 464 to try to determine my baseline wick. These are 11oz jars with a 3" diameter that I filled halfway for testing's sake.

 

The photo below is from the end of a second three-hour burn. I think the CD10 is sooting too much, the CD6 is too small, and I've also tried an ECO8 that I loved (no curling wick!) but it burned too hot and discolored the wax.

 

Questions:

• Should I be concerned about the sooting on the CD8? It's burning well and I'm confident the hangup will melt down, but there's still a streak of dark soot on one side of the jar.
• Once I settle on a good baseline wick, would the next step be to test a fragrance using this wick size and then go up and down from there? I think I'm confused about how to determine if you need to change the FO load as opposed to changing the wick size. 

 

[TallTayl]

Hi and happy you’re enjoying candle making!

how long have these candles been allowed to cure? Curing for candles with soy is super important, since soy changes so much with time. 
 

early sooting on naked wax is something to zoom in on. If the candles are in a draft, that could explain some of it. Air conditioner currents cause some sooting, for instance. Most soot, though, is caused by an imbalance of the amount of fuel being drawn through the wick and the Inability of the flame to burn it at the same rate. It is like a carburetor in a car “running rich” because too much fuel is being forced into the engine. 
 

beginning tests at the half way point is ok, but sometimes you get a really of test.  So much happens at the top that impacts the bottom. I would cure these longer if it has been less than 2 weeks, and revisit burning to compared. 
 

when ready to add a variable, like fragrance, I test with the same wick size, then adjust after the first burn or two.  
 

good luck!

[fruit.tart]

These have been curing for a week, which I thought would be enough for wick testing, but I'll let them sit for another week and revisit. And to think, I had turned to candle making from cold process soaps in hopes of finding a hobby with a quicker return on investment

 

Once cured for two weeks, if I'm still finding soot from the naked wax (having been burned in a room without a draft), is that immediately an indication that I would need to wick down or is some sooting okay given that this wax is in the lower half of the glass jar?

 

Thanks so much! 

[TallTayl]

You’re so funny! I did the same. Soap maker and cosmetics then candles. Candles are far more complicated than Soap ever was.

 

If after another week they still get sooty it might be an indication that you just have the wrong wick series. It might be just drawing too much fuel to burn efficiently. You could try LX, or CSN, or paper core, the list goes on. Or you can just accept that a certain amount of soot might be OK.

 

If you have not already searched for 6006 wicks maybe give that a shot. Paraffin changes the dynamic of soy so much.

[bfroberts]

6006 can be sooty, more so with some wick types than others.  I always felt like CD's were more prone to soot than some other types, although a lot of 6006 users swear by them.  How much 464 are you adding?  

[fruit.tart]

@TallTayl I think once I get the hang of wicking this blend, I'll be more mentally equipped to return to soap making and endure its painfully long cure times!

 

@bfroberts This is an 85% 6006 / 15% 464 blend. I had actually tried blending in hopes that it would be easier to wick than standalone 6006, which I've been struggling with because of all the soot. Now I'm finding that I like the way the blend looks with the creaminess the extra soy adds, and I might want to explore adding a tad more 464, like an 80/20 blend. I was not in love with the CDs in the 6006 either, but thought it was more acceptable than ECO even though I personally preferred the way the ECO wicks burned (it just soot far too much, way more than the CDs did). I also tried LX in the standalone 6006, which was underwhelming, so didn't want to try it in this blend. I think I may have read in the archives that you've played around with this blend before — was there a wick you found more successful than others?

[TallTayl]

Soap is pretty easy.... just discount the water. A 40% lye solution makes for a pretty hard bar that takes very little time to cure to size. 

[bfroberts]

1 hour ago, fruit.tart said:

This is an 85% 6006 / 15% 464 blend. I had actually tried blending in hopes that it would be easier to wick than standalone 6006, which I've been struggling with because of all the soot. Now I'm finding that I like the way the blend looks with the creaminess the extra soy adds, and I might want to explore adding a tad more 464, like an 80/20 blend. I was not in love with the CDs in the 6006 either, but thought it was more acceptable than ECO even though I personally preferred the way the ECO wicks burned (it just soot far too much, way more than the CDs did). I also tried LX in the standalone 6006, which was underwhelming, so didn't want to try it in this blend. I think I may have read in the archives that you've played around with this blend before — was there a wick you found more successful than others?

 

I haven't done this particular blend, but I've done lots of blends and to be honest with you, in terms of creating a parasoy, I've never blended anything that I thought was any better than what is already available on the market.  At present, I am using CBL130, and IMO it is superior to any other parasoy out there.  I gave up on 6006 a year or so ago because I didn't like the way the current batches were burning, and unless it has changed I feel for anyone dealing with that hot mess. 

 

I don't really have much to offer other than being 110% certain that 6006 needs to cure for a couple of weeks before it even begins to exhibit a decent burn quality (if you have the same crappy 6006 I was dealing with last year).  It has nothing to do with throw, and everything to do with how it burns. It's kind of a monster in tumblers due to the way it burns down.  It's actually much easier to wick in a jar with shoulders.  With the tumblers, in order to get where I think you want to be in terms of appearance and burn, you'll probably have to up the percentage of soy to around 20% so you are working with basically a 50/50 paraffin/soy blend before it starts to really show more soy-like burn characteristics.  At that point, I'd test with Eco, CD and HTP, but my money would be on Eco.

[fruit.tart]

14 hours ago, TallTayl said:

Soap is pretty easy.... just discount the water. A 40% lye solution makes for a pretty hard bar that takes very little time to cure to size. 

!! I haven't tried that before. This is life changing information haha. 

 

13 hours ago, bfroberts said:

I haven't done this particular blend, but I've done lots of blends and to be honest with you, in terms of creating a parasoy, I've never blended anything that I thought was any better than what is already available on the market.  At present, I am using CBL130, and IMO it is superior to any other parasoy out there.  I gave up on 6006 a year or so ago because I didn't like the way the current batches were burning, and unless it has changed I feel for anyone dealing with that hot mess. 

 

I don't really have much to offer other than being 110% certain that 6006 needs to cure for a couple of weeks before it even begins to exhibit a decent burn quality (if you have the same crappy 6006 I was dealing with last year).  It has nothing to do with throw, and everything to do with how it burns. It's kind of a monster in tumblers due to the way it burns down.  It's actually much easier to wick in a jar with shoulders.  With the tumblers, in order to get where I think you want to be in terms of appearance and burn, you'll probably have to up the percentage of soy to around 20% so you are working with basically a 50/50 paraffin/soy blend before it starts to really show more soy-like burn characteristics.  At that point, I'd test with Eco, CD and HTP, but my money would be on Eco.

CBL130 sounds like a dream right now, but I have about 40 lbs of 6006 to try to make workable so I'm in it for the long haul.

 

Thanks to you both for the suggestions. Going to wait another week before retesting the batch I had made above, and also just created another blend with more soy that I'll let cure for a few weeks and see how those perform. 

[TallTayl]

I wish we knew what additives were in these waxes. It’s not just soy that’s causing these burn defects. What polymers are they using?

 

I just finished burning a 100% Midwest soy candle with no additives and it was clean and fine. Aesthetically it could use some help in the beauty department but otherwise was fine.