Wicking GB 464 & tins (specifically 8 oz. and 16 oz.)

[BCC92306]

Hi. I’ve been testing and making candles with good results for 9 months now and have learned so much from this forum- thank you, all.

 

In one of my lines, I use GB 464 and am trying to not throw in the towel with it. I know every batch is a crap shoot.  I mainly use ECO and CD wicks and am having a tricky time finding a good wick in the 16 oz. tin....so much so that I’m thinking of just switching over to double wicking. I’ve tested it in the past by doubling the really small ECOs and CDs but never got really serious with it. 2 CD 4s actually did well. But I’ve just always had it in my head to try and master a single wick in the 16 oz. tin.

 

I am currently using CD 22 in the 16 oz. silver tin but have found that all is well until about 1.5 - 2 hours into it, then the flame gets to be about 1.25 - 1.5” and every other minute or so will throw off some soot.  Nothing horrible but annoying to say the least.  MP is not an issue for me as most catch up to full MP by the 2nd or 3rd burn cycle.  The HT is good.  I use 8% FO. However, I do think that the last third of the candle burns hot which I believe is because of the convection created by this type of vessel...more wide than it is tall.

 

Has anyone had similar issues with this wick series and GB 464?  I use CD 18 in my 8 oz. tin and that surprisingly seems to be working well although I bet if I paid a little closer attention to how the last third of the candle burns, I could probably say the same as the above.  
 

Is there a better wick series to use rather than CD for 464?  I have on hand CW, Premiers, ECOs, and CDs....
 

I also use a coco/soy blend and the smaller ECOs/CDs work very well in both sized tins.  
 

I’d really love to stick with ECO or CD with the 464 but would appreciate any advice to a better starting/finishing point.  I have a ton of different sizes of ECOs and CDs (although no CD 16s yet) and will be doing more testing today.

 

Thanks in advance.

[TallTayl]

I would try double in that tin. Don’t spread the wicks too far apart to help concentrate the heat away from the sides. CD would be my first choice in soy.  Point the curl of the wicks in opposite directions to help spread the heat. 
 

you are 100% in line with many of our observations about tins and wicking for soy. That diameter makes the already difficult width vs height proportion a challenge. The metal amplifies the problems.

 

For learning’s sake, you could also try a wick that creates a wider based flame like a wooden wick or cottonwood if you can get them easily enough. 

[BCC92306]

Thanks, TallTayl. I will do that.  

 

I actually do have both CW and WW on hand.  I have a sampler pack of the CW from Northwood when I was testing out their NW-58 wax. I really liked that wax by the way - works wonderfully with the CW but that wax has been so hard to get lately...that's another topic for another day hahah.

 

I've had success with the WW and use those primarily in my glass jars line as well as my 3 wick bowls.  May make sense for me to give those a try in the tin.

 

So here is a pic referring to my initial post.  1st burn was last night for about 3 hours. And halfway into it was when I got the tall flame. So I re-lit this morning.. Burning for 2 hrs so far. I notice no soot and the flame has been nice so far. A little dancey but probably .75" to an inch in height. This candle was made sometime between May-July if I had to guess and I think back then I was using 10% FO load.  I'm wondering if maybe the initial soot and tall flame was from excess FO? Although I did not notice any sweating at all....

 

 

[BCC92306]

[TallTayl]

Is that the 16 oz tin?

[BCC92306]

Yes 

[BCC92306]

Here it is at 4 hrs 6 mins. Flame taller, more bouncey, and gives a little bit of soot from flame but not constant...

[TallTayl]

Yeah, I would double wick and spread the heat a bit.  The problem with bigger wicks is the flame size (as you have seen) which may also throw the temp balance off needed for decent HT.

 

if the pool in a soy candle with a hotter wick is too big it may end up too cool to throw.  The hotter flame itself may also end up too hot to throw. Candles are weird. 
 

the sweet spot is balancing the heat needed to melt enough wax and create an air current to get that heavy wax and scent into the air. 

[BCC92306]

That makes sense, thanks TallTayl. I'm going to give it a shot with 2 CD 4s.  I think that is the lowest # I've seen in that wick series.

 

Oh I guess I should have mentioned the FO in the pictured candle. It is lemon pound cake from Pro Candle Supply.  Personally one of my faves...a nice bakery scent. Not overly lemony but has some vanilla and buttery notes to it. 

 

Do you find lemony scents tricky to wick? Could that have added to this whole thing?

 

 

[TallTayl]

48 minutes ago, BCC92306 said:

That makes sense, thanks TallTayl. I'm going to give it a shot with 2 CD 4s.  I think that is the lowest # I've seen in that wick series.

 

Oh I guess I should have mentioned the FO in the pictured candle. It is lemon pound cake from Pro Candle Supply.  Personally one of my faves...a nice bakery scent. Not overly lemony but has some vanilla and buttery notes to it. 

 

Do you find lemony scents tricky to wick? Could that have added to this whole thing?

 

 

Some citrus can be tricky, yes. So can some bakery types. 

 

CD4 is a reasonable starting piint.  You can always go up in future tests.  

 

I would not be surprised if CD5 or CD6 gets you where you need to be. I use 3xCD6 in my 5" ceramic with both coconut and soy blends.  The flames are a nice height (in proportion with the vessel). If you can point the curl from each wick in opposite directions in a tin you might be AOK. (Look at the braid of the wick. One side is a stack of "V", the other is a stack of upside down "V" like little mountains. THe curl goes toward the mountain.

 

I would be inclined to space them less than 1" apart to keep the tin from collecting too much heat, especially toward the bottom. Play around with spacing tab edge to tab edge, and also overlapping tabs to get the heat concentration you need to achieve a great, safe burn. Al you are trying to do is move the heat around so it works better with the vessel proportions.

[BCC92306]

Sounds good- I’ll start with the CD 4s since I have those on hand and then determine if I need to adjust to CD 5s or 6s.  I have 6s on hand as well but not 5s.

 

I never thought to overlap the tabs- great idea.
 

Thank you so much! 😁