Melt Point

[Marilyn]

Sorry! I tried a search but there was over 300 and I'm taking the easy way out of this!! What does melt point mean in terms of how the wax acts or is influenced by its melt point? Or influences other factors.

[Molly]

The biggest difference as far as candlemaking goes is that a very low melt point wax will NOT work for a pillar candle as it will fall apart when you burn it.

You _can_ use a high melt point wax for a container candle, but you probably won't get as good a burn OR as good a scent throw as you would with a lower melt point wax. A rule of thumb which doesn't always work totally perfectly, would be that the higher the meltpoint, the harder the wax, but that's a generalization.

[topofmurrayhill]

There's no particular relationship between hardness and melt point, at least as far as paraffin goes. With soy wax the relationship may not hold either, depending on how it's formulated. For instance, in the case of the EcoSoya container waxes, the lower the melt point the harder the wax.

Melt point is the approximate temperature at which the wax starts to flow as a liquid. For practical purposes, the lower the melt point the easier it is to get a melt pool.

[Marilyn]

OK I think I'm getting it. So a higher melt point wax may need a bigger wick. Would a lower melt point wax burn faster? Hmmm, maybe not, if you are using a smaller wick.

[topofmurrayhill]

OK I think I'm getting it. So a higher melt point wax may need a bigger wick. Would a lower melt point wax burn faster? Hmmm, maybe not, if you are using a smaller wick.

Yes you get it.

The higher melt point wax MAY need a bigger wick. There are other factors that could affect it but that's a good generalization.

Assuming 2 waxes have the same viscosity (thickness, as in the difference between a soda and a milkshake), whichever can get by with the smaller wick will burn slower and longer. In other words, "all things being equal" but of course all things are never equal.