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Posted

I've been rewicking my pillars with LX and photographed some of the testing. This wick/FO combo was already tested in 3 hour burns and looked pretty good. I made another candle to test 4 hour burns, which are pictured here.

It's a 142 MP paraffin blend wicked with LX-21.

Posted

This time I decided to marathon it. After 7 hours the flame was high enough to soot. Instead of trimming and continuing the burn, I decided to blow it out and get this photo. There actually had been no change in the way the candle looked for several hours. When I burn the rest of it I think it will burn like this the rest of the way down.

post-710-139458404797_thumb.jpg

Posted

Great burn and an excellent visual for those that are new and dont really understand what testing encompasses or what to look for.....in my opinion this should be stickied. Great pictures!

Pam:D

Posted
Top, what is the diameter of these pillars? I have always used LX wicks in my votives. I'm sure I have some larger ones around here I could test.
Sorry, forgot to mention it's a 3 inch pillar.
Posted

Great Top,

WOW!!! I would have thought that a piller with LX's would blow out on one side because the wick curls to one side. But this test did not show the wick to curl at all. Maybe because of the type of wax or the melt point.

I do notice more of a curl in my container candles with LX's. I use my own soy blend wax.

Posted
I've been rewicking my pillars with LX and photographed some of the testing. This wick/FO combo was already tested in 3 hour burns and looked pretty good. I made another candle to test 4 hour burns, which are pictured here.

It's a 142 MP paraffin blend wicked with LX-21.

What wicks were you using before? And from your testing which do you prefer?

Posted

They curl - but not like htp or cds.

One thing I like about your pillars is no bulging! I know thats something I am going to have to deal with the 4045H I assume. (I never fixed it with 1343 and I was using LXs also). Are you adding anything specifically to deal with that or is it just the nature of the wax you are using not to do that?

(Looks really good btw).

Posted
Top are you hugging your candles???? Mine would never burn like that unless I gave them a good "hug" every now and then.:wink2:
I'd rather hug people than candles. ;) These are self-hugging. Who knows else they do when I'm not looking.
Posted
They curl - but not like htp or cds.

One thing I like about your pillars is no bulging! I know thats something I am going to have to deal with the 4045H I assume. (I never fixed it with 1343 and I was using LXs also). Are you adding anything specifically to deal with that or is it just the nature of the wax you are using not to do that?

(Looks really good btw).

Mottles are tricky that way because additives that might help will kill the effect. It's a little of everything but everything is important -- the choice of wax because some make the bulge really tough to avoid, optimizing the use of stearic, and wicking so the burn stays as balanced as possible. From what I've seen the bulge usually comes from too much melt pool and too little fire.
Posted

I just want to thank you top for posting these burn pic's and sharing some of your knowledge and experience. I have come back to these pics many times and tried to think about what I see.

When I first started test burning my pillars (which was about what, a couple of weeks ago...lol..) I kept uping my wick sizes in an effort to get rid of mushrooms. (even though I have read on some suppliers websites to wick down, I didn't really understand why) I would try wicking down and would very often still get the mushroom.

However, the more I look and think about what is happening with wicks and flames, I think that I may be getting more of an understanding of what is really happening.

It would seem that the bigger the wick, the more wax it pulls into it. I think that mushrooming must in some form be unburned whatever - be it fo - oils, dyes etc. that the flame may not be hot enough to consume so it becomes a deposit on the wick.

At any rate I had some larger LX's that were mushrooming in some of my pillars and after seeing your pics, I tried an LX 21 in one of my recent pillars and it's not m/rooming on 3 - 4 hour burns.

There must be a fine line or a least a line where the flame is hot enough to consume all that the wick is drawing up from the candle, yet the wick is not so large that it's drawing too much up from the candle.

So, it not only needs to be the correct size wick but also the correct type wick for the wax, in order to hit that balance where the candle burns correctly. Maybe a better way to put into words is that you've got me thinking about the draw, so I'm beginning to think in terms of the rate the wick draws from the candle as well as the heat of the flame.

Anyway, thanks again for this thread and helping me see what can be done and for giving some real good visuals for learning more about candle making. :smiley2:

Rambled again didn't I.....Oh well...

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