carnauba tapers

[Antique Collector]

Anyone ever try making a carnauba wax taper? It seems to be a harder wax than beeswax, does it burn brighter or slower than beeswax does?

[Stella1952]

I don't have an answer for you, but was curious about carnauba wax, so I Googled "carnauba wax for candlemaking" and, to my surprise and ignorance, discovered that it is palm wax - made from the carnauba palm. So after "discovering" that, yes, we have made palm wax tapers. We have not used beeswax yet, so I don't have any point of comparison. We have made molded twists and hand-dipped tapers and find they burn longer than most paraffin tapers we have used. Other than that, the "brightness" of the flame is dependent on the wick used... we like CDN wicks for both soy & palm. The beeswax, being a softer wax, would help condition the palm wax to be less brittle (depending on the proportions used), just as soy does. Blending palm with a softer wax also increases the elasticity of the wax making it less prone to cracking.

HTH

[Antique Collector]

The wick is important for brightness, but some waxes do burn brighter than others. The brightest I know of now is beeswax, spermaceti candles were the brightest ever supposedly, but obviously spermaceti is nearly impossible to find these days, old unused jars of it turn up rarely.