Need clarification on what I'm doing....

[2rottndogs]

or at least a fresher mind than what I have at the moment.

I have been working with a candalina jar (10oz.) I have officially pulled out every eyebrow hair I own and I'm now poking myself in the eye since it's less painful than trying to wick this godforsaken jar. I also want to note that the flaws in my personality enable me to be so stubborn that I wont give up until I'm as blind and hairless as a newborn mouse.

That being said... I had done a search and found a comment that I'm wondering if it applies to my situation. I'm working with this jar, I'm on test #5 and now I'm wonderin if I've been heading in the wrong direction.

The jar is narrower at the top and considerably wider at the middle (roughly about 4" wide @ center)...it also bows up on the bottom in the center where the wick would be placed. I can't get the jar wicked to where it melts the sides at the widest point. I started my tests with an LX20, then LX22, then LX26, then RRD50, and now I'm at RRD55. None of the first 4 burned the wax off the sides... the closest I came was with the RRD50 and I had about 1/4" of wax left. Note... test #5 isn't complete at this point, it's burning as we speak.

The comment I read was that by wicking up so much, the wick was consuming too much wax and that's why there wasn't going to be a full melt pool. I don't know anymore if I'm going in the right direction with these jars.

All joking aside... I'm at my wits end. I need to make these work... I need to get them on my shelves and they need to be sold. It's not helping that I'm working with another difficult jar and the 2 combined are making me crazy.

Kim

[Dixie]

If you don't have too many of them you may want to consider a different jar. Everyone seems to complain about them. I just use regular old apoth's and will probably never change.

[jennhalcyon]

How many burns did you do on your tests? I don't work with straight soy, but I can single wick this one with an RRD 50 in a parasoy (with hang-up on the first couple of burns). C&S sells an RRD65, if that helps at all. I haven't used LX and I haven't tried any CDs in this jar except in a double-wick experiment (but the jar got SOOOO dang hot).

HTH some,

Jenn

[2rottndogs]

Thanks Jenn,

I feel better knowing that you're using a large wick also. The RRD 50 is the only one so far that I let burn COMPLETELY to the bottom. The LX's were OBVIOUSLY not going to catch up and they had 3 to 4 different burns on them. The RRD 50 had 4 burns and that was the one that left about 1/4" or less of wax on the sides...but wax still didn't melt completely even though I let it burn to the bottom.

I'm on burn #3 with the RRD 55s and this by far is looking the best. I'm hoping when I light the 3rd time, the sides will catch up.

Kim

[Stella1952]

Kim, I would start with a CDN 16 or 18 on this size/shape container.

How long are you burning at a stretch?

[jennhalcyon]

Kim,

Hope the 55 works for you! I hate to use such a big wick...I actually prefer double wicking on the wider jars because I despise big fat wicks, but the jar was too hot to the touch no matter what two wicks I used (except zinc...had no luck with them in this wax). Trying some cds too, just to see what happens. And one of these days I am gonna try some CDNs cuz Stella just won't stop talking about 'em! (jk Stella:wink2: )

Jenn

[Stella1952]

:embarasse I have had such good luck with them, I can't help myself!

[2rottndogs]

Stella,

Do you think the cds would work? I don't have the cdns.

Kim

[Beth-VT]

CD's might work. Another thing to keep in mind, is seeing what happens once you get below that wide spot in the jar. The deeper you get the more heat is trapped in the jar (which heats the sides of the jar which spreads downward below the wax level) and you may find that although you might be a bit shy of a full melt pool at the widest point, it's entirely possible that later burns will catch up: not by creating a full melt pool but simply by the heat melting off the sides.

[2rottndogs]

I was hoping for that also Beth... but what I found is that in the center of the jars, there is a spot that bows upward towards the widest center point and that is playing a part in the difficulty of wicking this jar.

I supose this is a learning experience (regardless of the fact it's making me crazy:D )... I've poured 5 different tests for this jar so far, what's 5 more if I learn something from it. It's going to come down to whether or not I get commited in the process.

Kimberly

[Stella1952]

Try the CDs - they are the same as CDNs except for the treatment applied to CDNs. Ya gots nuttin' to lose, right? I agree with wicking for the bottom half of the container and that once the candle burns down some, the trapped heat within the containers helps to aid the burning process. Many soy candles "catch up" during the last half of the burn.