Debbie73 Posted October 30, 2008 Share Posted October 30, 2008 I am wanting to make clamshells out of palm wax and wanted to know if you use container or pillar?? Also what temperature should you pour the wax? Thanking you in advance for your help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bugtussle Posted October 31, 2008 Share Posted October 31, 2008 I don't think it matters which wax. Just remember you have to pour @ 160 or less or your clamshell will melt. I could never get the crystal effect in clams. Carole Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thesoapbox Posted October 31, 2008 Share Posted October 31, 2008 Mine came out rather nicely but you do have to watch your temp. The first batch I poured it was way too hot and melted the clamshell flat LOLangi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kandlekrazy Posted October 21, 2010 Share Posted October 21, 2010 bumping this up to see if anyone has had success with these? I saw some on Etsy that looked perfect, seems if I pour at 150-160 it just doesn't crystalize nicely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bart70 Posted October 21, 2010 Share Posted October 21, 2010 (edited) bumping this up to see if anyone has had success with these? I saw some on Etsy that looked perfect, seems if I pour at 150-160 it just doesn't crystalize nicely.I have good success with these.The temp is critical and can vary slightly depending on the wax - it is a fine line between getting the crystals and not melting the clamshell.I suggest you do some experimenting until you work out which temps work for you without melting the clam. It can be done if you are careful and know your temps for your wax.I use pillar wax in mineRob Edited October 21, 2010 by bart70 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soy327 Posted October 27, 2010 Share Posted October 27, 2010 (edited) Bart70,How hot are you pouring. Can you tell us what works for you. Some of us might learn from your experience with the palm wax. Are you using starburst or feather? Edited October 27, 2010 by soy327 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardLOZ Posted October 27, 2010 Share Posted October 27, 2010 We also use palm for our clams. I heat my wax to around 200, add scent and colour and then pretty much pour straight away. I have not measured the pouring temp for the clams, but I would guess it would be around 170 - 180.We have not had any issues with our clams melting at all, and always get a nice feather pattern.HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bart70 Posted October 28, 2010 Share Posted October 28, 2010 (edited) Bart70,How hot are you pouring. Can you tell us what works for you. Some of us might learn from your experience with the palm wax. Are you using starburst or feather?Mine varies depending on the feather palm wax supplier that I use. I normally raise to around 90 degress C to add the FO, then drop to around 80 degrees C to pour into the clamshells. Dropping below this with my current wax will result in very little or no crystalising (which reduces how effectively they look through the clamshells).Pouring at 85 or above tends to produce deformed clamshells (with the ones I am currently using....may not be the case with other makes/brands/suppliers of shells).The old saying "Oils aint Oils" is true with feather palm. There are huge differences from supplier/manufacturer to supplier/manufacturer. Some are as different as chalk and cheese, hence my initial comments about trying for yourself to see what works for you. Bart70 Edited October 28, 2010 by bart70 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soy327 Posted October 28, 2010 Share Posted October 28, 2010 Oh yeah, I see what you mean. You must be in Australia and those temps don't mean anything to me. C is celscius? I am farenheit. thank you for the reply though. This is one mess I don't want, I called and talk to someone that said not above 160 degrees. I could try by putting in a cake pan so if it melts I can just throw it away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bart70 Posted October 28, 2010 Share Posted October 28, 2010 Oh yeah, I see what you mean. You must be in Australia and those temps don't mean anything to me. C is celscius? I am farenheit. thank you for the reply though. This is one mess I don't want, I called and talk to someone that said not above 160 degrees. I could try by putting in a cake pan so if it melts I can just throw it away.I have never had one 'melt' and leak.....only deformation of the blocks. Instead of square sides they end up rounded and dont like being pushed out of the shell.Check the net...there are a number of converters that will convert the Celcius to Farenheit. I would suggest melting a small amount of plain feather palm wax, note the temp, then pour it into one clamshell and let it set. When set, check the bottom of the clamshell - if the cubes are 'ballooned' then repeat 5 degrees cooler. Keep dropping by 5 degrees until you get no deformation, then keep going until the crystals no longer form.You will then have the temp range that your wax will crystalise without deforming the clamshell, and by doing it this way you might only risk deforming 3 or 4 shells in testing instead of an entire batch. In the off chance that one does leak, you will not have 30 of them all leaking together!Cheers,Bart70 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nadiap Posted October 28, 2010 Share Posted October 28, 2010 Pouring at 85 or above tends to produce deformed clamshells (with the ones I am currently using....may not be the case with other makes/brands/suppliers of shells).The clamshells you use must not be from either ACS or NCS ;-) if I pour wax over 130Fa (54C), I get an absolute mess leaks right through the bottom. I used to be able to pour into the NCS ones at 140Fa with no probs (ACS always had to be poured lower) - but they must have / had a new supplier, because I had to go right down in temps. Can't tell you how many shells I lost :-( In fact, even pouring a batch of say 6 - I pour 2 in a row at say 130Fa (54C), there is no guarantee that the 3rd and 4th (which would be cooler), won't spring a leak !In saying all that, I have never tried any Palm in clamshells - I'm afraid I don't like the look of them myself (personal preference of course ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bart70 Posted October 28, 2010 Share Posted October 28, 2010 I am currently using NCS clamshells which were ordered a couple of months ago. Not sure if they have changed stock since. Will be looking for another supplier once my labels are used up anyway (current labels were made to fit the NCS shells). It may be that they have changed supplier recently which might explain why they are melting.Are they the same shape and size as the ones you could pour at 140F?The NCS shells I have are shocking for the lids breaking off - failure rate of greater than 10%. I have some ACS shells here but have not tried palm in them. Next time I am making stock I will try a couple of ACS to see what they do.Cheers,Bart70 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardLOZ Posted October 29, 2010 Share Posted October 29, 2010 We used to use the NCS clams, however due to them always being out of stick of just about everything, we have switched to ACS clams.The ACS clams are somewhat larger but still basically hold the same amout of wax (approx 75 grams) in my case.We have had a few of them spring leaks in the bottom, however the failure rate has been pretty low. We will continue buying from ACS, along with just about everything else that we use from suppliers here in Oz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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