Wicks that bend at the tip?

[KMommy]

I have been using CD wicks and they bend at the tip. I believe it is to help prevent mushrooming. The problem I am having is that the wax never totally melts on the side opposite the direction that the wick tip burns. Wicking up doesn't always help. Usually what happens is that the wax just burns faster but there is still some hang up on the side opposite the bend. Is having a small amount of wax left on the side ok or should I strive for a totally clean, no wax hang up on the sides? What do you guys do?

[geekrunner]

CDs, HTPs, and even LXs will bend. The easiest thing to do is center the wick in the jar, then when the wax sets up, use a clothespin or a pencil, or whatever you use to hold the wick over the jar, to slightly offset the wick in the opposite direction of the bend.

But you may ask, "How do I know which way it will bend?"

If you look at the wick, you will see a vee-shape in it. The vee points up on one side, and down on the other. The wick will curl to the side where the vee points up. On the LX wicks, they tend to curve one way naturally, but they don't curl quite as much as the HTPs and CDs.

HTH!

[geekrunner]

Also, if you don't get it quite offset enough and it still leaves a slight hangup on the opposite side of the curl, don't worry unless the hangup is real thick. Usually if the wicking is correct, the hangup will eventually "catch up" as the candle burns down, since more heat will generate as the air space in the jar increases, making the jar heat up more and the hangup will slide down the glass. I had an 8 oz jj with an HTP105 in MC soy, and it took four burns before the hangup finally caught up. HTH!

the geek

[KMommy]

Thanks Geek! I am so happy to hear that I may be able to solve the problem without switching to another type of wick. The hang up is slight - on most candles. What's odd is that I have noticed different FO's give a different result as far as the hang up goes. I have one FO that leaves alot of wax on the side. It is in the same container as the others, same wax but whenever I use that certain FO I always have more wax on the sides then the other candles.

[daniedb]

Hey KMommy -

If you're getting hangup on just a few FOs, then you may need to wick up on just those scents. Have you isolated which ones tend to hang more? Are they the heavier FOs? A lot of people have to wick up on those. Don't know if you already thought of that or not, just thought I'd throw it out there. You do mention that wicking up didn't help, but did you try it on the ones that tend to hang?

[ike]

I double wick my soy candles with cd wicks. Don't be afraid to trim the wicks really short when you make them. My customers can't believe how they do not have to trim the wicks. I trim them to about 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch before they are even lit. A big isssue I feel on wicking is the opening of the jar. I use the 16 oz. square mason jars and do not have any problems with wicking.

[KMommy]

Thanks! Yes, I have isolated the FO's that seem to need a larger wick and I will test those next week. Most only leave a slight amount of wax on the side but there are a few that have a bit more than I am comfortable with leaving that way. It does seem to be more of a concern with specific FO's. The container I am using is only 3 inches in diameter. I find that double wicking in my containers that are less than 4 inches makes them too hot. I will trim the wicks and see if that helps. Thanks again!

[soygirl]

Geek, thank you so much! I could have gone my whole life and not realized that wicks are designed to curl in a certain direction. I honestly thought it was random - you know, some unseen force of the universe or something.

[geekrunner]

Geek, thank you so much! I could have gone my whole life and not realized that wicks are designed to curl in a certain direction.

Just to clarify, the ones I mentioned will curl. The LX will curl a little, but there is no real good way to tell which way it will curl. The RRD, zinc, and cotton core wicks will remain straight.

I really like the way RRD stands straight, but they have a limited size range. I tend to prefer either HTP or LX, especially LX, since there are lots of sizes I can use to "fine tune" how the candle burns.

The strategy I use when determining a wick for a given jar/FO combo is to try out the HTPs first. If a certain HTP wick is too small, but the next size up is too big, then I go to the LX wicks. As an example, I had a 10 oz apoth using MC soy with 3% BW and 7% load of MC Hazelnut Cappuccino, 2 x HTP104 would drown out but 2 x HTP105 was too hot. I switched to 2 x LX18 and it would burn perfectly.

I'm very windy today, sorry! :rolleyes2

the geek

[topofmurrayhill]

It's the flat-braided wicks that will curl and the cored ones that will not.

A lot of the fancy modern wicks are just a variation of the plaited wicks that have been around for ages and are happily burning in your tapers and other candles. Take a close look and you will see that they are the same. The trick of looking at the direction of the V works for all of them.

The new fangled ones have special special filaments, chemical treatments, and all kinds of design touches to make them perform differently than the old fashioned stuff, but in candlemaking I find it more remarkable how much things have remained the same over 50 years than how much they've changed.

Now we have soy wax, mottled paraffin is upscale rather than a mistake, foliating candles are out, some polymer hardeners melt at reasonable temperatures, and fragrance levels have gone through the roof. That about sums it up.

[soygirl]

I use CD wicks, and have just been living with the hang-up on one side, because I didn't know how to tell which way they would curl. So, do you mean by "The wick will curl to the side where the vee points up", the side where the vee is upright, like a letter V, or the side where the point of the vee points up? Sorry if that sounds confusing.

[geekrunner]

Sorry if it seemed confusing. The vee would be upside down, with the pointy part pointing up. That side is where the wick will curl to.

the geek