Burning a Palm Pillar to leave a shell

[Stella1952]

Since there's an interest lately in palm pillars & wicking/burning them to leave a shell, I thought I'd share some photos of one I'm currently burning for Laura and others who are interested in doing this with their pillars. To give an idea of where we're goin' with this, here are a couple of shells from a couple of years ago...

I really didn't set out to do this in any kind of scientific manner - just everyday candle burning. So FWIW, here we go...

This is a 3" x 3" octagon pillar made with CS tortoise shell wax + 1 Tablespoonful of TPP stearic acid, poured in early December 09. It's wicked with a CDN 10. I lit it 3/13 at about noon. I extinguished it 15 hours later.

Here it is at the end of the first burn.

I poured this candle at 195°F and cooled it in a styrofoam cooler with 5 other starburst palm pillars. Temp was 60°F in the candle room, so I figured they'd keep each other warm. The starbursts came out perfect; the tortoise shell looked "overcooked," and did not have as showy and clean of a pattern as it would have had if it had cooled a little more quickly at a slightly lower temp. As Top observed in his testing thread, tortoise shell pillar wax seems to like to be poured slightly cooler and cooled more quickly than starburst & feathering wax.

The candle has a flat top. It began with the wick trimmed to ¼" and grew a steady slender flame 2¼" from the bottom of the blue part to the tip where it became invisible. As it burned down into the interior of the pillar, the flame reduced in height to about 1" - standard for these pillars. The base of the flame was no "fatter" than the initial flame - it was simply shorter and less "willowy" in appearance. Although the photos don't show much perspective, the melt pool is wider than the hole in the top and the walls are rounded toward the MP. That is expected to thin as the candle burns down.

The wick was not trimmed during the burn nor was it adjusted to center it. The candle was turned every hour or so if the MP looked like it was getting lopsided. The wick self-trimmed quite nicely during the burn as shown in this photo taken right after I extinguished it. There is a small rest of ash at the very tip of the wick. After the candle cools, I'll trim that off to start the wick at ¼" for the next burn.

As for the performance of the CDN wick, it does not appear to be overfried in this candle or in the closeup (below) of the CDN wick from the end of the starburst octagon shell shown in a photo above... Remnants of wick and a fried mosquito can be seen embedded in the MP at the end of that candle.

I am very pleased with the first burn. The burn was centered almost perfectly which gets things off to a good start. I expect this pillar to leave a very pleasing shell to add to my collection. I'll add photos from subsequent burns as they happen.

Edited March 14, 2010 by Stella1952

[lrbd]

Thank you Stella I appreciate the time and effort you are putting in to show me this .

I extinguished it 15 hours later.

Am I understanding correctly that your first burn was a straight 15 hours? Edited March 14, 2010 by lrbd

[Stella1952]

Am I understanding correctly that your first burn was a straight 15 hours?

Yep. I burn my personal candles a lot like Carole (Bugtussle) does - I light 'em and burn 'em all day long unless there is some overwhelming reason I should extinguish them. As I said before, I did not design this as a "test" or photo essay - I was just doing what I normally do around the house. Right before I extinguished the candle, I'd been reading your disappointed comments about your attempts to get a nice shell. It occurred to me that I should take some photos to demonstrate what I have been talking about.

Keep in mind that I am of the opinion that when people light a flame, they need to pay attention to what it's doing... I not only do this when burning candles, I do this when using my gas stove! If I see a pan beginning to overcook on one side, I am not gonna sit there and watch it burn - I'm gonna turn that skillet around to compensate for the uneven heating. If my trash fire outside starts burning more on one side than the other, I am going to push the flaming stuff in the direction that the fire isn't burning (or the non-burning stuff into the stuff that is burning).

I don't think it's unreasonable for people wanting good results from the candles they burn to make occasional adjustments in the candle or wick position. I consider that normal candle maintenance. I don't believe people should have to hover - I don't - but keeping an eye on things, knowing what to look for and what to do about it is simply a normal part of trying to get good results.

Firing that bad boy up right now!

[lrbd]

since reading your post I lit my new pillar and it has been burning since 7:00am so 8 1/2 hours now. I have had to adjust the flame 3 times not bad. The testers that I have been posting have been burning since 9:00 jsut for kicks.

Keep in mind that I am of the opinion that when people light a flame, they need to pay attention to what it's doing... I not only do this when burning candles, I do this when using my gas stove! If I see a pan beginning to overcook on one side, I am not gonna sit there and watch it burn - I'm gonna turn that skillet around to compensate for the uneven heating. If my trash fire outside starts burning more on one side than the other, I am going to push the flaming stuff in the direction that the fire isn't burning (or the non-burning stuff into the stuff that is burning).

with all do respect I don't feel that this is the same as a candle. I could be wrong but I don't . I too watch when I am cooking and if I had a trash fire I would consider that the same as a open pit fire we have here in the fall and spring while hanging with friends . Though you have to use care and common sense I wouldn't want to watch a candle like I am cooking bacon. you know what I mean?

Funny but letting it go all day seems to be working better then 3 hours. Well thanks again for posting these photos ,

Edited March 14, 2010 by lrbd

[soy327]

Stella, Do you use a wick pin in those octagonal mold? Do they make one? Those are burning really nice. Thanks for the pics.:yay:I just can't seem to learn enough about these palm pillars. Never thought I would make one, now I've made 4:laugh2::laugh2:Just hooked! I love the look of the glow inside.

Linda

[Stella1952]

Do you use a wick pin in those octagonal mold?

Yes, but I use it on the outside of the mold (through the bottom hole) because I want the flat top & beveled sides.

Though you have to use care and common sense I wouldn't want to watch a candle like I am cooking bacon. you know what I mean?

Yes, and that's exactly not what I meant. There is no reason to have to hover over a candle. It simply needs common sense, routine maintenance.

Funny but letting it go all day seems to be working better then 3 hours.

It works for me either way, but it's certainly possible that the extended burn makes some scientific difference. This way I get to be lazier and less attentive to time & testing precision. It's just burning a candle, after all.

[soy327]

Thanks Stella, I have only used the wick pin on the outside. It might be kinda challenging to seal it though. When I get the mold I'll know more.

Linda

[Stella1952]

I use a little ball of wick sealer flattened against the hole with the pin shoved up through it to make a seal. Every so often one leaks, but usually, it works just fine. I have made a few messes over the years with these... It's a real good idea to set the mold in a pan or something just in case... When the mold's in a pan, if it leaks significantly, you can reheat the wax and pour it back into the mold. Sooner or later, it'll stop.

[soy327]

Thanks, can't wait to get the new mold.:yay::yay:Here I go with the pillars sickness:laugh2::laugh2::laugh2:It seems to be contagious.

Linda

[Stella1952]

They ARE addictive!!

[topofmurrayhill]

I hope you won't be hypersensitive about this assessment, but I've made so many hundreds of pillar testers that I'm getting a quick handle on how this wax works as far as wicking is concerned.

There are two reasons that it's difficult to get wicks to burn normally in palm wax: one is that the free fatty acid content can eat some wicks alive and the other is that the melting point is very sharp.

Normally we aim to get a consistent burn with pillars. The broader melting point of paraffin makes it easier. The melting characteristics of palm result in wicks burning fast out of the gate and then slowing down considerably. When that happens, even a specially-treated wick can overtrim. That's what causes the ash and the sharp bend of the wick in your photos. Regular wick trimming is different, as I'll illustrate soon with burn photos of some self-trimming candle designs.

Wicks Unlimited refers to the issue in their literature:

In pillar candles, 100% vegetable-based waxes present some difficulties in burning due to the very tight change of state between being solid and liquid. A soft elastic flow of melting wax to the center of the candle, which is advantageous in the consumption of a free-standing pillar candle, is not characteristic of all 100% plant-derived waxes. This sometimes makes tunneling a necessity and mandates the marketing of "luminary" type pillars.

If I had kept burning my CDN 10, it would have done something much like what you're picturing. But that is an unusually big wick for a pillar, and I would not be satisfied with having it dying down to hollow out a palm candle over the course of long burns. The fact is, any size of CDN will do something similar to this in tortoise shell palm. Light it up and the flame will be tall; give it an hour and the flame will be way smaller.

I am looking for a consistent burn without flooding or overtrimming. Obviously that's possible, as demonstrated by my LX 20 NST2 tester. That's a smaller wick than CDN 10. In between the burn characteristics of these wicks are the CSNs. They don't produce a consistent burn in tortoise shell palm, at least with the amount and type of FO I'm using, but they are closer to doing it than CDN. They could be used in more normal sizes to get the luminary-style burn you're demonstrating.

I think that I will also try CSNs in a higher-MP palm wax and maybe in unscented tortoise shell palm, to see if they would flood less and maybe produce a more consistent burn.

[Stella1952]

No hypersensitivity, Top. I'm not sure you understood what I was trying to illustrate. This wasn't a wick test... Some folks are interested in retaining a nice, even luminary shell. Because I happened to be burning one, I shot some photos to show them how it goes. I'm satisfied with the performance of the CDN wicks in my application here.

In your thread, the LX 20 NST2 tester is doing a lovely job of smoothly self-consuming your pillar. I'm afraid that if one was burning out a pillar for a luminary shell, however, that flame would be much too large.

[Stella1952]

Abandoned thread since there's no such thing as wicking a palm pillar for a shell.

[lrbd]

Abandoned thread since there's no such thing as wicking a palm pillar for a shell.

HUH?

[soy327]

Stella thanks for the thread and 1st hand view. I appreciate it.

Linda