palm pillar burning test with flat braid 36 ply

[cybersix]

Hi, this is how I wick my palm pillars.

I want to show you this, so anyone can give me an opinion, compared to other wicks. It's useful hearing what you have to say, if you want! thanks!

This is first burn, 1 hour (and just lit) I didn't trim the wick.

[cybersix]

first burn, 3 hours, and cooled off

[Candybee]

Are you using feather palm Sabrina? Or is it a blend? Its very pretty. I am interested in the flat braid wick. Are the wicks treated in any way? Thanks for doing this.

Edited March 15, 2010 by Candybee

[cybersix]

2 burn 1 hour and just lit. I trimmed the wick (I can't help myself LOL)

[cybersix]

this is 3 hour of the second burn, and I stopped the first test.

Edited March 15, 2010 by cybersix

[cybersix]

to make it short this is 3 hour on the 3rd burn.

Now I'll let it go until I go to sleep.

Wick is sligghtly curling and it maybe cause a berak in the shell (until now it's fine)

[cybersix]

Are you using feather palm Sabrina? Or is it a blend? Its very pretty. I am interested in the flat braid wick. Are the wicks treated in any way? Thanks for doing this.

Candybee, it's a mix of feather and crystal, I made it with leftovers.

The flat braid is not treated.

It's the wicking I use for my paraffin pillars, and since to me it's difficult to have supplies from your country I tested the same with palm so I buy once and I'm done LOL.

It's mushrooming but just a little, and it's curling a bit. The wick usually stays "polished" I can always see the braid, not a burned crocks as once happened when I tried a CSN. Hot throw is good, not strong but other day it filled my office, now it's in another room and I cooked fried chips so I can barely smell it LOL.

[lrbd]

very pretty ... can't wait to see more photos. thank you

Hey Sabrina is this a 3inch pillar?

Edited March 15, 2010 by lrbd

[cybersix]

Thanks, yes it's a 3 inch pillar.

I welcome any opinion on how it looks.

Thanks

[Stella1952]

I think it looks wonderful! I love that blend - seems you've caught the best of both types of wax. Absolutely lovely!

[soy327]

Wow Sabrina that is just beautiful,:yay: I am wondering if the crystal palm is the same as the starburst. I have both feather and starburst might have to mix em up and see what happens. Thanks for the pics and please take them to the end. Oh are you burning for the shell or to self consume? And what size flat braid wick are you using for the 3" if you don't mind me asking.

Linda

[topofmurrayhill]

Cool, thanks for posting this. I was wondering how it works but haven't gotten to trying it yet, so I'm watching with great interest.

About your comment on wick treatments in the other thread: Every wick has some kind of chemical treatment, or it would just burn away in the candle. You can think of the ones made for acidic waxes as having a "stronger" treatment so they don't burn away or deteriorate.

It seems to me that the European manufacturers concentrate more on different chemical treatments for different applications. If you test their "regular" wick against the specially treated one in a palm candle, it seems to make a huge difference. Regular CD or LX for instance held up very badly when I tried them.

I never hear the American manufacturers like Atkins & Pearce talk about special treatments. Their wicking seems like it might have a stronger treatment than "regular" wicking from Wedo or Heinz. HTP for instance seems like it trims a little less than CD, even though they are designed similarly. So maybe it is somewhere in the middle and could make HTP and regular flat braid strong enough to hold up in palm wax.

Edited March 16, 2010 by topofmurrayhill

[cybersix]

Wow Sabrina that is just beautiful,:yay: I am wondering if the crystal palm is the same as the starburst. I have both feather and starburst might have to mix em up and see what happens. Thanks for the pics and please take them to the end. Oh are you burning for the shell or to self consume? And what size flat braid wick are you using for the 3" if you don't mind me asking.

Linda

Linda, yes it is, sorry I keep on calling crystal LOL but it's starbust.

Just mix them up, it's fun.

I don't want a luminary shell type, usually my pillars burn as the one Top showed in his thread, with the shell exfoliating while the pillar burns down.

The size I'm using is a 36 ply.

Thanks!

[cybersix]

You know I'm not well prepared about wicks, didn't study LOL

I was talking about special treatments meant for this wax, like the CSNs wicks.

I worked with soy too and I noticed a really big difference in the way soy wax burns compared to paraffin, the high viscosity is there and you can clearly see it, but can't find the same in palm wax.

Mine are practical observations (and tons of waxes used LOL), I learn while I test from what I see and feel.

Test will go on later!

Thanks

Cool, thanks for posting this. I was wondering how it works but haven't gotten to trying it yet, so I'm watching with great interest.

About your comment on wick treatments in the other thread: Every wick has some kind of chemical treatment, or it would just burn away in the candle. You can think of the ones made for acidic waxes as having a "stronger" treatment so they don't burn away or deteriorate.

It seems to me that the European manufacturers concentrate more on different chemical treatments for different applications. If you test their "regular" wick against the specially treated one in a palm candle, it seems to make a huge difference. Regular CD or LX for instance held up very badly when I tried them.

I never hear the American manufacturers like Atkins & Pearce talk about special treatments. Their wicking seems like it might have a stronger treatment than "regular" wicking from Wedo or Heinz. HTP for instance seems like it trims a little less than CD, even though they are designed similarly. So maybe it is somewhere in the middle and could make HTP and regular flat braid strong enough to hold up in palm wax.

[lrbd]

I keep on calling crystal LOL but it's starbust

I was wondering as well if this is the same wax. I noticed some paces call it one thing and others call it anoter.

[cybersix]

These are two shots to show you the pillar before I lit it again, after 2 burns of 3 hours each and a burn of 5 hours.

Now it's burning, will see if the shell starts to melt and post pics.

Thanks for looking!

eta: the shell is very thin now, what you see on the top of the pillar is a sort of "roof" I'm used to see in starbust pillars. Feather pillars do this in a less visible way.

Edited March 16, 2010 by cybersix

[Candybee]

I can see from your pics that the shells have thinned like you mentioned. Your pics show it very well.

Did you get your 36 flat braid wicking in the US? If so would you mind sharing where you got it. Thanks.

[cybersix]

I can see from your pics that the shells have thinned like you mentioned. Your pics show it very well.

Did you get your 36 flat braid wicking in the US? If so would you mind sharing where you got it. Thanks.

Thanks Candybee, yes I got them from CW. I bought them in spools. Peaks also has these wicks. HTH!

[lrbd]

any more photos ?

[cybersix]

Here I am LOL

Sorry but I don't have much time.

The pillar has burned for other 5 hours yesterday, and these pics show it after almost two hours since I lit it. The shell is getting thinner and it's soft to the touch. my goal is having an almost self-consuming pillar. If everything is fine there will be no breaks and blowouts. I said "almost" because it really doesn't melt all the way down as a paraffin pillar.

I'm not taking times with accuracy mnow, I let it go.

Wick doesn't mushroom (only a tiny bit but barely visible), it's burning steady.

Thanks

[Candybee]

The walls are thin enough you get a really nice candle glow. Very pretty. Looks like the walls are getting ready to partially burn down like you want. Thats how I like to wick my palms. I want as much wax consumption as possible without the blowout. Doesn't always happen.

[cybersix]

Yes, with palm is a subtle limit.

The shell is start to melting on the top, in minutes I will post some pics of it.

Thanks for following this thread!

[cybersix]

Here's the shell beginning to melt, or exfoliate. It's about hour three.

[Candybee]

Nice! I found that if I do get a blowout it tends to be about halfway down the candle or about midpoint. But then I also tend to test burn them much longer than 3 hours to see how they hold up.

[nadiap]

Sorry to interrupt your thread, but notice that you are in Italy. I have a relative in Slovenia who is looking at the UK for soy wax supplies. Do you get your supplies from Italy or another EU country? If in Italy, would you mind giving out the suppliers' name? :-)

---------

Nadia