Remelting wax

[psfponies]

Does remelting wax (already made candles) to many times affect the Integrity of the wax.

With much flustration I have been testing a zillion wicks and remelting the same one down. This last test when it was cooling it got a huge crack down the middle of the container.

Kay

[RMullen99]

Hi Kay, the candle may loose the strength of smell if you are continually melting it down to replace the wick. Here is what I do....make a candle NO wick....after it is completely cooled I use a skewer and poke a hole in the middle of the candle...than I slide the wick in and test burn. If its to big or too small I can just pull the wick out and replace with a new one. I know some on here will use one wick and burn to the bottom and if they dont like the burn they make another candle change wicks and burn that one to the bottom. HTH

[psfponies]

Thanks that would save lots of time!

Kay

[WillowBoo]

Just watch when you get near the bottom, sometimes wicks not anchored want to flap around a bit

[aviator girl]

I am sure melting a bunch of times affects the wax somewhat but I usually melt my testers a few times. I figure even though it may change I should get a pretty good idea about what will work and I always pour a new candle once I think I have it figured out and burn that one all the way down just to make sure.

[topofmurrayhill]

Poking the wick into the wax is a useful technique, but when you need to pour a fresh candle to test "from the top" it's OK to make it from remelted wax. I've never seen any difference in the burn that would affect your wicking results, even when remelting multiple times. It really cuts down on wasted materials. You can always make a pristine tester at the end to confirm your results.

It's hard to know whether it makes a difference in the fragrance. It's not something you can measure precisely in the first place. As you go along testing with a certain fragrance, your sense of smell is gradually affected so that it's even harder to tell if there's a difference. However, I have enjoyed the throw of a new fragrance in the first candle and then a remelt and then the next remelt. My best guess is that it doesn't change very significantly with most FOs.

[lsbennis]

I know this might sound a little backwards but recently I have decided to test new wicks from the bottom up. In other words I will fill a jar a little less then half way and test my wick from there.

At this stage of the game I can pretty much zero in on a few different wick sizes for my jar and wax and I know that for the most part the wicks will burn halfway decent from the top to the middle, but its the middle when you really start to see issues (smoking, sooting, too hot etc...) So for me, if I can get a decent burn from the middle down I will then try it from the top down. I have found that in the long run this saved me time and wax but you have to do what works best for you. HTH

[topofmurrayhill]

I know this might sound a little backwards but recently I have decided to test new wicks from the bottom up. In other words I will fill a jar a little less then half way and test my wick from there.

Yeah there was a discussion about this in the veggie forum not too long ago.

http://www.craftserver.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88030