CDN CD side by side using GB 415

[lrbd]

GB 415

1.3 oz FO

dye

16 oz elevation jar

at the largest diameter it is 4 inches

The first 4 photos are CD 2nd 4 are CDN

If I size down on the wicks they drown out at 1/3 to 1/2 way down the jar

this is the first burn and as you can see much more mushrooming going on with the CDs

Sorry the 4th and 8th photos are a previous test . They have been burned many more times I will not include them next time

Edited April 24, 2010 by lrbd

[lrbd]

I just had a thought ... Do you think it may be possible that I can wick down with the CD ... I know I can't with the CDN as stated above but I have never used CDs before . I can pull the wicks if I need to they are not glued down for testing .

[aviator girl]

I haven't ever burned a cdn but from what I have read I believe they burn a little cooler than the cd's. So yes. You may need to wick down on the cd and see a similar result. That's just opinion though and not experience.

[topofmurrayhill]

I have had all kinds of wick performance issues with GB 415. Mainly they involve wicks drowning out for no good reason. I've compared notes with a friend of mine who is a fairly large candle producer and a great tester, and our experiences are identical. I used ECO, CD and CDN, all to no avail. He tested with zinc. We each tested more than one batch. We even found than the burn problems carried over to blends (including parasoy) containing GB 415.

That fact that my friend and I had the same results doesn't seem like it could be a coincidence. My only explanation for why more people don't remark on it is that maybe people have different expectation for what kind of burn qualities are normal. All I know is, when I (and my friend) compare with other soy waxes (including other GB waxes and ostensibly similar products like Candlewic Soy-125), the difference in burn quality is like night and day. Other waxes burn like a dream in comparison and you can use any wick size you need.

I guess I'm mentioning this because something doesn't seem right when I look at those photos. The wicks aren't in very good shape, and I see a really deep full melt pool right at the top of the candle. Those candles don't look like they're wicked right, but you say that the wicks drown out if you go to a smaller size. I just wonder if CD versus CDN is the thing to focus on, or if the wax just isn't burning well.

[lrbd]

Thank you very much for you comments . you are correct when you say you see a deep melt pool. This is common for me with this wax the first couple of burns( opposite of what others report with their candles) Then it slows down and like I mentioned could possibly drown out.

I looked at candlewic soy 125 and this is what they recommend :

"Candlewic recommends adding either palm stearic or beewax to the blend for maximum performance. The addition of these products will help with overall quality of the waxes and will help the waxes hold and disperse higher fragrance loads."

I wonder what would happen if I tried that

[lrbd]

I am still at this and wanted to update just to let you all know that I am finding that the CD are indeed performing better. You would not know this from the above photos however I have since been going down and down in size . Surprising myself by the fact that I have a CDN 12s in some side by sides and have gone down to CD8 . sO far the CD8 are not drowning out . So we will see.

A side note I spoke to candlewic about the soy- 125 and they say it is very similar to what I am using and would see minimal differences if any.It holds less FO than 415 and they recommend using additives. This is not to say that I won't try a bit of it and once again thanks for the suggestion they are very much appreciated.

Laura