My first experiment with wood wicks

[cybersix]

Hi all, so I started to play with wood wicks.

For this first test I used a 3" diameter tumbler and a medium size wick.

Only soy wax and 6% FO (Peaks Beach Daisies, very strong).

I cut the wick at about 5 mm height.

It doesn't stay lit.

At first I thought I cut it too short, so when it went out I dumped out a bit of the nolten wax so the wick would be longer, the nelt pool you see in the pics is the result of several starts and a couple of dumps of the wax.

But even when I lit it with the wick more exposed it drowns out.

It starts with a big flame then very quickly it settles down to a little flame and extinguish

Now it's been burning for almost 1 hour and still going...

The crackle at the start was very clearly audible, now not so much.

The throw is very good, I am in a big romm with 2 out of 4 windows opend, and I can smell the scent very well.

It just leaves me a bit puzzled, I though the flame would be more "flaming".

Next test, same tumbler and a large wick.

Any comments or suggestion very well appreciated.

Thanks for looking.

[cybersix]

Just as a note, this is what i found on lonestar candle supply, regarding this type of wood wicks:

Our soft wood wicks are comprised of two pieces of wood. The wide, soft piece of wood produces the width of the flame while the narrow, hard piece of wood, called the booster, produces most of the heat. Both pieces of wood are treated with a solution to help the wood light easily and stay lit, as well as increase crackling when they are burning. The double thickness of wood should extend from the wick tab to about 1/8” above the wax in a finished candle. Wood wicks are for use in containers, and should not be used in pillars or votives. Wood wicks can be used in paraffin or soy. When using wood wicks in pure soy, we recommend using the large or extra large wick. This is to make sure the melt pool is wide enough since pure soy wax tends to hold in the heat, as well as fragrance.

To achieve a good "crackle" sound with the wood wicks, it is very important that you do not use too much fragrance oil. The crackle is a direct result of the correct amount of fragrance oil, type of wax, and amount of dye being used.

It seems I chose the wrong size to start with.

[cybersix]

After 3 hours I blew it out, the flame was so small I could barely see it.

Now the wick is almost fully under the wax, I'm wondering how will I be able to light again.

Thanks for looking!

[Sharon in KY]

After 3 hours I blew it out, the flame was so small I could barely see it.

Now the wick is almost fully under the wax, I'm wondering how will I be able to light again.

Thanks for looking!

Thanks for the WW info, I never knew they were for container wax only. I tried the med wick in a small bucket for outdoors and it went out fast. But the wind was blowing so guess that was it. I think they are going to have to be way over wicked for out door use. As far as interior use, I tried a large wick in an apothecary jar and the soy did better than the para-soy. No soot yet the Para-soy was black.

[RichardLOZ]

Sabrina

I think you will find just like I did that the wood wicks will work in some oils and not too much in others. For example I found that when I was testing with the large in a 10 oz apothecary jar, Sugar Cookie worked not too bad, but Home Sweet Home would not stay lit at all.

It is really going to be a matter of experimenting with each scent to see what works and what doesnt. In glass glow however it is a somewhat different story as they tend to torch, or at least that is what I discovered anyway

Cheers

[cybersix]

Thank you for your replies.

After reading these posts and after seeing what I seen from this very first experiment I just wanna give up.

Not sure if this is something I'll enjoy, after all I'm not that impressed with the crackle too!

[jonsie]

Sabrina, I'm so sorry to hear it's been discouraging. Thank you for posting your pictures because they are very helpful to me, and maybe I can offer some suggestions.

First of all, your wicks are different than what I've received! Your wick looks exactly like what the illustrations depict on the sellers' websites. If you look at my pictures below, you'll see that my wicks do not look like that. It appears that your two pieces of wood are very different in size, whereas mine are both the same size.

Based on what you've said in another thread that you ordered these from the UK distributor, I am going to make an assumption that the original manufacturer has a Version 1 of their wicks (which is what you got), and then a Version 2 (which is what I got in the pictures below). It wouldn't surprise me that the UK distributor doesn't sell very many of these and only had the old version on hand to send to you. And as you probably remember, the wicks pictured below were ordered from the original manufacturer so it supports the multiple version theory.

I am curious if your wicks felt greasy at all. My fingers usually feel oily when I handle any of the wooden wicks that had been kept sealed. This also means if I leave a wooden wick out in the open air, it dries out. I can usually tell which wicks have been dried out just by looking at them as they are a lot lighter in color and doesn't feel greasy. The fourth picture below shows the color difference between a new wick and a dried out wick.

I mention all of that to suggest that maybe your wicks from the UK distributor are not only the older version, but have dried out as well. I haven't tested any candles with dried out wicks, but now I'm realizing it is probably worth trying.

This may explain the drowning of the wicks. But even with fresh wicks I occasionally get one in a batch that drowns so there is still a lot of variables to work through. But most of the time they burn beautifully and make a wonderful crackle.

Good luck!

Edited June 2, 2010 by jonsie

[cybersix]

Thanks you very much Jonsie.

The wicks I have are the same pictured on unity wooden wicks site, and they seems the same thing of what lonestar is selling, they do not have pictures but from the description I copied and pasted here it seems the same thing. So I don't know if there's an old version and a newer version!

They are not oily at all.

Really I don't know what to think about these wicks, made in this way are not so nice to look at, if I test something is just because I want to make some use of it and they don't have any appeal to me for now..

My time has gone out for this wee, so maybe next week I'll try a different oil as Richard suggested.

The candle I made and posted doesn't burn anymore, yesterday it burned for some hours but now I can't light.

UGH!!!

Thanks!!

[jonsie]

I completely understand about not enough time. I haven't poured a candle in weeks and won't be able to until after my daughter's birthday party on Saturday. Then I'll be sure to pour some testers using dried-out wicks and some fresh wicks to see if there is a difference.

And by the way, did your wicks arrive sealed in any way?

Edited June 2, 2010 by jonsie

[cybersix]

Finding some time is becoming more difficult and sometimes it makes me sad to stay away from my candles!!

The wicks were in a taped tansparent bag. I ordered samples of each size, so they were few in a tight transparent bag and taped.

Are yours sealed in a different way?

Thanks for insights!

ETA: looking at the pics you posted the bags looks the same.

Edited June 2, 2010 by cybersix