Is this normal for palm wax?

[pixie]

I recently went to my wax supplier to pick up an order and while there decided to also get a 5lb bag of glass glow palm. This is my first time working with palm. Im using a cd wick, fo at 7%. The ht is fine but it almost looks like the wick is tunneling. my container is 3inches across and i used a cd 16. This is the same wick that works great for this fo in soy so i thought it would do good in the palm too. Is is normal for the wick to have some tunneling in palm or is it common to have to wick up with this wax?

[Wessex]

I use CSN wicks with my GG palm, was not happy with the way the CD's burned. So can't really address the wick up part of your question. But I have found that certain containers near the 3 inch diameter do tend to tunnel to some extent with the CSN wicks. But as long as the wick is sized properly, I find the tunneling catches up and gives a good burn. Let it burn to the end and see what happens. If it doesn't catch up, then you will have to wick up (or down sometimes). Also, some FO's in GG just will not give a good burn with larger diameter containers (single wicked).

HTH

Steve

[soy327]

Steve, Are you poking holes and repouring? How exactly are you finishing your GG on the top with the are pockets that lie below the surface? I find that GG burns down then out. I've read alot of your posts(sorry about the CS crystal palm) and I think alot of people could benefit from your experience. If you wouldn't mind posting it. Don't want to put you on the spot but....:laugh2::laugh2:We have alot of new people here lately that want to learn.

Soy

[Wessex]

I do not repour GG (of course with feather and starburst you have to). I have done a few experiments where I hit the top of the container with a heatgun when it starts to set up and you can see the voids forming. I melted the entire top to let the air out and then let it set up. It took care of the voids. But I have really found no benefit to it. The voids do not really affect the overall burn. And it does not affect the appearance of the candle one way or the other (in my opinion).

Of course I am learning new things as I go!

Cheers,

Steve

[Faerywren]

I use the CSN wicks for palm containers, too. Great wicks. And you don't need a repour with the GG. I have some RRD wicks from Peak to use for pillars but haven't tested them yet. So far I've just been using the CSN's on anything palm.

[soy327]

Steve, I do not agree with not poking and getting the voids out of GG, It is not any different than the palm pillar waxes. You absolutley have to get the voids (air pockets) from the crystal pattern inside the candle whether it be pillar palm or GG container palm. Palm wax IMO is not a one pour wax.....look at http://www.lipidchem.com/our_products2.html the remarks section. Its says to stir constantly which could also mean poking and stirring to get the air pockets outs.

[EricofAZ]

i started out with some generic (no name) paraffin and CB 135 and moved to palm. GG and Feathering and Crystalizing. All the wicks seemed to be about the same and were way larger than the charts said.

Now I ran out of that no name paraffin and turned to Lonestarcandlesupply for brand name IGI wax and I'm having to wick down to keep from overpooling the containers.

So I guess what i took away from that lesson is that palm and whatever no name stuff I got seems to need larger wicks than the IGI stuff.

I went from a #4 square braid wick in feathering palm (3x3) to a #2 in IGI pillar paraffin (and probably need to downsize to a #1).

So maybe if you are used to IGI, you might need to upsize your wicks for palm.

[pcbrook]

I use the CSN wicks as well. Glass Glow does tunnel at first but as stated earlier everything catches up later in the burn. I always read that GG burns down and out as opposed to out and down like soy.

[pixie]

This is the container I'm using.

/www.lonestarcandlesupply.com/products/candlecontainers_libbey-tumbler-hb-rocks-13.25oz.html

there is still so much hang up with the cd 16 and the candle is a little over 1/3 of the way burned. Its tunneled so much, its hard to light the wick now. I will try the csn's but in the mean time, I'd like to make the cd's work if I can (I have a ton of them lol).

I was thinking, of either going to a cd 18 or maybe double wicking with cd 12's or 14's?

BTW,,, the FO I used was Apple Butter.

[EricofAZ]

I'm pretty sure its the way the wax burns. Larger wick seems to work well for me.

Most wax blends tend to get soft on the outskirts of the flame outside the pool and when the heat builds up, they slide down the container or curl in.

This palm seems to be more like a light switch. The wall stays hard until it hits its temp then it just crumbles.

Someone said it burns down then outward, compared to other waxes that burn outward then down. I have to agree.

My first pillar with this had a void pocket in the middle. I could tell because when I shook the pillar 3 hours after taking out of the mold I could hear the liquid sloshing. So during the test burn, when the wick hit the pocket, it burned very tall and took some of the sided above and then blew a hole in the sides of the pillar where the pocket was.

Have fun wicking this wax. Without any void pockets, it seems to burn well with a tough wall and then crumble when the wick works down about half way or more.