bart70 Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 Hi,This may sound like an odd question but it is something I have seen from time to time when testing Palm waxes (..and coming to think of it also when testing Soy) and relates to the formation of wick mushrooms.I can understand (or at least I think I can) the theories behind why particular combinations of wax, FO, dye will cause wick mushrooms. What I am having difficulty understanding is what causes wick mushrooms to come and then go during the candle's life.For example, a particular candle during testing may produce medium sized mushrooms on the first or second burn, then settle in and produce none for the duration of the candle life.Clearly the candle composition has not changed (FO load, wax type, dye etc...) so does anybody have the technical or scientific reasoning as to why? Is it more likely to be inconsistency in the wick itself?Would be interested to hear from others who have knowledge in this area. Bart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pcbrook Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 I would like to know that myself. Maybe someone here can explain it to us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolverine Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 I am only guessing but I would assume that the wick structure has something to do with it. I am testing some 16-ounce candles now. I trimmed the wicks on the first burn with a toe nail clipper, which gives me a nice clean cut but did squash the flat braid of the wick out to the sides a very little bit. They all developed good size mushrooms. On the second burn, (I test burn that size candle for 4 hours on each burn.) I reached in with my fingers and pulled off the burnt wick leaving about 1/8 inch wick remaining. The second burn did not produce any mushroom. I thought I had it made but on the third burn, back came the mushrooms. However, not as bad as the first burn. I examined the burning wicks with a magnifying glass and it appeared that the mushrooms were forming on threads of the wick that had separated from the main body of the wick, and shifted to the sides. It will be good to know if someone can explain what is going on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonsie Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 Bart, I am DEFINITELY not an expert but I'm learning as much about wicking as I can. I'm assuming you are talking about container candles, right? It is possible the only factor at play here is the increased heat as the flame drops lower into the container. Maybe the increased heat allows the wick to incinerate more efficiently. And, if you are talking about container candles, do you wick your containers so that there is some overhang during the first half of the candle burn, or do you wick it so that it cleans the sides of the jar as it burns? If you allow for overhang, then maybe as the flame lowers into the container, it is being fed more wax as the overhang melts and the wick hits its proper wax consumption. Those are my theories, but I'd love a solid answer just like the rest of you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bart70 Posted August 14, 2011 Author Share Posted August 14, 2011 Wolverine,I have had a couple of theories and one is along the same lines as you have indicated. I can almost guarantee a mushroom on any candle if the wick is not cut very cleanly. Mind you, I can not guarantee no shrooms on every clean cut wick. Also explains why they are less likely on subsequent burns.Would love to know the science behind it. Bart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricofAZ Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 One thing I found is that the first burn on a wick is generally the one that gets the wick saturated with the wax. Generally, wicks either have no coating on them at all (raw off the spool) or the coating is only the outside of the wick. Rarely do wicks have a coating that permeates to the center of the wick, and even then, the coating is likely not the wax that is in your container. Until the wick stabilizes with the fluid flow, it is going to do oddball things. I use raw wick off a spool for the most part and tend to saturate the wick in the wax melter (presto) if I can. Sometimes I load the melter with microcrystoline wax at higher temps and saturate a few yards of wick in that. You can tell if it gets to the core because after a while there is a release of the air at the core that superheats in the hot wax and foams, then dies down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella1952 Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 (edited) The conditions under which a candle burns are not constant throughout the life of the candle. Mushrooms are material which did not completely combust. That means either some various impurities may have been present in the wax and not evenly disbursed, or the flame was not hot enough during a particular period to fully combust the materials or the flame was too hot and produced more wax than it could burn off during that period of time. The stance of the wick also has a bearing. The links below both have excellent discussions about how a wick burns and why they do what they do...http://www.wicksunlimited.com/burn_issues.phphttp://www.technische-geflechte.de/site/english/about-the-wick/temperature-distribution.htmlhttp://www.technische-geflechte.de/site/english/about-the-wick/typical-wick-stands.htmlHTH Edited August 14, 2011 by Stella1952 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 I love reading all the wick combustion info at Wicks Unlimited. its a great place to learn about wicks 101. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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