Pillar Making Question

[robertgibbens]

I am venturing into pillar testing after 6 months of container testing. I am noticing that I have some pretty big caverns inside my pillars when they are sawed in half. I know it's due to the relief holes that I am poking into the cooling candle. Nearly every time, the hole I just poked gets plugged with wax rising from a second hole I poke.

How many holes do you poke? How early? How do you avoid the voids I am experiencing? Any advice would be useful.

[rjdaines]

Ever think about using a pillar wick pin? I don't get any voids using it. When I was using a wick, I'd punch 3 or 4 holes.

[IwantItgreen]

Assuming you are using paraffin pillar wax, which is what I use, I poke the first set of holes after a thick skin has formed. I too experience the first hole plugging up when I poke the 2nd, etc. I usually poke 4 hole around the wick. But I keep poking and poking. I'll take the skewer and make the hole a little larger, just trying to keep it open. I poke intermittently for about 2 hours after I pour. I'm not sure if I helped you any, that's just the way I do it. I do my repour at about 190 - 200*. Now having said all this, I have to admit I have never sawed one in half, but I have not see anything close to a cavern in my pillar either.

Edited October 11, 2011 by IwantItgreen
whole, hole... what the hoe!

[robertgibbens]

I do use wick pins. And I do poke and poke as well. The candle looks perfect on the outside. While testing I cut a 6 inch long candle in half so I can try different wicks. That's when I saw the voids. Maybe when the candle burns the voids fill in with hot wax. Guess testing will tell...

[Stella1952]

Maybe when the candle burns the voids fill in with hot wax

Yes, they will. When the MP reaches a large void, the wax in the melt pool fills the void. If the void is sizable enough, this can cause the MP to drain, which causes a large flare of the wick. Voids are NOT a good thing to have in candles because of this.

[EricofAZ]

Since you are poking, the voids should undoubtedly be smaller. I like wicks over wickpins because wicks blend in with the tops better. You're right, once the burn gets going, the liquid will fill in a smaller void nicely.

One question. Are your wicks saturated to the core with a primer wax or is the core still dry with a light primer coating? The reason I ask is because a wick that is not saturated can create voids during cooling. As the air heats up in the core, and the thin outer shell melts, it forms bubbles along the length of the wick. If the core is saturated with high temp priming wax, then this won't happen.

Just because the wick has an outer was feel to it doesn't mean its wax at the core. Most pre-made wicks are merely outer coatings.

Sometimes I prime all the way, sometimes I just use raw wick off the spool and let the hot pour prime the wick. Both are better than an improperly primed wick, but the raw wick does still tend to make bubbles.

I prime with a high temp micro wax and heat it to 200 degrees and let the raw wick sit in it until the air is expanded completely out of the wick. At that temp, you can see it foam for a bit in the presto pot. I imagine that is what is happening at the slightly lower temp with the shell core when you pour the mould.

[robertgibbens]

As I said, I prefer to use wick pins, so I do not wick until the pillar has cooled completely. I'll have to keep experimenting. Perhaps I am not poking often enough.

[Stella1952]

Robert, you are using paraffin, right? Just wanted to be sure we are not talking about palm wax... Perhaps the holes you are making are not wide enough in diameter and the repour is cooling before it gets down to where the cavities are... That's a big problem with palm wax pillars. When you poke the holes, maybe move the tip of the skewer around a little to disturb the part that's setting up around the voids - the technique reminds me of when the doc gives a cortisone shot in a joint - joog it all around in there...

I agree with you about wick pins - I prefer them, too, but that's one of those preference things. Some folks feel that a wick that is inserted after pouring is not representative of as high a quality of candle as one that's prewicked. I don't agree, but that's one for another discussion... Good luck!

[rjdaines]

Eric brings up a good point, a raw wick will be a conduit for air as the wax cools and shrinks, put a raw wick into molten wax and see the bubbles come out. Priming your wick also provids a convenient opportunity to twist it for those of us who use wick pins.

[radellaf]

What's worked for me is only two holes about 3/8" for a 2.5-3" paraffin (1343 or 1274) pillar. Poked maybe 4 times each, 3" deep, with the metal oven temp probe, and swirled around enough, esp. on the last two pokes, to make sure there's a good air pocket under it. So a poke through thick skin, poke through mush, then one or two pokes while it's still soft 3" down. Never had a problem. I use pins most of the time but it doesn't seem to matter. If I use wick, I just dip it in the wax once it melts (150f) wick mold, then pour at 180-190.

2-2.25" pillars similar but smaller holes and more frequent checks to see they haven't filled in.

Lot of details that I'm sure don't need to be duplicated, but just trying to cover all the bases.

Straight feather palm is much harder. Even with four well tended holes I get some pockets. Same with container "glass glow" palm. I often use a small blowtorch to trim up the top-of-mold end of a candle and have used that in containers to bust voids when they've just barely solidified.

If you practice you can make good candle tops from wick pin wicks using the blowtorch on pillars and use them "upside down". My other trick is a small pastille of beeswax pushed in next to the wick in the hole. The yellow spot looks nice on blue pillars.

[Stella1952]

Straight feather palm is much harder.

Poking holes doesn't get it with any kind of palm wax I have used. I wreck the tops as described in other threads and probe deeply into the candle to release the air traps. When this method is successfully employed there will be no voids remaining. They key to this is that the voids are filled as the candle cools and the second pour is simply to smooth off the top (bottom) of the candle. In the case of GG, I wreck carefully, then heat gun the top to finish.

I really do not think that wick pins or molded wicks make any difference to the air trapping. The air bubbles one may see along the wick on a post mortem of the candle may have nothing to do with the priming of the wick, etc. but more to do with the candlemaker not jostling the wick around a few times to knock off the air bubbles. There are easy solutions to these typical molding issues. Agitation is the first and easiest thing to do to loosen air bubbles from interior surfaces.

[EricofAZ]

Robert, sounds like maybe the bubbles are forming on the wick pins? I've had bubbles form on the metal. A light mold release spray sometimes reduces that problem. I've used Pam in a pinch and that can get thick and while it does aid in mold release, it leaves pitts. A regular mold release spray does a better job.

I can't imagine that temperature (expansion of the wick pin) would be an issue. The aluminum wick pin will grow with heat and shrink as it cools. I doubt that this will cause a void to form along the pin. More likely I'm thinking you're getting bubbles on the pin.

[robertgibbens]

Stella, yes I am using paraffin wax. As for bubbles on the wick pins, my voids are not bubble voids. I could put a quarter in the last void. I've determined that its not poking holes often enough or late enough in the process that's the problem. I've come up with a solution that works well. Wondering if anyone else has used or heard it used. I will poke holes as I can. After the candle has completely cooled, but before my second pour, I drilled 2 or 3 holes directly into the sunken wax, just outside of the wick, stopping about half way down the candle so not to his the bottom. Several of the first test drills definitely penetrated through voids (I could feel the drill drop). I then repoured. Saw cutting revealed no voids in any of the test candles. The drilling took about 10 seconds per candle. Wondering why this method is not used or talked about. I wonder if I can avoid poking relief holes entirely. Pour and forget. The drill and repour. Think I will try that.

[Scented]

Robert, try waiting to poke your holes for refills when the wax is pliable, but has a thicker than thick skin on it. It's hard to describe it to you, but once you put a hole into the candle, you need to keep it open until you pour your refill. I usually stick a chopstick in, make four holes and each of them I try to widen. When I see the wax plugging the second hole, I just come back about an hour later and reopen it. When I stick the stick in, I move it in a small circle to open up the hole some. I use wick pins, hate messing with stringing wicks and then making sure it's realigned, but then I don't pour solid color pillars. I prefer the stability of the pin. Books that I've read suggest pouring at 10 degrees higher than the initial pour. It allows the wax to spread easier into the vacancies created when the wax cools down. I've poured 20 to 30 degrees hotter with no differences either. I've waited 2-3 hours after my last pour in the mold and made holes too. I find 3 hours is almost a little too long to wait (but it's going to be temp dependent a little bit too as well as size of mold dependent. If the room is too cool, the candle might be set by the time you come back, especially if you pour cool.)

I've found that around 2 hours it's about close enough for the holes to remain open, but that isn't always the case. I'd test it out and see what you find works best for you.