Anyone else recycle candles?
- Thread starter Gray2233
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we keep bees so use some of our spare wax for making tea lights - not got a mold yet - would be interested to know how you get on.
The main pain is the filtering of all the bee bits etc you end up with in the wax, but got a solar extractor last year so looking forward to getting some more wax this year to filter in that
The main pain is the filtering of all the bee bits etc you end up with in the wax, but got a solar extractor last year so looking forward to getting some more wax this year to filter in that
Just finished my first (experimental) candle using an old cardboard gravy tub!
The wick is a little off center, and using the gravy tub as a mold wasn't ideal, although it did work. It's only about 2 inches tall as it was more of a test than anything.
Here it is lit, had it burning for an hour or so now and it seems quite happy!
Looking forward to getting my molds and other bits and pieces, next time should be a bit more tidy and better on the eye.
The wick is a little off center, and using the gravy tub as a mold wasn't ideal, although it did work. It's only about 2 inches tall as it was more of a test than anything.
Here it is lit, had it burning for an hour or so now and it seems quite happy!
Looking forward to getting my molds and other bits and pieces, next time should be a bit more tidy and better on the eye.
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Looking at making some myself for the summer with citronella in,try keep the bugs away,looks so much cheaper to make your own than to buy them pre made
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Yes the wife does this, we also sometimes recover cooking oil and turn that into wax. Burns cleanly and surprisingly without odour.
With the larger candles, you need to burn them longer for the first burn - e.g. for the larger Yankee's it's around 3 hours so that the whole surface of the candle melts right to the edge. If you don't, then you experience the leftover wax effect known as "tunnelling". Once you've done a first burn, then subsequent burns can normally get away with shorter burn times without much issue.
Good to know.
It doesn't really fit how I use them, but I will try with your recommendation just to see!
I tend to set them to flame and that's it for around 8 hours or so. If I need to shut them off prior there's little point for me.
15 years ago I used to run a candle factory in China, making for all the major UK retailers, and was involved in the EU committee at the time responsible for what are now the EU stds and test methods for candles. I could post so many technical documents on here about candle design, candle testing etc it would make you wax over... as it would me.
What i will say is at the time, Ikea candles were great - were always taken as the benchmark standard in the UK.
Fragrances were not the same, typically cost of fragrances in Asda candles at the time was up to $5 per kg, Next / Debs up to $16/kg, M&S up to $20 per kg, and branded like Jo Malone etc. up to $100/ kg. Fragrance loading was also very different. Asda would typically have 2-3% fragrance in a candle, M&S 4%, Jo Malone 8%.
More fragrance didn't make for a better candle, and neither did colour, as these impurities would result in incomplete combustion and smoking. Jo Malone candles burnt poorly, but smelt great.
Tunnelling, as previously mentioned is generally the result of a poorly designed candle, either due to shape, poor specification, or quality control, though room temperature can also effect this, as candle in a warm kitchen will generally burn better than the same candle on a cold windowsill.
You also obviously get different waxes and quality of waxes, typically at my time cheaper candles contained up to 30% soya wax, though this didn't necessarily create a worse burn. The braiding and wick core were also critical, good wicks were cotton with a tin or glass fibre core to help them stand up, cheaper wicks were made of other materials and had a plastic core. Enough. I could write an essay and bore you all more.
What i will say is at the time, Ikea candles were great - were always taken as the benchmark standard in the UK.
Fragrances were not the same, typically cost of fragrances in Asda candles at the time was up to $5 per kg, Next / Debs up to $16/kg, M&S up to $20 per kg, and branded like Jo Malone etc. up to $100/ kg. Fragrance loading was also very different. Asda would typically have 2-3% fragrance in a candle, M&S 4%, Jo Malone 8%.
More fragrance didn't make for a better candle, and neither did colour, as these impurities would result in incomplete combustion and smoking. Jo Malone candles burnt poorly, but smelt great.
Tunnelling, as previously mentioned is generally the result of a poorly designed candle, either due to shape, poor specification, or quality control, though room temperature can also effect this, as candle in a warm kitchen will generally burn better than the same candle on a cold windowsill.
You also obviously get different waxes and quality of waxes, typically at my time cheaper candles contained up to 30% soya wax, though this didn't necessarily create a worse burn. The braiding and wick core were also critical, good wicks were cotton with a tin or glass fibre core to help them stand up, cheaper wicks were made of other materials and had a plastic core. Enough. I could write an essay and bore you all more.
Are you trimming the wick on new candles and prior to lighting used candles?
The wick is supposed to be kept trimmed to 3mm.
https://www.yankeecandle.co.uk/help/candle-care
But you do fancy having your living rooms containing multiple open flames with abundant fuel sources for each one. That's a greater risk than a very small amount of some moderately hot oil vapourising. The biggest risk from that is staining if it's spilt.
You'll notice if you'd read through the thread that I was being tongue in cheek.
Yeah, I'll be doing this in future.
Still waiting on the rest of my stuff, hopefully it'll arrive before the weekend.
It's interesting to read this thread and learn more about it. I find that if a candle starts tunnelling, despite having burned it for a long time on the initial burn, I use tin foil around the edge of the container and that pretty much always stops it.
That's probably why I find I hardly ever have any wax left at the end.
Like this - The foil creates a false lip inside the container which contains the heat and stops the candle from tunnelling. I'll be able to take this down within half an inch of the bottom like this and if I move the foil a bit deeper, I can go right to the bottom.
That's probably why I find I hardly ever have any wax left at the end.
Keep going, please.
Like this - The foil creates a false lip inside the container which contains the heat and stops the candle from tunnelling. I'll be able to take this down within half an inch of the bottom like this and if I move the foil a bit deeper, I can go right to the bottom.
Yeah, I usually trim the wicks back if they look a little long.
Haven't tried the tin foil method though.
Very interesting read, thanks for chipping in! I didn't think the subject could be so interesting until I started looking into making my own. I could definitely do with some better wicks, the ones I have are a PITA, tend to snap very easily.
Kind comments, so for those who want to be bored;
'EN 15493 - Candles - Specification for Fire Safety' is the European standard, which was first introduced in 2007, and I had some input into, especially in the development of the standardised testing procedures for candles. You can download and read that if you want, so I am not going to post it here.
What I will attach below is a basic 'Design Guide' I wrote for a number of factories (mainly Chinese), in about 2003 when I was making money consulting. It is very simple, and only covers the absolute key elements, but that was it's purpose at the time, to be a simple guide to try and improve the standards of candle development we were seeing out of Asia at the time.
And finally for those still awake, below are photos from 2005 / 2006 of the candle filling line in the factory I worked for, and the burn testing of candles in development and production. I designed these cabinets, and similar equipment is required by the EU standard and operated by test houses currently. (This was actually a factory producing hand made glass (I was technical director), and decorating it, but saw an opportunity to add value to the glass by filling with wax and selling as filled candles - which also made it disposable), so this was a little side line for us. The equipment at the forefront of the final lab image is a polariscope, used to measure stress in glass.
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I should also mention, Michael Faraday did a series of 6 Xmas Royal Institution Lectures in 1848, on
' The Chemical History of a Candle',
Which is actually still in print as a book and a great read.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chemical_History_of_a_Candle
' The Chemical History of a Candle',
Which is actually still in print as a book and a great read.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chemical_History_of_a_Candle
I read all of that and I'm still wide awake
One thing that interested me - The melt pool should be just less than the glass diameter. Doesn't this mean that you expect there to always be some tunnelling? I'd have thought the melt pool should be fractionally wider the the glass diameter. I'm sure you have a damn good explanation as to why it should be less though.
/edit - The book as a free pdf is available here along with what look like recreations of those lectures. I've not had a chance to look at them yet.
One thing that interested me - The melt pool should be just less than the glass diameter. Doesn't this mean that you expect there to always be some tunnelling? I'd have thought the melt pool should be fractionally wider the the glass diameter. I'm sure you have a damn good explanation as to why it should be less though.
/edit - The book as a free pdf is available here along with what look like recreations of those lectures. I've not had a chance to look at them yet.