# best wick for pillar candle



## berkshire bee (Jan 28, 2007)

I made a few pillar candles, 3" diameter by 4inches high and used the 60 ply wick from Betterbee. It works okay but there is a thin shell around the outside of the candle that doesn't melt. Is there a wick that will work better?


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## bee crazy (Oct 6, 2005)

Hey Berkshire Bee guy,
I'm attaching this link.
http://home.howstuffworks.com/question267.htm

it explains how a candle works. Sounds as though you need more wick to move more molten wax. Try tristing 2 #60 together, probably an over kill but you can see if your on the right road. I'm always testing and wiriting in my little book.


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## berkshire bee (Jan 28, 2007)

bee crazy, Thanks. I've read and down loaded stuff on how they burn the way they do, the fact that the wick should curl a little so that the tip is in the hottest part of the flame etc. As you mentioned, I have also been taking notes as I test burn the different candles with different wicks, noting how bright they are, how long they burn etc. Before I started getting into this, and reading a lot, I never realized there was so much involved in making a good candle. I figured all you needed was some wax, a wick, and a match to light it. I made around 5 dozen beeswax tea lights tonight with the all cotton wicks. I'll probably do some tapers tomorrow and make more lip balm, hand salve, and soap. It is easy to get caught up in this stuff.


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## Jim Fischer (Jan 5, 2001)

Yeah, sounds like a slightly thicker wick would be the solution here,
but I have seen a different approach I like, where 3 wicks are
placed within a larger candle, evenly spaced in a triangle.

These would be three SMALLER wicks, of course.

Testing wicks is such a pain, and it seems a shame to waste entire
candles on the effort, but getting the wick "right" is such a black art,
I don't know any other way to verify the "match" between wick and
a specific candle size.

Does anyone else slice a candle into shorter slices for testing wicks
of different types? No need to burn through an entire candle,
now is there? I drill out a shaft with a hand drill, and slide in the
wick, and then drip some wax down the hole to fill the void.


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