Worldwide Beekeeping
Beekeeping => Products Of The Hive => Topic started by: tedh on August 16, 2015, 04:50:01 pm
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Anyone have any experiance with beeswax votive candle wicks? What size, brands, are best for that application? Thanks, Ted
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We order most of our stuff from here, but that doesn't help you much there.
http://www.wicksandwax.com/
Mann Lake are pretty good to help with questions as well.
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Thanks Perry! Ted
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Josh melted and filtered the wonky comb we've been scraping off over the season, and a tiny bit from last year. It's not much, but we're going to try making a couple votive candles to burn at Christmas time. Ted
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs21.postimg.cc%2Ftgfa00gpf%2F20150816_152535_1.jpg&hash=e7062f2c0da89586aef16e34e938103cc4942acb) (http://postimg.cc/image/tgfa00gpf/)
Going to order the 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 inch votive mold from Mann Lake as well as the 2/0 wick. Thanks again for the idea Perry.
I'll post pics of the results.
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Need some more wax let me know!
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Lazy! I like that! Maybe we can work out a trade? Ted
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with lazy's wife not doing the candles He may have everything you need
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Nice clean looking wax ted. :goodjob:
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heh yep. I still need to render the wax from the last extracting too!
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ted, the wax does look very clean. how many times did josh filter? or what did he use to filter with?
this can be the most frustrating part of candles and wicks, and really if the wax is not super clean, you will have problems with wicks/burning. half the battle is making sure your wax is sediment free and super clean.
how to tell if it's not? the wax should be uniform in color from top to bottom, any sediment that remains will settle to the bottom, and there will be a slight discoloration (very light brown) towards the bottom or underneath side of it. if you see any of this discoloration, even a slight hint of it, remelt the wax and filter again. hope this makes sense, and for anyone else who wants to venture into candle-making. i have found with super clean wax, i have less problems with wicks not burning properly.
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I think Josh told me he filtered the wax 4 times. He used a white, cotton, flour sac?, sack cloth?, dish towel. I'm not sure what they're called but it was well worn. Here's a pic of the bottom of the cakes.
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs22.postimg.cc%2Fru2qj6tfh%2F20150819_130338.jpg&hash=9a5f589dcb22fa7f67a9062d22beb3cabed0d2e7) (http://postimg.cc/image/ru2qj6tfh/)
Is this acceptable or will it need to be filtered again? Thanks, Ted
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hi ted, the wax appears to have particles embedded in the wax? (brown specks). if so, this will clog up a candle wick. what you can use to filter and remove it with is sheer nylon curtain material, and doubled. this material is very tight and will filter wax pretty clean.
this is also an alternative from b and b honey farm, i use this stuff to strain honey with, but have used it to filter wax with, and it works well:
NYLON FILTER CLOTH (http://www.bbhoneyfarms.com/store/c-41-honey-extracting--removal/c-41a-honey-extracting-tools/p-139-nylon-filter-cloth)
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Thanks riverbee. Between the two which do you prefer? Ted
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i like the nylon filter cloth, because i always have it on hand, either will work well. another method, easy, is to use the dish towel/sack cloth, or a thread bare t shirt but add a piece of paper towel (bounty) on top of the dish towel/t-shirt. (you don't need a whole paper towel, just enough to pour the wax through, enough coverage so that the wax melts through both materials; a smaller square). make sure when you remelt and filter, pour the wax slowly so that the paper towel catches the remaining sediment. you can remelt and filter into one container, keep that container warm or reheat and then pour into whatever mold you were using. some beeks have used coffee filters for this in lieu of paper towel, not sure how well this works?
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Tried to order the nylon from B and B but apparently they're out. Just my luck. I think I'll go with the curtain material for now. I will keep checking back though! Thanks again for the idea riverbee. Ted
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you are welcome ted. they do run out from time to time, it's pretty popular. i hoard the stuff........ :D i use it primarily for a final straining of my honey. when it gets a little rag tag, i save it for filtering the ziploc bags full of wax bits that i forgot to throw in the solar melter.
the curtain material will get ya the same result. if you would like, let me see how much i have of the b and b stuff, could maybe send you a couple of 12 x 12 swaths of the stuff?
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As much as I appreciate the thought riverbee, we really don't have enough wax to mess with. We're just new to this and quite excited. I'll check in with B and B from time to time and order some when I can. But, thanks again! Ted
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I have cakes of bees wax that i have filtered 3 times and it still comes out a light brown? Anyway to get that yellow bees wax to it?? I probably have 20 lbs of it. ??? Jack
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I use the filters that restaurants use to filter their grease. It removes everything from the wax. I only use these to do the final filtering.
http://www.webstaurantstore.com/10-paper-grease-filter-cone-50-box/121100.html?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=GoogleShopping&gclid=CJTekbn7u8cCFQ6RaQodZKoGrg
I use this holder. The filter sits inside this holder and it sits on top of a bucket.
http://www.webstaurantstore.com/10-paper-grease-filter-cone-50-box/121100.html?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=GoogleShopping&gclid=CJTekbn7u8cCFQ6RaQodZKoGrg
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jack, it may be the color of the wax? or there is some find sediment remaining? how do you filter your wax?
the majority of my wax is run through a solar melter. a beek friend recently gave me cakes of wax that were extremely brown. these cakes came out nice and a light yellow. i aggressively filter the wax; in the solar melter for the initial melting, it is laid on top of a weber pan with hardware cloth attached, and on top of that is window screening. it is melted into a milk carton with a raggedty t shirt/cotton staining cloth and a piece of bounty paper towel on top of that. the second straining, i run again with a clean peice of window screening, and the miilk carton has cheesecloth doubled and clipped to it, and again another square of paper towel. i rarely have to filter a third time.
for small bits of wax i pretty much heat/melt/ filter the same way into a milk carton or half and half container; first melt, window screen, then paper towel, then the cotton. 2nd run paper towel over the cotton or the nylon material, and if it needs a third run i just use the nylon material. comes out clean.
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I melt cappings in a elc. pot,pour it through #8 hardware cloth with screen wire under it into 4x4 plastic containers i buy at the Dollar store and let it set up. I then remelt it, pour it through the big type coffee strainer onto doubled nylon curtain material into a clean plastic container. I don't separate the dark and light cappings when i melt them, so that may be the problem, but some of it does turn out a bright yellow??? Jack
PS. never tried using Bounty papertowels? do they stay together and not cake up before the wax sets up?
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River bee is filtering the wax thru the paper towel and cloth in the solar wax melter so the temp in it will keep the wax molten while it is straining so she doesn't get the caking up that happens when filtering in a cooler place where the wax will solidify.
I have used a heat gun to keep heat on the wax to keep it liquid and flowing. You could do it in a oven turn to the lowest setting and the oven door cracked open a bit. An aluminum beer can will work to prop open the oven door.
Off topic But I encourage you to enter fairs and honey competitions. Preparing Wax
The Fair is coming up in 2 weeks and when preparing a bloke of wax to exhibit shrinking and cracks in the wax will result in lower marks. To reduce this from happening you want to slow down the solidification. When you have pored the wax into the mold place the wax in a preheated oven close the door and turn the oven off, the oven will allow the wax to slowly cool.
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Thanks apis, but i have been barred from the kitchen for making Fondant for several years now :o I keep thinking she will forget 8), but she hasn't yet O:-). I see what your saying about constant heat, makes since. Thanks, Jack
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Thanks apis, but i have been barred from the kitchen for making Fondant for several years now :o I keep thinking she will forget 8), but she hasn't yet O:-). I see what your saying about constant heat, makes since. Thanks, Jack
Still laughing! He talks so tough at times but now we know he is afraid of the little woman.
I have to start when she not at home to protest and then get the it had better be clean when your done speech. I bought a 8 cup Pyrex measuring cup to use with/for my bees. It was new clean and the misses would use it. I needed to scoop some wax one day so I used it. Then I get into hot water because I wrecked her measuring cup. I had to remind her who's measuring cup it was and what it was bought for.
Still laughing!
Then I had to go out and by her a new one.
Not laughing quite so hard! Been there!
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Well i'm still the king and my home is a castle 8). who ever heard of the king cooking anyway. :D Jack
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A castle without a kitchen. That's a new one. :D
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"I melt cappings in a elc. pot,pour it through #8 hardware cloth with screen wire under it into 4x4 plastic containers i buy at the Dollar store and let it set up. I then remelt it, pour it through the big type coffee strainer onto doubled nylon curtain material into a clean plastic container. I don't separate the dark and light cappings when i melt them, so that may be the problem, but some of it does turn out a bright yellow??? Jack
PS. never tried using Bounty papertowels? do they stay together and not cake up before the wax sets up?"
jack, it may just be the color of your wax, or you could try a 3rd straining. i do separate the light from the dark, and i also wash the wax clean. i was recently given about 3 or 4 pounds of wax a beek friend of mine gave me. all she does is throw it in a boiling pot of water. it was pretty brown. i sent it through the solar unit twice and it came out a pretty nice light yellow. also, i do use the paper towel as i described for filtering small amounts of wax when i am not using the solar unit. for you, with a lot of wax to filter, this probably isn't practical because it will cake up. with the small amounts i sometimes have, the paper towel collects the fine brown gunk and filters through just fine, and if i have a little more, i just use another piece. how much wax do you melt and filter at a time jack?
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I don't know how many pounds? After i extract, i take the cappings and scatter them out on a tray (a big flat square pan) and set it out for the girls to clean up, usually 3 or 4 days. Sometimes it rains on them and they will turn a gray looking color, i will then dry them out before i melt them. I will put all i can get in a crock pot at a time to melt down. I don't wash them after the bees clean them up, maybe thats what i'm doing wrong? Jack
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I've been using the solar melter and paper towel as well. The wax goes into a flexible baking pan like THIS (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00D4IKR7G?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00). I peel the pan away from the wax block. It is easy, and has worked well. Amazon has these flexible pans in many sizes and shapes, one size or another is bound to make it easy for you too. :-)
Apologies tedh, if I've helped hijack your thread. :-)
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No problems Lburou! I'm learning alot! My lack of experiance means I'm also unsure of what questions to ask. I see now that wicks are just one part of the questions and solutions needing to be addressed when making candles. Perhaps a change of title reflecting the "broader how to" of candle making would be appropriate. Other than that, I say, "hijack away!". Ted
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Here's some pics of what we have so far.
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs21.postimg.cc%2F6k6b11jjn%2F20150822_142244.jpg&hash=89567ed213fa90dc9e61907ab660897e51ddd243) (http://postimg.cc/image/6k6b11jjn/)
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs12.postimg.cc%2Fnhseqzimx%2F20150822_154659.jpg&hash=8d052ebabd7909b0d5c7edc1feb760eecbb441d6) (http://postimg.cc/image/nhseqzimx/)
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs23.postimg.cc%2Fvj92jc43r%2F20150822_154727_HDR.jpg&hash=28bb34c91b052856e929630ee2f62e6fcd44829e) (http://postimg.cc/image/vj92jc43r/)
I didn't like the way the candles sat with the little wick holder on the bottom (wobbles) so originally omitted them. Yeah, that's a mistake. Without the little wick holders, when the candle is all a melted pool of wax, the wick just falls over! So, after a few attempts, we ended up with a total of 8 candles. Ted
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Yep, need the little metal wick holders!
I sometimes melt three or four times running the wax through the cheese cloth, the secret is scraping the stuff off the bottom of the cake of wax each time.
I think the wife used a coffee filter for the final melt but I will have to ask her..
In Maine now, happy to see we have internet out here at the camp.. moving UP in the world!
Blueberry harvest is in full swing, and I have an IN for pollinating......... But thats another story for a different thread!
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Really nice looking candles Ted.
So you're in Maine LB? Wonder how close you are to me? ???
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nice lookin' candles ted!
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Lit a candle last night and timed it. Got a seven hour burn! For such a small candle I'm impressed! We have one super and a few frames to extract, when Lazy returns, and hoping for more wax. I have an Advent Wreath I like to use for the Christmas Season. I'd like to be able to make four 1 1/2" X 9" pillar candles to put on it.
On a side note: Everyone wants to know what scent I'm adding to my 100% pure beeswax candles! I'm speechless! Ted
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Were in Blue Hill Maine Perry, I am thinking its still another four or five hours to the Canadian border from here.