How do keep a candle useful?

[devilot]

I don't know how else to explain it, but say you've got a relatively biggish candle (approximately 16cm tall and 6.5cm diameter). As it starts to burn down, it doesn't burn all the way out to the circumference. And as such, the wick gets sort of too short.

Does that make sense?

Anyhow, I'm wondering how on Earth to "fix" the candle so that I can still readily reach the wick and well, in a sense, keep the candle "useful."

 

[Sesshi]

Badly engineered candles get right on my wick as well.

I just use a knife.

 

[JNB]

Bad candle design. It's too wide or uses a poorly made wick, or both.

You can carve off some excess and make it sort of a cone shape, melt the excess in a double boiler and buy some decent wick and make another candle.

Or, carve into a cone as above and don't worry about making another candle. The excess wax is great for lubricating hinges and drawer slides, etc.

If it's not all perfumed, plain paraffin is good to chew instead of gum.

 

[xJulianx]

As Sesshi said, take a knife to it.

 

[devilot]

Badly engineered candles get right on my wick as well.

Bad candle design. It's too wide or uses a poorly made wick, or both.

I had no idea. Teehee. It seems to always happen to my candles so I just assumed I didn't know how to properly burn 'em.

Or, carve into a cone as above and don't worry about making another candle. The excess wax is great for lubricating hinges and drawer slides, etc.

If it's not all perfumed, plain paraffin is good to chew instead of gum.

Yeah, the making another candle while nifty, is way too much trouble for me. As for chewing, I'll pass on that as I have plenty of gum around and yeah, most the candles I ever bother buying are scented.

Thanks. Time to look for a knife my folks won't mind me getting all waxy.

 

[Leareth]

Another way to use up the cut off pieces is to make a bohemian style candle with the bits places in glass jar (or paper cup) and put thick wick in the cover the whole thing with the candle gel kit. or melted beeswax - voila new candle.
plus is looks ultra funky when you begin to mix pieces from different candles.

 

[Lau]

If I remember rightly, if you make candles you buy a "2 inch wick" or similar, and that means it's the right size to burn a 2 inch candle without leaving an outer shell, but not to drip either. Some candles are made with a purposely too small or large wick so that you either get the outer shell left so that the light shines through as it burns down, or so that it has the effect of dripping down the sides.

Annoying, though, when it all gets stuck inside! I find the wick gets too short when a load of wax pools up in the bottom, so if that happens it's worth tipping the molten wax out into something, and it usually perks up a bit.

Heh, can you tell I'm one of those people that fiddles with the candle during posh dinners, inevitably burning myself or dripping wax on the table?

 

[John Jacob]

Yuck!!!!

If it's not all perfumed, plain paraffin is good to chew instead of gum.

Are you serious? That just makes me want to puke...

 

[Abstract]

I believe him about being able to chew it as a replacement for gum, but I don't want to take the 1 in 10 chance of me getting food poisoning (or worse). I'd rather just chew normal gum.

 

[Ish]

If I remember rightly, if you make candles you buy a "2 inch wick" or similar, and that means it's the right size to burn a 2 inch candle without leaving an outer shell, but not to drip either. Some candles are made with a purposely too small or large wick so that you either get the outer shell left so that the light shines through as it burns down, or so that it has the effect of dripping down the sides.

I really like it when the candle has burned down in the middle and the glow comes through the sides, especially on coloured candles. It's annoying if the wick gets too short to burn though, when it's only about half way through. As Lau says, maybe pouring out some of the molten wax will help. Bit of judgement needed there though - you don't want to waste too much of the candle but by the time the wax has set solid with hardly any wick showing through it's too late.

Some of the wider candles have several wicks. I haven't tried one of these yet though.

 

[JNB]

Are you serious? That just makes me want to puke...

I believe him about being able to chew it as a replacement for gum, but I don't want to take the 1 in 10 chance of me getting food poisoning (or worse). I'd rather just chew normal gum.

Ah, what all you youngsters could learn from us old farts!

Wax treats have been around for ages. The most common that I remember were the little hollow wax Coke bottle-shaped ones filled with a little juice. Used to get 'em from the ice cream truck. They also had little pistol-shaped ones, as I recall.

Then, there's always raw honeycomb. That's just honey & wax.

 

[imac/cheese]

Ah, what all you youngsters could learn from us old farts!

Wax treats have been around for ages. The most common that I remember were the little hollow wax Coke bottle-shaped ones filled with a little juice. Used to get 'em from the ice cream truck. They also had little pistol-shaped ones, as I recall.

Then, there's always raw honeycomb. That's just honey & wax.

Don't forget wax lips. We used to get those when I was a kid.

 

[iBlue]

Oh I hate when candles turn into little bastards like that. I don't have any other tips that haven't already been mentioned but I wanted to commiserate, or something.

Sometimes I take those big candles who have turned into useless twunts and put tea light candles inside of them. It makes me feel like I am getting more use out of the dumb things.

 

[MongoTheGeek]

Ah, what all you youngsters could learn from us old farts!

Wax treats have been around for ages. The most common that I remember were the little hollow wax Coke bottle-shaped ones filled with a little juice. Used to get 'em from the ice cream truck. They also had little pistol-shaped ones, as I recall.

Then, there's always raw honeycomb. That's just honey & wax.

I loved the little bottles. There were also wax tubes with the flavoring inside.

As for the honey comb I had some as a snack yesterday. Cut off a small piece, when you bite into the honey explodes into your mouth.

 

[imac/cheese]

Sometimes I take those big candles who have turned into useless twunts and put tea light candles inside of them. It makes me feel like I am getting more use out of the dumb things.

This is really great when the candle has burned down quite a bit and the tea light candle can shine through the sides of the larger candle.