DIY Candles With Wooden Wicks

Nothing better than diving into a project about which you only have vague assumptions how to accomplish.

Some stuffs are required. But there are several ways to skin this cat. . . . gross. What a weird, old phrase.

1. Wax, whatever you like. I got a bunch of cheap beeswax online
2. Scents, optional
3. Wicks, either premade wood or string, or make your own as I'll show
4. Something to melt wax in/with
5. Candle containers, glass

Here I melted my wax using a sous vide device set to make the water bath 175 F. This took a long time. But it made clean up really easy. Nip the corner of the bag the wax was sealed in and it was Easy Pour City.

Still using the sous vide device I clamped the wax to the side of the vessel with a wood clamp and let it slowly melt. And it did that, melt slowly. And this way left me with a beaker to clean up at the end.

This version I covered a small iron skillet with foil for easy clean up and melted the wax in the beaker. Faster than sous vide, but you have to watch not to get your wax too hot or your wax could discolor. Or at least beeswax will, I don't know about others. This too left me with a beaker to clean up.

I mixed in my scents at this point. You can have scentless candles, but what fun is that? You'll want about 1/2oz per pound of wax. But your scent maker may have other instructions for amounts.

I do woodworking so I made my own wood wicks on a table saw. I sliced them veeeeeeery thin. I then boiled them so that they would bend without cracking. You could also just let them soak, but boiling was quicker. I shaped them in two ways.

This was the easiest way. Wrap a hot wet strip around a pipe and hold with rubber bands until cool and dry. I also left some straight.

The thin, hot, wet strips will bend into a straw. I quickly bent then and stuffed them into a stainless steel straw. To speed up the drying I hit the straw with a torch, then removed them when the steaming stopped. You could just let them dry naturally, but it'll take a long time. They pulled right out when dry.

I cut small pieces of wick into squares and glued then with hot melt to the wicks. I then put a dab of hot melt on the bottom and glued them into their glasses so I didn't have to cuss a bunch when they would fall over when filling.

Whether using sous vide or pouring from a beaker, the process was pretty simple.

Once poured and set trim the wicks down to about 1/4" above the wax.

Clean up was pretty easy. I heated water in a pot and added some soap. I scrapped as much wax off as I could with some popcicle sticks and then let the hot water and soap do what it does.

I didn't know what I was doing. There was shrinkage of the wax around the wicks that lead to deep pits. I imagine this was due to cooling off too quickly. But they work as a candle does. The wood wicks have a nice hissing sound.

I did use a couple of different kinds of wood: cedar, oak, and maple. I don't think any work any better than the other, but consult an expert.

That's the note: Consult an expert. And use this as a general guide.