Thoughts on The Wooden Wick Co.'s Discovery Kit
December 26, 2020 | 4 minute read
This past weekend, I gave into the hype and made a purchase from The Wooden Wick Co.
I bought their wax discovery kit and wick sample kit.
I’ll first talk about the wax.
The wax discovery kit came with three different waxes: Beeswax Coco Creme, Virgin Coconut Soy, and Coco Apricot Creme. These were all elegantly wrapped and packaged, and the wax itself came in chunks rather than shredded chips (like candlescience’s). The way they designed the packaging experience was very formal and neat. I felt like I was opening a box containing a diamond ring.
Browsing their blog, I found some information they listed about each wax. It seemed that all had excellent glass adhesion, good scent throw, and weren’t prone to sink holes, frosting, or sweating. Where each wax differed was the amount of paraffin wax each contained and their respective suggested wick pairings.
Having come from Soy 464, I was hopeful to see that The Wooden Wick Co. waxes solved all of the headaches of Soy 464 wax. Not having to worry about those issues would be a huge burden off my shoulders.
Seeing the wax
Initial observations from first unpackaging the wax was that there was a distinct color difference between the beeswax blend and the other two. The beeswax wax blend was light yellow, while the other two were creamty white.
Breaking the wax
When breaking the waxes apart, I noticed that the beeswax blend was much harder to break. I had to really lean into the cutter to break it apart. This meant that the bonds for this wax were stronger than the other two. Note that the beeswax wax blend was actually a blend of beeswax, coconut, soy, and palm waxes. Of these waxes, palm wax had the highest melting point (179.6°F). It was suggested that when working with palm wax, one should heat it to 200°F. That’s 15°F more than what’s suggested when working with soy wax. This vendor, Lightworks candles, noted that there’s a small margin between palm wax’s solid and liquid states. This’d explain the rigidness of the beeswax blend (with palm wax).
Side note, it’s interesting to learn that candlescience has consciously stopped sourcing palm wax due to its impact on deforestation and negative enivornmental impact. Good for them.
Then there was the coco apricot creme blend. This was a blend of natural apricot, coconut, and a small quantity of highly-refined paraffin.
Both the coco apricot creme blend and coconut soy blend were much softer than the beeswax blend, and didn’t require a notable amount of force to break apart.
Melting the wax
When melting the waxes, I noticed that the beeswax blend took a lot longer to melt than the other blends. I believe this was due to the beeswax blend being a lot stronger with the inclusion of palm wax. Other than that, all waxes melted in a pretty similar fashion.
Cooling the wax
I used a fragrance oil (FO) load of 12% for my candles, with each FO being a mix of 3 fragrances.
I poured the fragrance oil and wax mixture immediately after mixing. I did this to test their sink hole proposition.
To my surprise, no sinkholes formed out of all my pours with any of their 3 waxes. The tops all came out really smooth, and the only blemish was with the beeswax blend as its tops were all slightly cracked. I attributed this to a fault in my candlemaking process.
I looked up reasons why this happened, and people suggested that it meant the cooling process needed to happen more gradually. To fix this, I’d probably have to ensure cooling happens in an oven or something.
Below I’ve linked 3 videos of the cooling process sped up by x25000 for your viewing. Note the time duration for each.
Cooling for Beeswax Coco Creme Wax
Cooling for Coco Apricot Creme Wax
Cooling for Virgin Coconut Soy Wax
It’s interesting that the coconut soy wax blend took the longest to cool. Unfortunately, the coolings may not have been accurate as I didn’t control the exact temperature at when they were poured into the vessel, only that they were immediately poured after mixing.
From the videos’ durations, you could tell the beeswax coco creme blend cooled the fastest, and the virgin coconut soy blend cooled the slowest.
Burning the wax
will update after letting them cure for a bit
Remaining thoughts
I know what I’ve done here is nothing more than a hobbyist experiment. To do this right, I’d need to purchase a lot more wax, and apply more rigorous controls to ensure clean results.
Now having stated my disclaimer, my first thought is that I don’t think using their beeswax blend is a good starting wax to work with if you are just getting started in candlemaking. The complexities that arise with the beeswax blend don’t seem worth dealing with if you are a beginner candlemaker.
I think the beeswax blend would work best if you are dealing with molds, and other scenarios where a vessel isn’t used. The addition of palm wax will help keep its shape, and if paired with the right wick, will result in a more controlled burn. If you are using a vessel, then I wouldn’t suggest picking the beeswax blend.
I don’t have much to distinguish between the Coco Apricot Creme and the Virgin Coconut Soy Wax. Both had the addition of paraffin wax. To some this isn’t a big issue, but if you do want to stay “all-natural”, then this can be a deal-breaker.
Both waxes were easy to work with, and both seemed to erase the headaches that come with Soy 464. My only concern with both were the price. This obviously isn’t a large deterrent to the community as they are actually sold out on both waxes at the moment. I’ll update this point with more detailed conclusions once they come back in stock.
Anyways, hopefully this light dive into the Wooden Wick Co’s waxes were helpful. I’d love to hear what you think. Feel free to tweet me with your thoughts.