About Candle Wickes Used in Candle Making.
A candle without a wick is just a hunk of wax. The wick is what a candle is all about. The earliest known candles were basically a wick-like material coated with tallow or beeswax, not even resembling a candle at all. In taper candles the wick is the structure which supports the first layers of wax that create the candle. In all candles it acts as a fuel pump, supplying liquefied wax up to the top where all of the action takes place. As a regulator, different size wicks allow different amounts of wax up into the combustion area providing different size flames. The wick is pretty much the most important element of a candle.
The word wick comes from Old English "weyke or wicke", Anglo Saxon "wecca", and Germanic "wieche or wicke". It is a name for a bundle of fibers that when braided or twisted together are used to draw oil or wax up into a flame to be burned in a lamp or candle.
A wick without wax around it is just a piece of string. Because the wick is fibrous and absorbent, melted wax adheres to it easily. Dipping a wick in and out of melted wax several times builds up layers of wax, sufficient enough to make a taper candle.
The wick works by a principle called capillary action. Cotton fibers are spun into threads, which are bundled and braided together. The spaces between the cotton fibers, the threads, and braids act as capillaries, which cause liquids to be drawn into them. If you place a drop of water in the center of a paper towel you will see that the drop is absorbed and the wet spot expands. Where the expansion occurs is where capillary action is taking place, the candle wicking absorbs wax the same way.
Candle wicking is available in several types. Probably the most popular is the Flat Braid, or Regular wick. Different sized wicks cause different sized flames simply because of the number of threads in the bundles. Each thread is considered a plait or ply, and a given number of ply are bundled together.
With Flat Braid wick, usually only three bundles are braided together. It is braided in such a manner that all three bundles lie flat and is referred to by the number of plaits it contains.
Example: (36 ply) - 3 bundles of 12 ply = 36 ply.
A 36 ply wick can draw a little bit more wax than a 30 ply wick can, which gives the 36 ply wick a larger flame. In turn, the larger flame produces a slightly larger melt pool. The purpose for the flatness of this wick is to curl over to the side when it burns. This curling of the wick helps to prevent excess smoking.
