Tunnelling candles - help [title edited by MNHQ]

[Dailyhandtowelwash]

I’ve got a couple of nice candles that DD has been taking off to the bathroom with her (jealous) and I’ve just noticed that they’ve both pooled quite badly. Can I rescue them? Any tips?

When you say pooled, do u mean they’re tunnelling? (Not burning evenly?)

I read a tip somewhere about wrapping a strip of foil around the top and it does work! If any of my candles start tunnelling, I just put the foil ‘collar’ on for a bit and it sorts it out

I totally mean tunnelling. Where did pooled come from? Thank you.

I will get my foil out and see what I can achieve. The wick on one is now very low though so I fear it may be a lost cause. Could I just cut the wax away when cold to even the level I wonder?

In future to prevent tunnelling you need to burn it the first time until the whole surface is liquid. Also trim the wick so it's very short before you burn it each time.

Yes you need to burn it every time until you have a melt pool about 1cm deep.

Alternatively they've used the wrong size wick for the diameter of the container and there's not enough heat throw to melt across the surface.

That foil trick is ingenious!

I have always done the full surface burning thing myself. Just trying to rescue these ones now they’ve been abused!

If I trim the wick of the badly tunnelled one do you reckon I stand a chance of saving it? Looking at it, I worry that it’s just too deep and will end up drowned in wax as it is.

Update - I’ve ‘foiled’ the less badly tunnelled candle and the edge has almost disappeared. Magic.

Tomorrow I shall tackle the other one. Any further advice welcome. It really has burned a very small but deep hole so suspect it wasn’t brilliantly put together to start with.

Brilliant - glad you were able to rescue it OP! Nothing more annoying then spending lots on a nice candle and it not burning evenly. I suspect the other one maybe too far gone though

You can dig a little 'pit' around the sick to increase the length of it and pour off excess wax so it doesn't drown it. I find that homemade and often additive free candles tunnel really badly, apparently commercial ones out in some sort of additive to ensure they burn across.

Another thing I do when a candle is near the end is get a few cheap tea lights pop them out of their foil case then slide the wick out . Replace wick in empty case .
Carefully heat the original candle ( I do it in microwave but gently )
Pour melted wax into foil to make new tea lights .
DD got 4 tea lights from a candle she was going to ditch .

I find that homemade and often additive free candles tunnel really badly

It's the wick (and first burn) that determines it. They've most likely used the wrong wick for the diameter and type of wax, whereas commercial makers aren't going to be making basic mistakes like that.

This one was a gift from what I think is a small local brand.

Lots of candle makers use just soy which is more tricky than paraffin blend waxes. The addition of paraffin to a blend really helps it burn more evenly.

that foil trick is great, I’m stupidly excited to try it!

Can you use foil on glass jars ?

I suspect the one we have is too far gone and yes in the past have made tea lights

For glass jars I make a kind of ‘lid’ of foil with a hole poked in the middle - Bob enough so the candle has oxygen but if the jar is wider than a standard pillar one up need a wider ‘rim’ of foil to keep enough heat in.

The one I was successful with is a glass one - about the size and diameter of a water tumbler. I haven’t had a chance to try the worse one till tonight - will keep you posted. In fact, I’ll take pictures.