The next most important thing to finding a candle you love, is to make sure to do the little things so it can perform it's best. Here are some wood wick candle care tips that will take your candle experience to the next level.

BURNING YOUR WOOD WICK CANDLE

One of the most overlooked things with burning your new candle for the first time is the length of the wick. Contrary to what most people think, having a bigger wick is not the way to go. With that said, too short and the wick will struggle to do it's job. There is a sweet spot. So here is the golden rule:

  • Make sure to trim the wood wick to between 3/16" - 1/4" (4-6mm)
  • On all subsequent burn, you'll want to do the same thing by removing the char on the tip of the wick, leaving behind only to required measurement
  • This can be done with wick trimmers, or can be done by taking a piece of paper towel/tissue and gently breaking off the charred portion. The part that needs to come off, breaks off easily (be careful not to remove too much)
  • Generally by doing this your wood wick will be in the 3/16" - 1/4" (4-6mm) range. If not, trim as needed.
  • If the measurement is correct after a burn, there might not be a need to remove very much or any of the wick
Another thing of importance is the burn times. Here are the ideal burn times by candle:

  • 3.75oz candle = 2-3hrs
  • 8oz candle =3-4hrs
  • 13oz candle = 4 hrs
The idea here is that you want to create a full melt pool (as in the whole top layer of wax melts). Burning candles for too short of a period is often the cause of tunnelling. This is when the candle burns down in the middle area while leaving a thick ring of wax around the outer diameter.

QUICK CANDLE FIXES

  • If the candle is flickering excessively with significant smoke, the solution is to blow out the flame, wait until it can be safely handled, and re-trim the wick to 3/16" - 1/4" (4-6mm)
  • If the candle flame is too high, the solution is to blow out the flame, wait until it can be safely handled, and re-trim the wick to 3/16" - 1/4" (4-6mm)

HOW TO FIX CANDLE TUNNELING

If you candle has tunneled fear not, it can be saved. It just takes a few minutes and you'll be good as new.

  1. The first step is to get rid of all the extra wax around the sides. The way we do this is by taking a heat gun, or hair drier, and melt all the extra material so it becomes a flat surface of liquid wax.
  2. Using some pliers, grab the top of the wood wick and gently rock it back and forth width wise, while also gently pulling up. The goal is to only pull the wick up enough that it is above the wax by about 1/4". If you bring it up a little too much that's ok. It can be trimmed after everything has cooled.
If you don't have a heat gun or hair dryer, you can just grab a knife and remove all the excess wax from the sides. Then just evenly space the wax around the wick near the center. Once you light the candle it will melt everything. Note: when that wax melts it will create some extra height to the wax pool, so you might need to readjust the wick as per step 2.

WHAT TO DO IF THE WICK GOES UNDER THE WAX LEVEL

Now this rarely happens on it's own, it's usually a result of the wick being cut too short. If it does happen, the fix is the exact same as the above points regarding tunneling.

  1. Melt the top layer of wax by taking a heat gun, or hair drier, to it.
  2. Grab the top of the wood wick with some pliers and gently rock it back and forth width wise, while also gently pulling up. The goal is to only pull the wick up enough that it is above the wax by about 1/4". If you bring it up a little too much that's ok. It can be trimmed after everything has cooled.
*In this specific scenario, if you're the personality that just can't be bothered with any of this, you can cheat and just pour out a little of the liquid wax to free up the wick length. (Just keep in mind that it will impact your burn time a little).

If you have any other questions about our candles, our FAQ page is a great place to start.

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