The choice of burning ingredients depends on your own preferences, but it is important to promote the advantages of beeswax—whereas paraffin wax often has to be imporated and transported in, beeswax is a readily available product. 5S.
If the wick is too large, the candle will burn too fast, with a smoking, dirty flame. 2.
Wicks
a very sensitive and specialized industry: the woven pattern as well as the stiffness of the cotton strings are very important.
capillary
method (melted wax travels up a wick to ‘feed’ the flame with vapour) and bending of the wick in the flame is important for complete burning in the blue part of the flame. It is possible to make your own wick with the best, purest cotton string: using normal spun cotton string, and twining it as one traditionally twines cord or rope (for example 6 x 2 strings where each string has diameter 0-5 mm). Good results can also be
To make very thick candles, use
3.
If the beeswax is not free of impurities, use a thick wick.
4.
There is an international standard for flat-woven wicks. The wick type is determined by the numbers of strings used (english: ply) to make the wick.
obtained using hand-woven or
A 1.
few tips: For the choice of the wick, one must look at the burning of the candle. It must not drip and yet give a smooth, continuous flame that burns thoroughly to the bottom of the candle. The flame must not smoke, and must be centered as well as possible. If the wick is too thin it will not burn enough wax: the amount of melted wax will increase and the candle starts
dripping.
Or: if the wick is too thin and the melting point of the wax is too high, then the heat will not be
enough to melt the wax from the wick and the candle will extinguish itself.
a
mixture of beeswax and paraffin with a low melting point.
For example paraffin candles:
plaited cotton. There is therefore a choice between buying wicks from commercial industry (this often means importing) or using handmade wicks. The answer depends on the burning quality required, and whether hand-made wicks are really worth the time and can result in an income. What kind of wicks? The burning material and the production method will determine which wicks are best.
BRAZIL a candle with a
non-dripping yet completely burning flame, then the diameter of the candle ought to be no larger than 4-5 cm. If it is larger, the wick will burn a hole through the candle while the outer layer of wax will serve as a vertical coat or shield.
Wick weaving is
The wick woks by a
If one wants
Diameter of Wick type (flat-woven) lem Tply 2-5cem 9-12ply Sem 15ply 7em 24ply the candle
Industrially fabricated wicks vary
greatly (round, square, etc) according to the maker.
5.
LOOKING AHEAD
The wick-maker gives advice about which wick to use for the candles a workshop plans to make. The necessary information is: production method, ingredients and quality, burning elements, diameter and length of intended candles.
From our experience, the advice from the wick-makers is not always reliable. Try out the wick varieties for yourself in your own workshop. Testing-out must be done before starting production. Some wick-makers send samples on request. (Part Il, The Dipping Method, to be continued in the next edition of Newsletter).
1st International Symposium on Equipment and Applied Handling Techniques, Florianapolis, April 2225, 1987. This symposium is planned to estab-
lish technical directives, standardise equipment and provide advice, on an international level. Further information from: CBA/ FAASC, Caixa Postal 303-88.000, Florianapolis, Santa Catrina, Brazil.
POLAND
XXXI International Apicultural
Congress, APIMONDIA, Warsaw, Poland, August 19-25, 1987. Further information from: National Organising Committee of the XXXIst International Apicultural Congress, Al. Stanow Zjednoczonych 51, 03-965 Warsaw, Poland.
USA International Conference on Africanized Honeybees and Bee Mites, The Ohio State University, March 30 — April 2, 1987. Further information from Glen Needham or Robert Page, The Ohio State University, Department of Entomology, 1735 Neil Avenue, Columbus, Ohio, 43210-1293, USA. International Beekeeping Seminar VII, the Ohio State University and
USDA, July
20
-
31, 1987.
Further information from Mr. J. E. Tew, Agricultural Technical Institute, Wooster, Ohio 44691, USA.
VENEZUELA 2nd Convention of Apiculture, San Cristobal, Tachira, September 1987.
Please note—If you are planning a beekeeping event and you would like it mentioned here, then please send details well in advance of the date of the Conference. For example, if you are organizing a Conference to be held in November, it is important that details reach the Editor in time for inclusion in the March edition of this Newsletter.
