I want to first start off by saying this was an experiment. One of those moments where you see something and think. How hard could that be? Well, this was harder than I thought.
Let’s start off by creating the wooden wick when I did my research for this project I read that using softwood or hardwood didn’t matter. I also saw that some people soaked their wicks in olive oil. More on that later.
I started off by selecting an old piece of cedar thinking that the smell would be amazing. Cutting it into a thin strip, I then planed it down to about 1mm thick. Using a utility knife cut some strips about 1cm wide.
Wick is done!
Now grab some beeswax, the beeswax that I used was sourced locally and raw. Raw beeswax is nonprocessed or refined so it has some impurities in it. If you’re looking for beeswax and don’t want to pay crazy high prices, try contacting a local honey producer and see if they sell beeswax directly.
Now what you will see me do is melt the wax using my camp stove because I don’t have a stove in the garage. I would highly recommend that you use a Double boiler to prevent any burning. The beeswax is also extremely hot and knocking the wax off of the camp stove would be a disaster.
After checking to see how long I needed the wick I cut two lengths and dipped it in the beeswax to hold them together.
By now I had already done a few tests. I tried the cedar that I started off with but it would not stay lit at all. I then tried soaking it in Olive oil and I don’t know whose idea it was but it smelled terrible.
My final product was maple and people works perfectly.
Being very careful pour the melted wax into a canning jar holding the wick to the side for a bit. The wax will begin to set rather quickly depending on the temperature. Once it sets up a little center the wick and pours in the rest of the wax.
