www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Church Candles.

I have been given an assignment for lent. It is to recycle the wax left by burned out candles into new working ones. If anyone has done this before I would highly appreciate your input and advice. I also need to find a website that I can buy a mold from that will fit the specifications of this type of candle.. here [cache1.asset-cache.net]


HELP

I have wondered about how to do this. I HATE to see them disposed of. So much wax, so little time. Let me know too

I once heard of a lady who passed, when they entered her home, they found rooms full of the burned candles. She could never let the wax be thrown away.

Your post made me fondly remember another old altar boy memory. There was a now long-deceased old timer who lived about a block from our Church in a neighborhood where everyone either went to the Byzantine Catholic, ACROD, Ukrainian or Russian churches (and most were probably related to each other as well). A pious man, he collected the old wax and remolded them. I remember how happy he was to show the priest his beloved candle when we would come to bless his home following Theophany and to bless his Easter food on the afternoon of Holy Saturday. Vichnaja Jemu Pamjat, Vasil. Memory Eternal, William.

Pani Rose, the lady you mentioned was either deeply pious or in the grip of some kind of obsessive-cumpulsive disorder which made her unable to discard the wax. Maybe she was BOTH. Many saints would today be diagnosed not necessarily as wholesome saints but as mentally ill people in need of treatment.

Might we ask: where did you receive your Doctorate in Psychiatry?

you'll need wick.

The first step is melting the wax. heat a pot until it's JUST able to melt the wax, and using forceps, pull the wicks as you melt them nubbins in.

Next step depends highly on which mode you want:
Dipped, poured, or rolled.

Dipped is easy, but you'll have leftover wax, guaranteed. Take your Wick, dip it quickly into the molten wax, and let air cool above it. (This is why you need it as close to melting temp as you can maintain stably... faster cooling times.) Repeat until a tapir is formed.

Poured is easy, but requires some form of mold to pour into; if you have a used "week long" candle that left ax up the sides of the container, that's a great choice. Suspend the wick, preferably with a small metal weight, so the end is on the bottom but the wick is straight. In small batches, pour wax in to fill. Let cool at least overnight.

Rolling is the most work. you pour out the wax to make thin sheets. you then heat the sheets to close too but not entirely at melting point. trim to a rectangle, then lay a wick on one edge; paint with a bit of melted wax to secure it. Then roll it tightly.

How precious, and what a joy he must have been to our Lord Jesus.

Aramis,

Does the sand just fall to the bottom of the pot? Or is there something that has to be done to separate it from the wax?

Each service, we find the candle stands in the front full. Then the one in front of the tomb in the back is a long one, maybe four feet, and is often filled too. So needless to say we can go through a lot of candles in a weeks times.

Glory be to Jesus Christ!

Dewi - I barter with a friend who has bees and have tried to make my own. Luckily the waste wax for candles doesn't have to be rendered like the raw wax from the hive, only melted and the scum on the top scooped off. There are many places you can get molds and wicks like Candlewic:
http://www.candlewic.com/Store/Search.aspx?keyword=tapers and Candlechem: http://www.candlechem.com/tin_spectapers.htm
and Jones Bee Supply:
http://www.jonesbee.com/Price%20List/price_list.htm#CANDLE_MAKING_SUPPLIES among many others. I used a Coleman stove for the melting and rendering.

The thing about using nubs is that you need to clip off the burnt part of the wick before you melt them. This will cut down on the darkening of the wax and also help retain the fragrance. Although nothing is as fragrant as fresh wax still it is good to reuse the wax. We have been collecting the wax for years and seem to use more candles than we can remake so we have hundreds of pounds of wax just filling trash barrels.Its not like we can just get rid of them seeing that some of them are blessed.

What about the sand in the candles that have burned down into it?

At the School of Hard Knocks. LOL

Thank you for the links and advice. Will the sand separate from the wax ? I am still unsure which candles are most like the kind we use.. they are not tapered and are flat up top.

I've only done so with votives and roman easter vigil candles, not sand-held tapirs, and it's been more than 20 years, so I would have to experiment to find out. In general, tho', I would expect the sand to settle, and you can remove most of it before melting.

and if you want to remove wicks before melting, split the nubs with a knife in a hollow made on a piece of wood. The hollow prefents it from rolling without risking fingers; just take a 1/2" drill bit, and lay it on a chunk of 2x4.

One final question, what wick should I use? I am on candlewic.com but honestly have no idea.