Years ago I tried my hand at candle making- got a dipping vat, molds, the whole nine yards. I was primarily interested in making pillar candles 2-3 inches diameter. But I lost interest because I got discouraged at the inconsistent results: they would either have huge towering flames, or the flame would shrink to nothing, or the edge would melt away and spill wax everywhere, or the flame would dig a pit three inches down leaving a huge rim- all with the same thickness wick and same candle diameter.
Recently I had occasion to pull out and light some pillar candles I had left over, and somehow it dawned on me what I’d been doing wrong: I didn’t know that wax isn’t all the same hardness. I’d been using stearin-hardened paraffin meant for narrow tapers to make pillar candles. Or recycled soft-wax votive candles. Or remnants of store-bought pillars that unbeknownst to me had a hard plastic outer shell that when melted down resulted in almost unburnable wax. No wonder my results were all over the map.
So I’d like to give it a try again. I could pick up any amount of used garage-sale candles for cheap, but then I’d have to know if they’re right for the diameter candles I want to make, and add either softening or hardening agents as needed. Short of buying graded wax from a supply house, how can I test the hardness/ melting point of waxes from unknown sources?