I found a recipe in BACK TO BASICS, an old edition that has the recipe for wicks. cotton thread/yard,, boric acid and other things to boil it in,, then its supposed to work for wicks. Anyone try this, know of anything like it? Even HEARD of it?

-- Stan (sopal@net-pert.com), October 26, 2002

Answers

Yes, Stan my grandmother had made mention of how she,and other family menbers made there own wicks. Back in the 1800's I was very young when she had told me I remember the cotton thread/yarn, but i do not remember the boric acid or the other ingreadance in it. Remember i was very young at that time. You wont know if it works untill you try it. If you dont mind I would greatly appreciate it if you could e- mail me the old edition that has the recipe for wicks. Thank you

-- Sandra L Lhunt (rshunt11@aol.com), October 27, 2002.

Ill dig it back out, and post it in the next couple of days. During research,,, I found out that wicks for tallow candles, where nothing more than string/yarn, inpregnated with more tallow. Thats what I tried with the first wicks for beeswax,,didnt work. ONly guess is that beeswax burns hotter, and without somehting to slow down the burn of the wick, it burns out. where tallow would work, since it melts at a lower point

-- Stan (sopal@net-pert.com), October 27, 2002.

NOT boric acid! borax!

You can use cotton string. Braid in two or more strands, soak in a solution of 2 Tablespoons salt, 8 ozs. water and 2 Tablespoons borax. Allow to dry completely.

-- Mike Leonard (kerjava@netscape.net), June 30, 2004.