Making Beeswax Candles at Jas Townsend and Son 

+Bookhardtsbooks Thanks for the suggestion!

Same :)

Allthought they look like crap XD

Im under the impression that fat candles smoke alot...never made any, just what my grandma said

Von Fowler I think you are correct - beeswax burn bright and smokeless.

There are stories of starving people eating their tallow candles.

Tallow candles tend to smell bad and as such were rarely used by people who had money. Modern rendering techniques makes modern tallow less stinky.

Seeing that he didn't reply I will do my best to answer. I've made tallow dips. I used a home rendered tallow which was quite clean. The fat is much softer than beeswax hence that they were more for the lower classes, beeswax being the premium candle. They burn with less light. They do sputter no matter how clean the tallow. Some say they smell a bit but mine didn't. And most important is that they are more delicate given that they are made from a softer fat. Tallow is barely hard enough to make a candle from. I have not tried molding tallow candles. I have no idea whether that works. Now that I write this I wonder if folks made tallow dips reinforced with a little expensive beeswax. Seems to me that it would have been practical if they could afford some. It also occurs to me that it might not have been period but candles in a container would work great for tallow candles rather than tapers.

I worked someplace with beef tallow candles and they burnt amazingly no real issues and they were much slower burning then a lot of wax candles.

Kat Funk : There are different kinds of tallow. There is kidney fat and once that is purified it is dense and hard like wax. See the Pemican making videos on how to refine kidney fat.

avonleanne I just got my catalogue in the mail and I can't wait to order mine!

Yes I've been watching these out of sequence and he seems to jump back and forth between modern and traditional methods, or even combining them sometimes. I'm wondering if maybe these were originally meant as just instruction/helpful videos in relation to his products, and then developed into more of a historical information series? Not sure yet.

dowopdodge Thank you for your very kind comments. Most of the inexpensive candles in the 18th century were tallow candles - the equivalent of suet and were mentioned more than once being eaten by starving folks in the time period. Sweet, no not much, the vinegar was not as bad as you might think especially as in the time period sour flavors were more popular than today. -- Thank you for taking the time to watch all these videos and taking the time to comment.

You cannot convince me that John isn't Les Stroudin disguise. I can see through that hat

Yes that's what I thought. They look like twins .

Most vegetable oils will work just fine.

Dutchover basically the same thing

They probably just burned down their houses a lot.

yes, there was

That method while much more simpler in a vat of wax and a string to allow coatings to cool, is also more serial and lengthy in process in multiple dips and time to cool enough to allow re-dipping. Casting, takes more equipment and their necessary functions, but casting is a one time done process with no needed reapplications of the wax in methods of manufacture.

It's my understanding that the dipping method is how candles were made for centuries. I wonder when the first molded candles were made?

If you do not make the wax to hot, then the cooling will not take long and the coats that goes on every time you dip wil be more thick also.

Split molds ar a good solution too.

Better to get a second-hand one from a thrift store, but wax is basically an oil, so it can be cleaned out. Start by scraping out as much wax as you can, probably with a plastic knife so as not to damage the finish. Turn the pot on, empty, and let it heat up. Wipe out as much of the remaining wax as you can with paper towels. Now add a little water and a little detergent and scrub again (using something you can throw away). This should do the job, although you may want to repeat the process. To test, boil some water and pour it in. If wax forms on the surface as it cools, then I'm an idiot and you may need a new crockpot...

Andrew me I think tallow candles were FAR more common in this era. The problem is tallow candles stink and spit grease.

Garry Lycos I haven't tried it, sounds like it might work. If you give it a try I would love to hear about it.

yes but I wouldn't use zest or peelings, essential oil would be a lot better and the scent would be more uniformly spread out

Coyote Trail as long as there is material, do it.

This is many years after you asked, but you could definitely use beeswax pellets instead of solid blocks of beeswax. It’s just a different shape, as long as your pellets are also 100% beeswax. Hope this is helpful to someone else reading these comments.