How we make Beeswax Pillars at the Farm

Click on any picture to enlarge it

Making any beeswax candle starts with the wick. We use only cotton wicks in all of our beeswax pillars. The size varies depending on the width of the pillar. The wick is fed through a hole in the bottom of the mold and secured with a small screw. The screw is then sealed to keep the beeswax from leaking.

The top of the beeswax pillar wick is secured using a wooden dowel. This keeps the wick centered and straight.

Our cooling tank is very important for making our beeswax pillars. It is a 55 gallon remodeled steel barrel, filled with sand, and with special heaters around it so we can carefully control the cooling temperature. The most important thing in making beeswax pillars is for them to cool as slowly as possible.

To keep the wax from cooling too quickly the molds are pre-heated with a heat gun. They are then filled with 180 degree beeswax. The sand below the molds will catch any spilled or leaking beeswax. It also allows us to re-position and level the beeswax pillars if necessary.

After pouring the beeswax pillars, we again use the heat gun to keep the sides and bottoms from cooling too fast.

After about 12 hrs in the cooling tank (set at about 130 degrees) the wooden dowels holding the wicks are removed. There is usually a hole in the center of the beeswax pillar caused by shrinkage. These are carefully topped up with hot beeswax. Sometimes the heat gun is again used to "feather" in the solid wax with the melted beeswax.

If the beeswax pillars do not cool slowly enough they will have large cracks in them and they will have to be re-made.

The picture on the left are beeswax pillars after being topped up with fresh beeswax, feathered with the heat gun, but not completely cool yet. At this point the cooling tank is now turned down to about 100 degrees to allow the beeswax pillar to completely cool.

The center picture is a beeswax pillar ready to be removed from it's tin mold. The screw and sealer are removed from the bottom and the beeswax pillar is jently pulled up.

The beeswax pillar is completely removed, the sides are polished with a cloth and it is packaged and ready to be shipped to you. Shown is one of our most popular, 3.5 inch wide x 6 inch tall pillars.