Candle Wick Size Chart and Calculator: Sizing Guide by Container Diameter for Soy Candles
How to pick a wick for a soy candle: the differences between ECO, CD, HTP, LX, and wood wicks, a size chart by container diameter, what else changes the answer, and a simple burn test that tells you whether your wick is too small or too big.
Published: Updated: 6 min readAuthor: Mikołaj Bukowski
The wick is the most underrated part of a candle. The same wax and the same fragrance with a wick one size too small gives a tunnel and weak scent; one size too big gives soot, a mushrooming tip, and glass too hot to touch. No chart can size a wick with certainty, but a chart lets you start your testing in the right place.
Wick types for soy candles
| Series | Construction | How it burns in soy | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| ECO | braided cotton with paper filaments, coreless | stable flame, little soot, slight curl | the most common choice for soy |
| CD (Stabilo) | braided cotton with a paper weave | strong flame, wide pool, handles fragrance well | good at 9-10% fragrance and with dye |
| HTP | cotton with paper filaments, stiff | strong, good in denser waxes | popular with US soy makers |
| CDN | CD variant for natural waxes | very close to CD, slightly hotter | good in coconut-soy blends |
| LX | flat braided cotton | better in paraffin, often too weak in soy | paraffin-soy blends |
| Wood | thin wooden strip, often doubled | crackles, flat wide flame | hard to size, needs the right wax |
Wick size chart by container diameter
| Container diameter | ECO | CD | HTP | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.75-2.25 in (45-55 mm) | ECO 4-6 | CD 6-8 | HTP 41-52 | tea lights, 2-3 oz tins |
| 2.25-2.5 in (55-65 mm) | ECO 8-10 | CD 10-12 | HTP 62-73 | 4-6 oz jars |
| 2.5-3 in (65-75 mm) | ECO 10-12 | CD 12-14 | HTP 83-93 | 8-9 oz jars |
| 3-3.25 in (75-85 mm) | ECO 12-14 | CD 16-18 | HTP 104-1212 | 12-14 oz jars |
| 3.25-4 in (85-100 mm) | ECO 14-16 | CD 20-22 | HTP 1312 | often better with 2 wicks |
| 4-5 in (100-130 mm) | 2 × ECO 8-10 | 2 × CD 10-12 | 2 × HTP 73-83 | wicks about 1/3 of the diameter from center |
Wick size calculator
Enter the inside diameter of your container. The calculator gives a size range for each wick series and tells you where to start the burn test.
Each wick covers about 2.75 in of diameter.
- ECO · Recommended range
- ECO 10-12
- Burn test: start with ECO 10 and ECO 12
- CD · Recommended range
- CD 12-14
- Burn test: start with CD 12 and CD 14
- HTP · Recommended range
- HTP 83-93
- Burn test: start with HTP 83 and HTP 93
- TCR · Recommended range
- TCR 21/12-24/14
- Burn test: start with TCR 21/12 and TCR 24/14
- Wood wick (strip width)
- 5/8" (16 mm)
- single or booster-ply strip; needs testing in soy even more than cotton
This is a starting point, not a verdict. Always burn-test two adjacent sizes: full melt pool after 2-3 hours, about 1/2 in deep, a calm 1-1.25 in flame.
The Complete Wavemade Guide to Natural Candle Making
This guide covers the fundamentals. The ebook has 9 chapters: recipes for specific containers, wick tables, a burn-test protocol and step-by-step troubleshooting.
What changes the answer besides diameter
- Fragrance oil. More oil means a bigger wick. Heavy oils (vanilla, woods, gourmand) load the wick more than light citrus.
- Dye. Any dye clogs the wick a little. Heavily colored candles need a size up.
- Wax type. Soy-coconut blends melt more easily and need a smaller wick than pure soy. Pillar soy wax is harder and needs a bigger one.
- Container height. In tall, narrow containers the flame near the bottom gets less oxygen. Sometimes you go down a size to stop sooting, or pick a shorter container.
- Container shape. A container that narrows at the top needs a wick sized for its widest point.
The burn test: checking whether the wick fits
Make 2-3 candles with the same wax and fragrance, differing only in wick size. After 14 days of cure, light them side by side and watch for 3-4 hours, noting every hour what is happening.
| What you see | Diagnosis |
|---|---|
| After 3-4 h the pool has not reached the walls, a ring of wax remains | wick too small: go up a size |
| Full pool after 2-3 h, about 1/2 in deep, flame 1-1.25 in, steady | wick is right |
| Full pool after 1 h, deeper than 3/4 in, tall dancing flame | wick too big: go down a size |
| Mushroom (carbon ball) on the tip, black smoke | wick too big or too much fragrance |
| Tiny flame, candle goes out, wax floods the wick | wick too small, or the wick sank (glue, poor mounting) |
| Glass too hot to touch below the melt pool | wick too big for this container |
Wood wicks in soy candles
A wood wick gives a lovely crackling-fireplace effect but is harder to work with. In pure soy wax it often goes out, because the wax does not reach the narrow strip fast enough. It works best in soy-coconut blends, with the wick width matched to the container (usually 1/2 to 5/8 inch for a 3 inch jar) and trimmed to 1/8 to 3/16 inch before every burn. If you are just starting, master cotton wicks first.
Wood wicks need a different approach to sizing, trimming and priming than cotton. The full method is in our guide to wooden wick soy candles.
Two and three wicks
A container wider than 3.5-4 inches rarely works well with one wick: either the pool never reaches the edge or the flame is so big it overheats the glass. Place two wicks symmetrically, each halfway between the center and the wall. For three wicks use a triangle. Size each wick as if for a container half the real diameter.
Mounting the wick
- Stick the tab to the exact center of the base with a wick sticker or a dab of hot glue. Ordinary glue and double-sided tape let go in the heat.
- Straighten the wick and hold it lightly taut in the centering tool so it stands perfectly vertical.
- After pouring, check it has not shifted. An off-center wick means an uneven pool and one overheated wall.
- Once set, trim to 1/4 inch. Trim again before every burn.
The other ratios (fragrance, dye, fill level) are in our soy candle wax ratio cheat sheet.
If the burn test shows a pool that never reaches the walls, the wick is too small and the candle will tunnel. Here is how to fix candle tunneling on candles you have already poured.
Frequently asked questions
What size wick for an 8 oz soy candle?
A typical 8 oz jar is 2.5-3 inches across. The starting point is ECO 10-12, CD 12-14, or HTP 83-93. With 8-10% fragrance start with the larger of the pair and confirm with a burn test.
Why does the wick in my soy candle keep going out?
Most often it is too small for the container and drowns in the melted wax. Other causes: a wick left too long that bends over, too much fragrance or dye, and a tall narrow container where the flame runs short of oxygen.
Can I use paraffin wicks in soy wax?
Not always. Soy wax is denser and needs stronger wicks: the ECO, CD, and HTP series are designed for vegetable waxes. LX and thin braided wicks often turn out too weak in soy.
Can I choose a wick without a burn test?
The chart gets it right most of the time, but every combination of wax, fragrance, and container behaves a little differently. A burn test with two adjacent sizes takes one afternoon and saves many failed batches.
Sources
The Complete Wavemade Guide to Natural Candle Making
9 chapters of tested recipes and troubleshooting techniques - instant digital download, lifetime access to updates.
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