Candle Wick Series Guide

The published size ladders for every common wick series, what each one is built from, and which wax it suits. If you want the tool to do this for you, use the wick calculator.

Read this before you buy wicks.

Wick charts are starting points for burn testing, never a final answer. Wick performance changes with your specific wax lot, fragrance oil, dye, vessel material and room conditions. Always burn-test a finished candle before selling or gifting it.

Reading these charts

The most important thing to know before you use any wick chart: they are not all measured against the same wax. The CD, LX, HTP and zinc ladders below are published against a paraffin baseline. The ECO ladder is published against soy.

That means if you pour soy and read a CD chart directly, you will under-wick — soy is more viscous and needs a larger wick at the same diameter. Sources put the difference at one to three sizes. The calculator handles the conversion; if you are working from the raw tables here, you have to do it yourself.

All of these ranges also assume a fragrance load around 6–8% and no dye. Above roughly 8%, or with heavy dark pigment, size up one to two steps.

CD series

Construction: Coreless flat-braid cotton with interwoven paper filament
Best for: Container soy, coconut-soy blends, single-pour paraffin
Self-trimming: Yes
Chart baseline: Paraffin

Non-directional and rigid thanks to the paper filament, which makes it the default choice for viscous waxes. Primed at a higher melt temperature (212 °F) than zinc- or paper-core wicks. Widely stocked and the most commonly recommended series for container soy.

CD wick sizes and published diameter ranges
Size	Container diameter
`CD-4`	1.25″ – 1.75″
`CD-5`	1.75″ – 2″
`CD-6`	2″ – 2.25″
`CD-7`	2.25″ – 2.5″
`CD-8`	2.5″ – 3″
`CD-10`	3″ – 3.25″
`CD-12`	3.25″ – 3.5″
`CD-14`	3.5″ – 3.75″
`CD-16`	3.75″ – 4″
`CD-18`	4″ – 4.25″
`CD-20`	4.25″ – 4.5″
`CD-22`	4.5″ – 4.75″

ECO series

Construction: Coreless flat cotton with interwoven thin paper filaments
Best for: Natural waxes — soy, coconut-soy, beeswax
Self-trimming: Yes
Chart baseline: Soy

Braided for controlled curling, which keeps it self-trimming and reduces mushrooming and soot. Primed with vegetable wax, so candles using it can be labelled all-natural. Sources disagree slightly on its ideal wax — most treat it as a strong natural-wax option, one rates it best in paraffin.

ECO wick sizes and published diameter ranges
Size	Container diameter
`ECO-1`	1.25″ – 1.5″
`ECO-2`	1.5″ – 2″
`ECO-4`	2″ – 2.5″
`ECO-6`	2.5″ – 2.75″
`ECO-8`	2.75″ – 3″
`ECO-10`	3″ – 3.25″
`ECO-12`	3.25″ – 3.5″
`ECO-14`	3.5″ – 3.75″
`ECO-16`	3.75″ – 4″

LX series

Construction: Coreless flat-braid cotton, stabilising threads
Best for: Paraffin and parasoy; workable in soy when sized up
Self-trimming: Yes
Chart baseline: Paraffin

A very fine-grained ladder — more sizes across the same diameter span than any other series — which makes it useful when you are dialling in a candle that is close but not quite right. Curls in the flame to self-trim.

LX wick sizes and published diameter ranges
Size	Container diameter
`LX-8`	1.25″ – 1.5″
`LX-10`	1.5″ – 2″
`LX-12`	2″ – 2.25″
`LX-14`	2.25″ – 2.5″
`LX-16`	2.5″ – 3″
`LX-18`	3″ – 3.25″
`LX-20`	3.25″ – 3.5″
`LX-21`	3.5″ – 3.75″
`LX-22`	3.75″ – 4″
`LX-24`	4″ – 4.25″
`LX-26`	4.25″ – 4.5″
`LX-28`	4.5″ – 4.75″
`LX-30`	4.75″ – 5″

HTP series

Construction: Coreless cotton flat braid with paper filament
Best for: Paraffin and soy containers, especially taller vessels
Self-trimming: Yes
Chart baseline: Paraffin

A high-tension paper wick that holds a rigid posture while burning. Versatile across paraffin and soy, and self-trimming. Note the ladder jumps in wider steps at the top end than CD or LX.

HTP wick sizes and published diameter ranges
Size	Container diameter
`HTP-41`	2″ – 2.25″
`HTP-52`	2.25″ – 2.5″
`HTP-62`	2.5″ – 2.75″
`HTP-73`	2.75″ – 3″
`HTP-83`	3″ – 3.5″
`HTP-104`	3.5″ – 4″
`HTP-105`	4″ – 4.5″
`HTP-1212`	4.5″ – 5″

Gap at 1″–2″: HTP-31 exists but no supplier in our sources publishes a diameter range for it, so it is omitted rather than guessed.

Zinc Core series

Construction: Braided cotton around a zinc core
Best for: Paraffin containers, votives and tealights
Self-trimming: No — trim before every burn
Chart baseline: Paraffin

The rigid core keeps the wick upright in the melt pool, which suits wide or deep containers. Falling out of favour with makers who want an all-natural label. Our sources publish diameter ranges for only three sizes, so coverage here is thinner than the other series.

Zinc Core wick sizes and published diameter ranges
Size	Container diameter
`44-24-18`	2″ – 2.25″
`51-32-18`	3″ – 3.5″
`60-44-18`	3.5″ – 4″

Gap at 2.25″–3″: Several zinc sizes exist in this span (36-24-18Z, 44-32-18Z) but no source in our set publishes their diameter ranges. Omitted rather than interpolated.

Wooden series

Construction: Flat or crackling wood strip in a metal base clip
Best for: Paraffin and parasoy; use thicker plies for pure soy
Self-trimming: No — trim before every burn

Chosen for the crackle and the look rather than for burn performance. Sizing works differently from braided wicks: suppliers publish a maximum diameter per wax type instead of a ladder of ranges. Single-ply wooden wicks often fail to hold a full melt pool in 100% soy.

Wooden wick maximum diameters by wax type
Size	Max diameter, soy	Max diameter, paraffin
`Small`	Not recommended	up to 2.25″
`Medium`	up to 2.25″	up to 3″
`Large`	up to 3.25″	up to 3.25″
`X-Large`	up to 3.5″	up to 3.75″

Wooden wicks are sized by a maximum diameter per wax rather than by a ladder of ranges, which is why this table looks different from the others.

Wax adjustments

How each wax moves you along the ladder, relative to a soy-calibrated chart:

Wax	Melt point	Adjustment vs soy	Typical fragrance load
Golden Brands 464 Soy	113–119 °F	baseline	6–10% (max 10%)
Golden Brands 444 Soy	119–125 °F	+1 size	6–10% (max 10%)
Coconut-Soy Blend	120–125 °F	baseline	6–10% (max 12%)
Parasoy Blend	125–135 °F	-1 size	6–10% (max 10%)
Paraffin	125–150 °F	-2 sizes	6–10% (max 12%)
Beeswax	144–149 °F	+2 sizes	3–6% (max 6%)

When to use more than one wick

Past 4″ in diameter, a single wick cannot carry a clean melt pool across the full width. Going up a size does not fix it — you get a hotter, taller flame and a vessel that overheats, while the outer ring of wax still never melts. Use two wicks spaced evenly instead.

How to test the candidates

The calculator narrows you to two or three wicks. The burn test is what chooses between them — there is no way to skip it.

What you are aiming for: Full melt pool reaching the container wall in 2–4 hours, roughly 1/4"–1/2" deep, with a stable flame and a vessel you can comfortably hold.

Step 1
Cure before you test
Let the candles sit at least 24 hours, and ideally a week for soy, before the first burn. Testing a candle that has not cured tells you about a candle nobody will ever light.
Step 2
Make one candle per candidate wick
Same wax, same fragrance, same vessel, same pour temperature. The wick has to be the only thing that differs, or you learn nothing about the wick. Label the bottom of each vessel.
Step 3
Trim to 1/4 inch
Trim before every burn, including the first. An untrimmed wick mushrooms, soots, and will make a correctly sized wick look over-sized.
Step 4
Burn 3 to 4 hours and watch the melt pool
The melt pool should reach the container wall within two to four hours and sit roughly 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep. Reaching the wall much faster means the wick is too large; not reaching it at all means too small.
Step 5
Check the vessel temperature
The outside of the container should be warm but safe to pick up. If you cannot hold it comfortably, the wick is too large regardless of how good the melt pool looks.
Step 6
Repeat for the full burn
Wick behaviour changes as the wax level drops and the flame sits deeper in the vessel. A wick that is perfect on burn one can drown or overheat on burn five. Test the candle all the way down.

Reading the results

Burn test symptoms and what they mean for wick size
What you see	Verdict	What to do
Melt pool never reaches the wall; a ring of unmelted wax remains	Too small	Size up. This is tunnelling, and it only gets worse as the candle burns down.
Flame drowns in its own melt pool and self-extinguishes	Too small	Size up. The wick cannot draw enough fuel to sustain itself.
Little or no scent when burning	Too small	Size up. Hot throw depends on melt pool surface area, so a small pool throws weakly even at a high fragrance load.
Tall, flickering, or dancing flame	Too large	Size down. An unstable flame is drawing more fuel than it can cleanly burn.
Visible soot, or black marks up the inside of the vessel	Too large	Size down — but first confirm you trimmed to 1/4 inch, since an untrimmed wick soots at any size.
Container too hot to hold comfortably	Too large	Size down. This is a safety failure even if the melt pool looks correct.
Melt pool deeper than about 1/2 inch	Too large	Size down. Deep pools overheat the vessel and burn the candle down faster than it should.

Where these numbers come from

CD, LX, HTP and zinc ranges are published against a paraffin baseline; ECO is published against soy. The engine converts between the two using the documented one-to-three-step soy offset, and both source datasets agree at the overlap.

Lone Star Candle Supply — Guide to Wicking
Per-size diameter ranges for the CD, ECO, LX, HTP and zinc-core series, plus wooden wick maxima by wax type.
Tools for Makers — Candle Wick Size Chart
Soy-calibrated cross-checks for CD/ECO/LX, fragrance-load and dye adjustment rules, beeswax and coconut-soy offsets, double-wick threshold.
Armatage Candle Company — How To Choose A Candle Wick
Soy-calibrated CD sizing by wax grade (464 / 444), double-wicking guidance, wick-failure symptoms.
The Flaming Candle — Wick Guide
Wick series construction and composition, full size rosters, wax-type suitability notes.