Is There a Free Candle Burn Test Sheet?

Yes, there are free ones, and I opened two of the PDFs. NorthWood offers a one-page candle testing note sheet, and CandleScience offers burn testing notecards. Both download straight from the maker's own page. Armatage offers a template too, but it asks you to join its newsletter, and I did not get that file. BatchLab's site has no downloadable sheet. Whichever you use, burn in sight and test in your own jar with your own wax and wick.

What free sheets can I download?

NorthWood: candle testing note sheet. A one-page PDF on NorthWood's blog, last reformatted in December 2022 per the page. I opened it. It has:

• Candle specs: wax type, wick type and size, fragrance used and percent, additives, container material and diameter
• Pouring notes: pour date, room temperature, wax heated to, fragrance added at, pour temperature, observations, cure time
• Four test blocks, each with date, time burned, room temperature, flame height, melt pool size and container temperature
• A line for other notes

NorthWood says the sheet can track four test burns once the candle cures, and that you can print as many as you like.

CandleScience: burn testing notecard. A one-page PDF linked from its burn test guide, which I also opened. Two cards fit on a page. Each card has fragrance, fragrance load percent, burn cycle number, date, wax, wick, container, diameter, dye color and amount, lines for hours 1 to 4, and notes. CandleScience says you can print them as labels for your jars.

Armatage Candle Company: burn test template. Its page says a downloadable PDF template is sent when you sign up for its free newsletter. It describes one data-entry section per candle, so print one for every candle tested. I did not sign up, so I have not seen the file.

Craftybase. It links a free inventory spreadsheet, but the page offers no dedicated burn-test log.

What is on BatchLab's site?

I checked BatchLab's public site files and found no burn test sheet to download. I am not promising one. What BatchLab has is a burn-test log inside the app, described below.

What do the free sheets leave out?

Compare them with the list in our burn test log guide. NorthWood's sheet has no line for soot or smoke, wick condition, or hot throw, though you can use the notes line. CandleScience's card has no separate boxes for flame height, melt pool or jar temperature, so those go in the hourly lines or notes. Neither asks for the hot throw scale or the lot of your wax. Add them by hand.

Worked example: how many pages do I print?

Say a candle burns about 30 hours, and you test in 4-hour sessions (see our guide on test length). All numbers are examples.

• Sessions: 30 / 4 = 7.5, so 8 sessions (the last one shorter)
• NorthWood sheet, four burns per sheet: 8 / 4 = 2 sheets per candle. For 3 candles: 2 x 3 = 6 sheets.
• CandleScience card, one burn cycle per card: 8 cards per candle. At two per page, 8 / 2 = 4 pages per candle. For 3 candles: 4 x 3 = 12 pages, which is 24 cards.

Can I make my own?

Yes. A page or a spreadsheet with one block per candle and one row per check works. Use the fields from our log guide: the recipe, wick and jar once at the top, then at each check the time lit, flame height, melt pool width and depth, wick, jar heat, soot and hot throw. The weak point of any home-made sheet is linking each row to the right recipe, so put a candle number on the sheet and on the jar.

Common mistakes

• Printing one sheet for several candles. The recipe and wick are different for each.
• Leaving off the cure date.
• Writing "fine" in the notes where a number belongs.
• Not labeling the jar to match the sheet. CandleScience suggests printing the card as a label.
• Using a sheet that does not match what you test. Add lines for what it lacks.
• Filing the sheet away from the recipe it belongs to.

Questions

Is the NorthWood sheet really free?

The page says it is, and the PDF downloaded for me without a sign-up. Check the page yourself, because offers change.

Does the Armatage template cost anything?

Its page says the newsletter is free and the template is sent after you join. I did not do that, so I cannot tell you what is in the file or what the newsletter sends.

Do I need a printed sheet at all?

No. A notebook works, and CandleScience says so too. What matters is writing numbers at each check, not the paper.