How Much Fragrance Oil Per Pound of Wax?

Start with 1 ounce of fragrance oil per pound of wax. Candlewic calls that a common starting point, and Lone Star says typical loads run 0.5 to 2 ounces per pound, with 1 ounce per pound the most common. One ounce per pound is 1 / 16 = 6.25 percent of the wax weight. Both numbers are ounces by weight, not fluid ounces, so use a scale. The most your wax can hold is on its tech sheet, and a burn test in your jar is what tells you if the load works.

How do ounces per pound convert to a percent?

Divide the ounces of oil by 16 (the ounces in a pound) and multiply by 100. Going the other way, multiply the percent by 0.16.

Check one row: 8 x 0.16 = 1.28 oz per pound. And 1.28 / 16 = 0.08, which is 8 percent.

What do suppliers say is a typical load?

NorthWood lists ranges as a percent of wax weight: soy 6 to 10 percent (8 is its sweet spot), paraffin 6 to 12, coconut 8 to 12, beeswax 3 to 6, and blends in between. In ounces per pound that is 0.96 to 1.6 for soy and 0.48 to 0.96 for beeswax. Treat these as a starting range. NorthWood also says to check your wax brand's maximum and the fragrance oil's IFRA usage rate. Your wax's own tech sheet is the final word. More oil is not always better, and our guide on the maximum load covers what goes wrong past it.

Worked example: 5 pounds of wax

Say you melt 5 lb (2.27 kg) of wax and want 8 percent. All numbers are examples.

• Oil: 5 x 1.28 = 6.4 oz
• In grams: 2,268 g x 0.08 = 181 g (check: 6.4 x 28.35 = 181 g)
• At the 1 oz per pound starting point, you would use 5 oz (142 g), which is 5 / 80 = 6.25 percent

The gap between 6.25 and 8 percent on this batch is 1.4 oz (40 g) of oil. If your oil costs $1.20 an ounce (an example price), that is 1.4 x 1.20 = $1.68 on the whole batch. The oil cost is small here, so let the burn test decide: pour both loads in your jar and compare.

Does the load change the wick?

Yes. CandleScience says to go up one or two wick sizes if you use more than 1 ounce of oil per pound of wax (28 g per 454 g), or a dense oil, and down one or two sizes when you use less. A load change means a new burn test.

Common mistakes

• Measuring fragrance oil in fluid ounces or cups. Weigh it.
• Mixing up ounces per pound and percent.
• Using a total weight when your source meant the wax weight (see our guide on that).
• Adding more oil to fix a weak smell. See our hot throw guide.
• Using the same load for every oil. Midwest Fragrance says dense, heavy oils can throw better at lower loads.
• Going over the wax maker's limit.

Questions

Is 2 ounces per pound too much?

It is 12.5 percent, which is just over the 12 percent top of NorthWood's paraffin and coconut ranges and well over the 10 percent it lists for soy. Check your wax's sheet, and do not go past what it says.

What is 1 ounce per pound in grams?

28 g of oil per 454 g of wax. For a round number, 62.5 g of oil per kilogram of wax.

Do I count the oil in the pound?

If a source says "per pound of wax", the pound is the wax alone, not wax plus oil. If you want a total batch weight, see our guide on percent of wax or total.