Saving a pillar candle

 how many times have you bought a pillar candle with Great Expectations. Only to have those expectations dashed upon the rocks of disappointment as you throw a 15 to $40 candle into the trash. Why, because the wick burns down too quickly into a tiny little hole and then basically puts itself out in the wax. well let's reignite that flame of hope.

Get the following items from Dollar Tree. It's a cheap chain of stores in America. A box of stick matches, a ball of cotton string, and a regular wax candle. Pictures below. This is a little more expensive but get a 13/64" drill bit and either vice grips or a manual or electric drill. Wax is soft so it's easy to drill by hand.

This whole box of drill bits was $10. A Christmas special.

Now the vice grips. Going hi-tech on this.

Lay out the match and string side-by-side. It is a good idea to glue them together with white school glue, but not required.

Drill a hole beside the wick in the candle. Hook one end of the string over the end of the match opposite the head and push that end into the hole. Leave the head of the match about 1/4"above the wax. The string should be about 1 inch out of the hole also.

Light the regular candle you bought and drip wax onto the head of the match and saturate the string. Keep dripping until there is a small pool of wax around the match and string. The match and string will burn together. First let the wax cool. Now light the new wick. The match will flare up when it ignites, but will continue burning with the string. Repeat this process when the new wick completely burns down. Once you do it, it is pretty easy. On a typical pillar candle you will insert a match twice.

If you look closely at this picture you can see the string and match both burning. Notice the flame is a little bigger than normal, but I like that.