Lard/wax blend for candle making?

I have some candle scraps and some old lard. I know I can melt the bits of candles to make more candle, and I know I can make fat candles. But has anyone successfully made candles blending these?

Hi, Melissa

It has been a long time since I made candles.  If I remember correctly, back then I bought what was sold at craft stores for making candles.

Here are some threads that might answer your question or give some helpful hints:

https://permies.com/t/285/Free-source-wax-candles-making

https://permies.com/t/134750/permaculture-home-care-cleaning/purity/place-buy-cotton-wicks-beeswax

Have you tried making some yet? Very curious if it works or not. (there's going to be leftover lard after next week's tamales)

I haven't tried it yet, but I see some beeswax/tallow blend candles for sale on Etsy. I will try making some container candles with my old lard and candle scrap, starting with a 50/50 blend, and I'll report back.

I have lard left over from buying a half hog a few years ago, and I'm getting another half hog in a few weeks, so I have to make pantry room for rendering my fresh lard. I think the message here is that I need to step up my dietary consumption of lard.

This is my "control" candle, for reference:

Half and half lard and fresh wax, by weight. This one has been burning about 1 hour, and doesn't smoke. I used a few drops of scent to cover the lard smell, but its burn odor is neutral.

The wax I used for the control is Aztec 4625.

The next candle was made with the leftover candle scraps and a little less lard, but I've not lit it yet. It looks fine but I'll have no idea what the wax content is.

Looks great. Today happens to be tamale day. Good weather to clean some beeswax too. Going to give this a try.

I'm almost out of scrap candle, almost out of containers (without getting into the canning jars), and still have 3 pints of lard. But I'm happy so far with the process. These harden about like you'd think they would, harder than lard but softer than most container candles. I'm not weighing the lard and wax anymore, since I don't know what's in the candle scraps anyway, but just eyeballing an approximately half and half mix.