Candle Wick Size Chart

Every candle supplier publishes a wick chart. Almost none of them publish anyone else's, so you end up trusting whichever shop you happened to buy from. We have transcribed four of them here and put them in one table, with the publisher on every row and the wax each chart was calibrated against stated up front.

This is original work in the only sense that matters: nothing here is averaged, interpolated, or smoothed to make a tidy table. Where a chart has a gap, the gap stays. Where two publishers give different answers for the same jar, you see both.

Find your starting wick

Measure the inside diameter of your container, not the outside, and not the capacity in ounces. A 10-ounce jar can be 2.5 inches across and tall, or 3.5 inches across and squat, and those need different wicks.

The full cross-manufacturer table

Every row below is exactly as its publisher printed it. Metric figures are converted at 25.4 mm to the inch and the original is shown alongside, so you can check the arithmetic.

Where the charts disagree, and why

The disagreements are not errors. They come from three specific, documented differences in how the charts were built.

1. Paraffin-based charts versus soy-based charts

Lone Star publishes its CD, HTP, LX and zinc charts against base paraffin, with an explicit instruction to size up one to three for soy. Tools for Makers publishes its CD chart against soy directly. So Lone Star's CD-10 row (3.0 to 3.25 inches) and Tools for Makers' CD 16 row (3.0 to 3.5 inches) are describing the same jar with different waxes in it. Apply the size-up instruction to Lone Star's CD-10 and you land between CD-12 and CD-16, which is exactly where the soy chart already is.

2. The manufacturer's own chart is more conservative than the shops' charts

This is the most useful finding in the whole table. Wedo's ECO chart, published in millimeters, caps ECO 8 to 10 at 70 mm, which is 2.76 inches. The three US supplier charts all put ECO 10 at 3.0 to 3.25 inches. For a 3-inch jar that is a two-size gap: ECO 10 from the US shops, ECO 14 from the wick maker.

The likely reason is stated in Wedo's own chart notes: their ECO listing covers soy and paraffin together. A chart that has to be safe in both waxes has to be sized for the more demanding one. The US charts are soy-specific and can be less cautious.

3. Wooden wicks are the least settled category

The two published wooden wick charts disagree about soy by a full size. Lone Star caps a medium wooden wick at 2.25 inches in soy and allows 3.0 inches in paraffin. Tools for Makers puts a 0.5-inch ribbon at 2.5 to 3 inches regardless of wax, with a note that pure soy usually needs a booster or a double-ply construction.

Reading both together: a single-ply wooden wick in pure soy is marginal above about 2.5 inches, and the double-ply booster wicks exist precisely because of that. If you want the crackle in a 3-inch soy jar, buy the booster construction.

How to read a range

Some charts print a range (2.5 to 3 inches), some print only an upper bound (containers up to 3 inches). They mean the same thing in practice: take the smallest wick whose upper bound reaches your diameter. Ranges overlap deliberately, because the correct wick inside an overlap depends on your fragrance load and your wax, which no chart knows.

Top pick · 3 to 3.25 inch soy containers, on the US charts

ECO 10 Pre-Waxed Wicks for Soy Candles, 100 pcs

ECO series

ECO is the series whose charts are published for soy directly rather than adjusted from paraffin, which makes it the easiest series for a beginner to size correctly on the first try.

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Published specifications

Series

ECO, flat coreless cotton with paper filamentsSource: Amazon product listing, read 2026-09-02

Quantity

100 piecesSource: Amazon product listing, read 2026-09-02

Length

6 inches, pre-waxed with tabSource: Amazon product listing, read 2026-09-02

Published range (soy)

3.0 to 3.25 inch containersSource: Lone Star Candle Supply ECO soy chart

Alternative published range

up to 2.76 inchesSource: Wedo metric ECO chart

What that means

The two published ranges above disagree by nearly half an inch for the same wick, and both are printed by people who sell it. That is not an error on anyone's part; the US charts are soy-adjusted and the Wedo chart covers soy and paraffin together.

Practically: if you are in a 3-inch soy jar and you use the US charts, ECO 10 is the starting wick. If you use Wedo's, you want ECO 14 in the same jar. Test both.

The paper filaments in an ECO wick make it curl and self-trim, in the same way CD does. Both are coreless, so there is no metal or zinc in the flame.

Good

• Charts published for soy directly, not adjusted from paraffin
• Coreless and self-trimming
• The series most commonly stocked with soy kits

Less good

• Published guidance varies by up to two sizes between suppliers
• Needs a size up again in beeswax

Skip this one if

You are burning paraffin. The LX and zinc charts are the ones written for it, and an ECO sized for soy will be too large.

Pick 2 · Jars around 2.5 to 3 inches across

CD 12 Pre-Tabbed Candle Wicks for Soy Candles, 100 pcs

CD series

CD 12 is the size the published soy charts point to for a standard 3-inch jar, which is the jar most beginner kits ship. Buying the series by size rather than by assortment is how you actually control a burn.

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Published specifications

Series

CD, cotton and paper flat braidSource: Amazon product listing, read 2026-09-02

Quantity

100 piecesSource: Amazon product listing, read 2026-09-02

Length

6 inches, pre-tabbedSource: Amazon product listing, read 2026-09-02

Published range (soy)

2.5 to 3 inch containersSource: Tools for Makers CD soy chart

What that means

CD wicks curl as they burn, which trims the tip and reduces the mushroom of carbon that builds on a straight wick. That self-trimming behavior is the whole reason the series exists.

The published charts disagree on CD for soy by up to two sizes, because Lone Star prints CD against base paraffin and tells you to size up one to three for soy. Our chart shows both readings side by side.

Good

• One size, 100 of them, so you can run a proper burn test
• Self-trimming curl reduces mushrooming
• Pre-tabbed, so no assembly

Less good

• Wrong size for a 4-inch jar and wrong size for a votive
• CD in beeswax needs a different size again

Skip this one if

You do not yet know your container diameter. Measure the inside of the jar first, then buy the size the chart gives you.

Pick 3 · Small tins and 2 to 2.5 inch jars

ECO 4 Pre-Waxed Wicks for Soy Candles, 100 pcs

ECO series

The size for the 4-ounce tins that come in nearly every starter kit. Kits routinely ship one unnamed wick size for every container they include, and this is what those small tins actually wanted.

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Published specifications

Series

ECO, flat coreless cotton with paper filamentsSource: Amazon product listing, read 2026-09-02

Quantity

100 piecesSource: Amazon product listing, read 2026-09-02

Published range (soy)

2.0 to 2.5 inch containersSource: Lone Star Candle Supply ECO soy chart

What that means

A standard 4-ounce candle tin measures a little under 2.5 inches across the inside. That puts it squarely in the ECO 4 row on both US charts.

Small containers are where an oversized wick shows up fastest: the flame is large relative to the vessel, the glass gets hot, and the candle burns down in an evening.

Good

• Correct size for the ubiquitous 4-ounce tin
• Coreless
• 100 in a pack, enough for real testing

Less good

• Far too small for a standard 3-inch jar
• One size only

Skip this one if

Your containers are 3 inches or wider. Start at ECO 10 instead.

Pick 4 · The crackle, in a 2.5 to 3 inch jar

150 Piece Thickened Wooden Candle Wicks, 5.1 x 0.5 inch

Generic (Amazon listing)

Wooden wicks are bought for the sound, and they are the single hardest wick to size correctly in soy. The published charts disagree with each other by a full size on exactly this question.

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Published specifications

Dimensions

5.1 x 0.5 x 0.06 inchesSource: Amazon product listing, read 2026-09-02

Quantity

150 piecesSource: Amazon product listing, read 2026-09-02

Published range, 0.5 inch ribbon

2.5 to 3 inch containers, soy or paraffinSource: Tools for Makers wooden wick chart

Conflicting published guidance

Medium wooden wick rated to 2.25 inches in soy, 3.0 inches in paraffinSource: Lone Star Candle Supply wooden wick chart

What that means

Those two published figures cannot both be right for the same jar. One chart puts a half-inch wooden ribbon at up to 3 inches in soy; the other caps a comparable medium wick at 2.25 inches in soy and only allows 3 inches in paraffin.

The practical read: in pure soy, a wooden wick is likely to struggle in anything wider than about 2.5 inches without a booster. Buy the wick, but expect a burn test, and expect to need a second one.

Wooden wicks are also the wick most sensitive to fragrance load. A heavy oil load smothers them in a way it does not smother cotton.

Good

• The crackle, which no cotton wick produces
• 150 in a pack, which you will need for testing
• Dimensions published exactly

Less good

• Published sizing guidance conflicts by a full size in soy
• Struggles at high fragrance loads
• Needs a dedicated clip, not a standard wick tab

Skip this one if

You want a candle that works on the first pour. Wooden wicks in soy are the most test-hungry combination in this whole category.

The limit of this page

This chart gets you to a starting wick. It cannot finish the job. Fragrance load, dye, container shape and the specific wax blend all shift the result, and none of them appear in any published chart. You still have to burn one and watch the pool, and we cannot do that part for you.

Wick burn testing is the four-hour procedure that settles it, and it is genuinely the only thing that does. If your candle already exists and is misbehaving, wick too big or too small tells you which direction to move.