Candle Holder. Warning: lousy photos!

[Dave Richards]

Here are some photos of the candle holder to which I alluded in a thread in the finishing forum. The photos aren't my best work. I was trying to take the photos and fend off my 20 month old son who wanted to look at the lights. :p

It didn't help that I was photographing this thing on an old cherry table.

The holder is padauk and walnut. I cut a shallow cove down the center of the padauk with the tablesaw. The ends were rounded with the router in the table. Edges eased with a round over bit and then worked with spokeshave, rasp and blockplane. recess were done with a Forstner bit.

The walnut comes in as the foot of the holder. Being so dark and much narrower than the tray, it makes the padauk appear to float about an inch off the table.
http://hamiltonwoodworks.com/drichards/Misc/Candle%20Holder/thumbnails/dsc02639.jpg (http://hamiltonwoodworks.com/drichards/Misc/Candle%20Holder/images/dsc02642.jpg)

http://hamiltonwoodworks.com/drichards/Misc/Candle%20Holder/thumbnails/dsc02626.jpg (http://hamiltonwoodworks.com/drichards/Misc/Candle%20Holder/images/dsc02626.jpg)

Although that's probably enough photos, there are more at this link. (http://hamiltonwoodworks.com/drichards/Misc/Candle%20Holder/)

[Glenn Clabo]

Nice Dave...gives me an idea for our big coffee table after all the Christmas stuff is put away.

So...fending off a 20 mo old and taking pictures eh? Maybe someone is just used to the camera being pointed at him?

[Tyler Howell]

Nice stuff as always. Dave. Happy Holidays

[Jay Knoll]

That is a great job! Like the way the darker wood makes it "float"

[Jason Tuinstra]

Dave, it turned out very nice. Nice form and shape.

[Howie French]

That is real nice Dave. I really like the floating effect as well.
My wife would like this.

Howie

[Dave Richards]

Thank you to all for the nice comments.

Glenn, Ian does seem to be pretty used to the camera and now he's at that age where he makes a goofy face when you tell him to smile.

Howie, if my sister in law doesn't like it, I'll send it to your wife. ;)

Actually, if anyone wants me to make a dimensioned drawing of it, I could measure it up before I wrap it. There's no plan drawn already because I was making it up as I went along.

[Vaughn McMillan]

Looks real cool Dave, and ditto all the "floating" comments. Great effect.

- Vaughn

[Ken Robb]

Dave,

Some dimensions would be great for us less than creative WW.

Thanks in advance,

Ken

[Rich Konopka]

Dave,

That is real nice. It looks like it is floating. It make a great centerpiece for table.

[Dave Richards]

Ken, here's a quick drawing of the candle holder and some details.

1. The coving was done on the tablesaw between two parallel fences set 90° to the blade. I set the fences so the cut was slightly off center--about 1/2". I made two passes at each blade height setting but turned the board end for end between passes. This resulted in a wider cove than I'd have gotten with a single pass. It was quick work with a sander to remove the little ridge down the center. Make very shallow passes and don't feed the wood very fast. The total depth of the cove is about 1/4" to 3/8".

2. The end radii on both pieces were done on the router table. I located the center of the arc on the wood. (Bottom of the upper piece, top of the foot.) I drove a small brad into the center point and nipped off the head.

I clamped a large piece of 1/2" MDF on my router table. There is an opening to allow access to the lift driving socket. I slowly raised a sprial straight bit up through the MDF. From the side of the bit, I measured out the radius of the arc and with another brad chucked into the drill, I drilled a hole to receive the brad I stuck in the board. (Does that make sense?)

Fianlly, I lowered the bit, placed the board and made shallow passes until I cut all the way through the board.

3. The edges of the top piece were eased with a smaller round over bit and worked to shape with hand tools.

4. The recesses for the tea light candles were drilled with a Forstner bit. The leave about a 1/4" of material in the bottom. The two on the ends are centered on the end arcs the others are spaced evenly in between.

5. I left the brads in the pivot points of the foot because they line up with the holes in the top piece. They made it easy to register the two pieces when I glued them together.

6. I glued a piece of cork to the bottom of the foot and trimmed to to size.

I hope all that makes sense and that you can read the dimensions on the drawing. If you need clarification or want a larger version of the drawing, PM me.