We love candles. The soft light flickering in the dark. It's so primitive and soothing to our souls. It's must have something to do with our basic instincts. And now we can make our candles special by turning a holder for them.
Candle holders can surround the candle like a tea light (enclosed in metal to protect from heating the wood and causing a fire) or lift the candle to make it stand out and project it's light.
Candle holders have been made that take all kinds of shapes and forms. They've waiting for your new design!
In this short descriptive tutorial, Lee shows us how he turns candle sticks. He starts by presenting a drawing for the candlesticks and then gives us a step-by-step description of the steps he uses to make these candlesticks.
The design is very traditional and may be a good place to start your candlestick making efforts. Once you've gotten a handle on how to make these, you can decide if you want to be creative and change the design or to embellish it.
This is a very interesting and unique design using 5 separate turned pieces. The center turned circle can be challenging so if you're a beginner, you might need help or an explanation on how to achieve this.
The work holding is the key. It might need to be put onto the lathe in 4 orientations in order to complete it. A set of cole jaws for your scroll chuck might be the easiest method.
Another in a collection of designs from the nation’s top woodturners.
Armed with a degree in woodworking and furniture design from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Mark Burhans headed for the lathe to put his knowledge and skills to work. Mark prefers Appalachian hardwoods, such as cherry and walnut, for his creations.
In this photo tutorial, Bob shows us how to cut a triangular turning blank and mount it on the lathe. From there, Bob starts his turning making a tenon for his chuck and proceeds to turn a wonderful tea light in a triangle shape with the 3 tips of the design touching, thereby raising the body of the turned piece above the table top.
This project is well photographed making a spatially challenging project simple! If you'd like to turn something different, this might be the project for you!
In this photo tutorial, Darrell shows how he uses a glue block to hold the turning blank. Then he turns the shape and embellishes it with a wire burner. Darrell then uses the jaws of his chuck to reverse chuck the tea light to complete the bottom. This is a fun, easy and fast project!
In this project, Nick Cook discusses how to turn tea lights. The initial shaping is easy and Nick discusses 2 alternatives to chucking top-turned tea lights to finish the bottoms.
In this short article, Alan explains the basic principles of turning an off-center candle holder. If you follow the directions, you will be able to turn designs similar to his diagram. Eccentric turning is not for the faint of heart (or early turners) but the designs are quite unusual!
This project was originally published in the Fall 1998 edition of American Woodturner. It shows how to design and turn a candle holder. Kevin even shows to make a small gauge which allows him to make duplicates of the design so that you can have matching candle holders. Lots of good learning is contained in this project!!
In this project, Rick uses a lathe roughed out turning blank and shows us how he layouts out the spirals. He then uses a custom drill press carriage to hold the stock while he roughs out the spiral using forstner bit on his drill press. Then it's back to the lathe for sanding and finishing.
In this project, Jon shows how he sets up to make a production run of 20 of these traditionally shaped candlesticks. They are made from 3 pieces and with some jigs to help with the process, they are good duplicates of each other, are easier and take less time to make.
In this YouTube video, Chris shows us how he turns candle holders on his lathe. He turns some nice coves with a spindle gouge and then cleans them up with a scraper. The laminations from the plywood laminations become visible as he starts sanding at a lower speed. The final result is a nice looking candle holder.
In this article, Nick tells us how he makes tea light holders. Nick is a famous production turner so his techniques and style are wonderful for beginners and the more experienced wood turner. These tea lights make wonderful gifts!
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