Modern Geometric Candle Holders
Introduction: Modern Geometric Candle Holders
Wood prices have nearly tripled recently. This makes it the perfect time to hunt and scavenge for free materials. The wood for these candle holders was rescued from a construction site dumpster and turned into these modern geometric candleholders. They are fun to make and very fast and easy to batch out making them a very good product to sell. Back when local craft shows were a thing before the lock down these candle holders were one of my best selling products and would sell out almost immediately.
This project truly embodies the spirit of Trash to Treasure as I turned wood headed for a landfill into a product that customers loved and generates profit to fund future projects and tools.
Using a few basic tools found in most small garage woodshops, I will show you how to build a few of these Geometric Candle Holders of your very own.
If you would like a copy of the template I designed I have a link to it in the video description.
Supplies
2 x 3 Dimensional Lumber
Polycrylic Clear Matte
Tea Light Candles
Hot Glue
Making Tape
Sandpaper
3 inch Nails
Stryofoam Sheet
Color Spray Paint (optional)
Step 1: Getting Started
The wood for this project came from two, roughly four foot sections of 2x3's I found in a construction site dumpster. I spoke with the construction crew and asked if it would be ok to take a few pieces and they gave me the go ahead. I always ask before I take any material from construction sites just to be sure it's ok.
I started this project by printing and laminating a copy of the template I made. Laminating the template isn't required, but it does keep the template from ripping and tearing when using it multiple times. I've made hundreds of these candle holders using the same laminated template! With the template laminated I cut it out using a hobby knife.
Step 2: Cutting the Blanks
I marked out a line on my miter saw fence 8 inches away from the blade. Using a clamp and a scrap of wood I clamp it to my miter saw fence. This will allow me to butt up my wood to the stop block and make repeated cuts over and over again without having to measure every time.
I cut both 2x3's into 8 inch long blanks. 401
I was able to get 10 blanks out of both pieces with very little wood left over.
Step 3: Drilling the Holes
With the blanks cut to size I chose which face I wanted for the top. I tried to avoid any knots or major defects. Once I chose my top I lined the template up to the blank and transferred the center mark using a scratch awl. This left me with three impressions I will use at the drill press. I repeated this process until all of the blanks had marks on the tops.
With a 1 and 5/8ths inch forstner bit chucked up in my drill press I lined up the center of the bit with the marks I made and drilled three holes into each candle holder blank.
**Pro Tip**
Save those wood shavings! You can make so many cool things with them, like the Water Resistant Fire Starters I showed you how to make in a previous Instructable found here
https://www.instructables.com/Cheap-Water-Resistant-Fire-Starters/
Step 4: Creating the Facets
I set my miter saw fence to random degrees and cut the ends of the blanks into random angles. I switched the angle every two or so cuts as I wanted a lot of variation between the candle holders. To further randomize the angles I also tilted the blade to random angles. This process leaves the candle holders with really nice randomized facets on the ends.
Step 5: Cutting Randomized Side Profiles
Using the cut off scraps from the miter saw, I attached them to the bottom of the candle holders using masking tape. This will give me a random side profile when I run them through the bandsaw. When cutting the sides on the bandsaw, I kept constant downward pressure on the middle of the piece so that it wouldn't pivot under the pressure from the blade.
After cutting one side I removed the cut offs, mixed them up, reattached them to the candle holders, and cut the other side.
Alternatively you could tilt the table on your bandsaw, but I like how random the cuts turn out using the cut off method.
Step 6: Sand the Pieces Smooth
I use my belt sander to remove all of the band saw marks and sand the pieces smooth. To sand the faceted ends I used the disc sander attached to my belt sander and adjusted the angle to match the angle of the facet. 599