I made these candle holders from wood outta this guy's => truck. There was a sign next to the wood that said "Free, Free". Not sure why. Extra free, I guess. Hence, Free, Free Log Candle Holders.Oddly, these are the places I get my inspiration.
You can't tell from the picture on the left, but these have a fantastic, colorful design in the wood grain, as can be seen in the picture below.
These were a snap to build. I used my miter saw to cut them in 3", 5", and 6" lengths. Then I used a 1" Forsner bit in my drill press to drill the holes for the tea lights.We'll be using these as decorations for our wedding so I'll need many more. However, I have got to let the wood dry out before drilling the holes again. The wood is very green and sappy (but affectionate). This made the wood chips very sticky and they got stuck all over my helper monkey's arm.
This also made it very slow and difficult to drill with the Forsner bit. The bit got so hot that I couldn't touch it with gloves on. That's a good way to dull a good bit, and Forsner's aren't cheap!
I love these! They are Perfect! :D
ReplyDeleteThese are really nice! They'll be great decorations.
ReplyDeleteI have some aspen logs that I was looking to do exactly this with! Would you say there is any kind of treatment/varnish I should use on the logs? Or do they keep looking nice for a while?
ReplyDeleteThese dried out quickly and lost that nice color, became pretty monotone. I would definitely recommend some sort of treatment. I only used these for my wedding, so I didn't mess with them after that. So, what kind of treatment, I'm not sure. Certainly non-flammable. :) I would just experiment and see what works best. I used to be a luthier's apprentice and we used some lacquers that would keep that wet wood look, and with a lot of wet sanding and buffing you can achieve an almost mirror-like finish as well.
Delete