Six-Candle Centerpiece
Cabin Living|November 2017

You can build this candle stand in just a few hours using pieces from the scrap bin and a few simple table saw techniques.

Six-Candle Centerpiece

Making a candle stand is a great way to use small, prized pieces of figured or exotic wood. The one shown in the photo above is a good example. It gave me the opportunity to combine a nice piece of maple I’d been saving with some shorter cutoffs of cocobolo. And small projects like this also offer a great chance to showcase your joinery and finishing skills. It will get a lot of scrutiny because it invites close inspection, so it requires a lot of attention to detail.

Don’t get me wrong, making this centerpiece doesn’t involve complicated joinery or construction techniques. But it’s the kind of project where even the smallest details – like sanding the end grain of the feet until it’s almost polished – are very noticeable. And spending a little extra time sanding the finish between coats to get a perfectly smooth surface will also make a big difference. The result will be a welcome addition to any home.

MAKING THE FEET

One of the notable things about this project is its simplicity. It’s just a base drilled to accept six glass candle holders with four contrasting hardwood feet.

As you can see in the drawings at right, the feet have a 1 1 ⁄ 2 -inch wide dado, so you’ll need to cut it in two passes at the table saw (details C and D). Later, you can plane the blank for the base to fit the dadoes.

CUT THE DADOES.

To make the dado cuts in the feet, I started with a couple of long blanks. This way, you’ll have plenty to hold on to when using the miter gauge to guide the workpiece.

This story is from the November 2017 edition of Cabin Living.

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This story is from the November 2017 edition of Cabin Living.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.