# February's Challenge, a Candlestick



## Blister (29 Jan 2011)

February's Challenge, a Candlestick 

Candlestick to be a minimum of 20cm 8” tall and a maximum of 41cm 16” tall 
( Excluding the candle ) 
. 
One item per entrant
.
No Tea lights 
.
No Candelabra 
.
No segmented work 
.
Any wood type
.
Any design 
Texturing / piercing / coloring / carving / burning / natural edge ALL allowed 
.
NO Critique or comments on any work until March Please, After the Judging and results.
.
Completed entry's ( 3 photos ) to be uploaded from 22nd Feb. up until 10pm on the 24th Feb, after this time the forum thread will be locked for Judging.
.
The Judge for February will be George Foweraker
.
The Judges decision is final
.
Please state item size, width and height and wood type if known and a little about how you made it and what finish you used ( this helps the judge )
.
Please post 3 images of your work 
1 side profile 
2 others showing close up details you want the judge to see
.
Image size please use image size 640 x 480 0.3 mp, same as January 
.
Can you PM me when you have your project ready so I can mark you off the list of entrants 

I look forward to seeing how creative we can be with this challenge.


----------



## Blister (29 Jan 2011)

Entrants list for February 2011
.
.
babylon355 
Blister 
Bodrighy 
callumlovatt
cambournepete
chill 
Chris357
Chrisp 
clk230 
como
Daven 
dennisk
DougieH 
duncanh
Dust Busker
Elaine 
gus3049 
Haldane 
Hudson Carpentry 
johnny.t. 
Jonzjob
liamscanlan
loz 
maltrout512
matmac
Melinda_dd 
miles_hot
monkeybiter
myturn
not_simple_si
Oakbear 
OldWood 
Paul.J
philb88
Pvt_Ryan
RATWOOD
RO
Silverbirch 
skeetoids
steve66
SVB
The Shark
TheTiddles
whacky
Wood spoiler


----------



## Hudson Carpentry (23 Feb 2011)

Made from Ash. 9" height by 1 1/2" wide at base. Roughed out using a 1/2" gouge then down to 1/4" gouge. The finer work and overall shape was done with the skew. The bowl gouge helped a little with the more cove curve. Sanded down to 240grit then burnished. 1 coat of Polyurethane satin varnish followed by a rub down with 0000 wire wool. Finished with 2 more coats of Satin PUV.


----------



## Paul.J (23 Feb 2011)

This is my first effort at turning a candlestick,and probably wouldn't have turned one hadn't it been for this comp  
I tried to make this one look as if the unevenly turned balls are balancing on top of each other,which i hope i've achieved??
As allen wanted to see a candle in the sticks i thought i would oblige by turning one from Pine with some nylon string as a flame  
The candlestick is turned from offcuts of Ash and Walnut,finished with Hard wax oil.
It measures 9-1/2" tall the stick by 2-1/2" dia balls.


----------



## DougieH (23 Feb 2011)

Sorry about the poor quality photos, cant seem to get them right. Lots of firsts on this one for me, but great fun making it.

The candlestick is made of oak, just under 10inches high without candle, base is 4.5inches diameter, the stem is just under 2inches diameter, made in 3 parts, base, stem and cup/saucer. Most of the base and top shaped with a 3/4in skew, rounded the stem, then drilled a 10mm hole through the stem, marked out the spiral, and sawed, rasped, filed and sanded them. Sanded to 400 grit, 2 coats of Rustin Button Polish to seal, then 2 coats of Black Bison Fine Paste Wax.

DougieH


----------



## TheTiddles (23 Feb 2011)

Ain't going to make this one, better luck next month.

Aidan

Curse you DIY.


----------



## dennisk (23 Feb 2011)

with my apologies to Mark Sfirri, I thought I would jump in with both feet and try my first candlestick with my first attempt at multi axis turning. I used a piece of scrap pine for a practice run and then glued up three pieces of yew I had rescued from a pile of firewood on Vancouver Island. This round slippery slope thing is very contagious. Finished with three coats of Danish oil and then polished with the Oneway buffing wheel system. It is 12" high and 3" in diameter at the base and 1 3/8" in diameter at the top. Turned on 3 different axis.


----------



## Jonzjob (23 Feb 2011)

Well for those who wondered what I was going to do with the piece of Russian Olive I posted earlier this month this is the adjacent piece. It was almost as misformed and fun to start! Roughed out with a 1" roughing gouge, detail with a 3/8th and 1/4" spindle gouge and the flutes cut with a 1/4" Forsner bit. Once again, the left hand thread was easier to do than the right.. Finished with Chestnut Hard Wax Oil and buffed with canaube wax. 9" high by 2 3/4" diameter base.


----------



## Wood spoiler (23 Feb 2011)

Hi All

This was made from 3 pieces of Oak. 

Measures 355mm Tall, 145 mm at base and 130 mm at the top. Main column 75mm

Main pillar turned to 75 mm with tenon top and bottom to set into top and bottom. Rebated on tob and bottom to give clean join line.

Finished with finnishing oil


----------



## spasm (23 Feb 2011)

This competition gave me the ideal chance to learn how to use the sorby spiraling cutter I had for Christmas, Candle stick length is 11” base 6 ½” top 3 ¼” both made out of mahogany, stem 2 ¼” made out of beach base and top were treated with food safe oil stem with hard wax oil.

Tools used was the Robert Sorby 6mm spiraling cutter 1” roughing gouge and ¾“skew to round base top and stem 3/8” bowl gouge to shape top and bottom, 1 1/4 “ forsner bit for tenon top and bottom candle rebate “hole” drilled with a 1 3/4 forsner bit.


----------



## loz (23 Feb 2011)

Hi,

!2 inches in height, Mahogany, finished with sanding sealer then carnuba. Obviously in two parts,


----------



## cambournepete (23 Feb 2011)

Here's mine.

Turned from a lump of something tropical, heavy and jolly hard with some form of silicate inclusion.
If anyone knows what wood it is then please pm me so as not to pollute this thread.
I had to sharpen the tools far too frequently.
It's about 10" tall and a little under 5" diameter at the base.
There are quite a lot of little cracks running through the wood, but hopefully it will survive 
Finished with clear chestnut woodwax 22.


----------



## callumlovatt (23 Feb 2011)

This is my entry for February. It is made from ash and it measures 23cm tall, 5.5cm wide at the base and 2cm wide at the stem. I have kept the design simple and to colour the top and bottom I have burned it. 
I have finished it with cellulose sanding sealer.


----------



## Elaine (23 Feb 2011)

Made from Laburnum 11" high, base is just under 3". While finishing the base part of it broke off so I removed the whole of the base and used what was to hand which was burr elm. Finished with friction polish.


----------



## Chrisp (23 Feb 2011)

My candlestick for Februarys comp,
13" High 6" at its widest, The stick is maple with a brass insert, drip tray in oak and base made of spalted sycamore, all finished with sanding sealer, cut back and soft paste wax buffed up.
Think I've been listening to war of the worlds too much in the workshop! this gave me the idea for the 3 legs, the base was originally a nice bowl but I went through the bottom of it and put it to one side for inspiration later, made up of 3 parts with the maple stick section acting as a tenon through the oak and sycamore to hold it all together, the sycamore bowl was marked up into 3 legs with dividers, cut on the bandsaw and shaped with a belt sander, I wanted to try something different as this is something I wouldn't usually make but had great fun doing so.












Regards Chris.


----------



## duncanh (23 Feb 2011)

25cm tall, 8cm widest diameter, 4.5cm top diameter. Wood unknown.

Simple shape turned. 6 spirals drawn using indexing and equal spacings along the length. Then carved using Dremel powered carving head and Flexcut chisels. 
Finally lots of sanding using a combination of sandpaper, 3M Radial bristles (not that impressed!), home made radial sanding pads in the Dremel.
Finished by buffing with tripoli compound on the buffing system. My thinking here was that any further finish could get damaged by wax dripping down the spiral grooves (and this wax running down the grooves is something I like the idea of).
[note - no metal insert as I didn't have one]














Duncan


----------



## nev (23 Feb 2011)

Here we go, my first stick (couldnt find a candle the right size  ) , and my first piece presented to the public, only had the lathe since Christmas. Went for simple but solid. It is 12 inches tall, 4in across the base. Unknown wood from the bottom of the firewood pile, finished to 400grt , liberon lathe polish and carnuba wax. photographed with cr*p camera!
hope i haven't embarrassed myself


----------



## como (23 Feb 2011)

Made from spalted sycamore, 9.5" tall, the width varies from just over 3" at the base down to about 0.75" at the narrowest part.
I got a good finish straight off the tool, so only needed a light sanding with 240 grit abrasive.
I then applied a coat of sanding sealer, and de-nibbed it with 400 grit abrasive.
Finally a coat of Black Bison paste wax buffed to a shine.


----------



## myturn (23 Feb 2011)

Mine is made from spalted beech. It's 25cm high and the base is 7cm across.

Roughed round between centres and spigot turned on the bottom. Then into the chuck and the hole for the candle drilled with a forstner and shaped a bit more with a box scraper. Top then shaped, sanded and waxed to finish. Wine-bottle cork stuck in the end where the candle goes and tailstock brought up to the cork. Wasn't sure about the cork but it worked fine!

Then to battle with various spindle gouges and skews which hardly ever get used and always turn the air blue. Cleaned up by shear scraping as much as I could get to then sanded through the grades trying not to to lose what little detail I had managed to achieve. 

Finally 2 coats of sanding sealer followed by 2 coats of Chestnut Renaissance wax.


----------



## Haldane (23 Feb 2011)

Made from three seprate pieces of Mahogany 5 1/2" dia at widest point 16" tall 
finished in beeswax

















Dave


----------



## Melinda_dd (23 Feb 2011)

Hi all, please forgive my dodgey photos!
This is my entry for this month. (also my first candlestick, and first project with a skew.... bit scary, but check out my first ever beads!!! =D> )
It's made of cherry...... basically coz it will go in my living room.
It's just over 8.5" tall, sanded to 600, and finished with 3 coats of Lathe finishing oil.
A fairly simple entry, but i think it looks quite modern
I had a few problems doing this, as my drill press was too small to get the wood and drill bit under, and my lathe bed was too small too.... had to resort to a cordless!!  
It's not perfect, but I love it and am really proud of it........
Yeeees, my second point!!!


----------



## Pvt_Ryan (23 Feb 2011)

Just scrapes 8", unknown wood, sanded to 1500grit and 5 coats of clear/light wax.


----------



## The Shark (23 Feb 2011)

Made from an old oak gate post that was as hard as iron!

2" square at the base, 1.5" at the top, and 9 1/4" tall.

Finished with cellulose sanding sealer, friction polish, and microcrystalline wax,













Malc


----------



## SVB (23 Feb 2011)

Hi All,

Here is mine - made in Ash, approx 16" tall.


----------



## RATWOOD (24 Feb 2011)

This is my candlestick it is made out of olive ash and ash it is 8 1/2" tall
it is finished with sanding sealer and microcrystalline wax and gold gilt cream
It is an ornament and a candlestick when you need one


----------



## gus3049 (24 Feb 2011)

This is a candle 'holder', although it does have a 'stick' like thingy up the middle.

We were watching The Day of the Triffids again and the wife said "they can't hold a candle to that plant in the 'Little shop of horrors' - BOING!!! 

The wood is Robinia which is extremely yellow. This made getting the colours how I wanted them a bit tricky as I had to compensate for the tint all the time. As this was the first time I have used the Chestnut spirit stains it made for slight nervousness. Very thinned and build up was the name of the game. In the end, I'm quite pleased with the colour. Once the stain was dry it has a brushed lacquer coat to seal.

Its just over 8" tall and 4" wide to the edge of the leaves.

Leaves just cut out with a coping saw and the Dremel did the shaping and texturing.

The wood is amazingly hard and strong. We only cut the tree down two months ago! Its already very dry and blunts tools very quickly. The coping saw had a bit of trouble er... coping.

I like the way the candles makes the light flicker through the leaves!

My wife thinks its a bit wierd so it suits me then.


----------



## Blister (24 Feb 2011)

My entry for the Candlestick challenge :mrgreen: 

Sycamore 12" tall x 4" wide at the base ( excluding the candle ) 

A mix of straight and flowing curves 

Deliberately heavy at the base to give it stability 

Turned and sanded to 400 grit 

3 coats of black Ebonising spray left to dry between coats 

The some random spiral texturing with a Sorby texturing wheel just to score the surface of the spray 

Mix up some Gold guilt cream with Organ oil to a loose slurry and wipe on leaving a spiral affect 

Same with the Silver on the top part 

Dry on the lathe on slowest speed with a halogen heater 

Then 2 coats of Acrylic Gloss Spray , dried between coats with the heater 

and I ended up with this :lol: 





.




.


----------



## Silverbirch (24 Feb 2011)

Here is my entry for the candlestick competition.
Height 300mm.
Width at base 70mm.
Turned in beech, finished in black spray lacquer. Textured with Proxxon fitted with mini Arbotech blade. Liberon gilt cream applied to textured areas.
(Misty area on base is reflection of the background material and isn`t present on the candlestick).

Ian


----------



## monkeybiter (24 Feb 2011)

My effort:-

Oak throughout, made in two pieces.
5" Diagonally at base, 3.5" diameter at top.
15" Tall.
Sanded to 400, approx. two coats of spirit sanding sealer, burnished then beeswax hand buffed.
Tools used... all of them one place or another.


----------



## johnny.t. (24 Feb 2011)

My candlestick is made from 3 pieces of sycamore. It is 9" tall and the disk is 6" wide. Its carved and pierced and coloured with acrylics. The black base and top have been dusted in gold and the gold band around the top is painted in such a way to give an old worn look.














Johnny


----------



## miles_hot (24 Feb 2011)

I bought a lovely bit of white oak many moons ago (3.5 x 2" x 8") and have been wondering what I could do with it which would do justice to the amazing figuring in the wood. Then along came the challenge. Turning it into a cylinder would have lost a lot of the wood which seemed to be a crime so I decided to do some offset turning and make a sort of oval. This is the first time I've ever tried this and to be fair it took my Perform to the limits of what seemed sensible  I marked the centre line and then offset from that by around 10 mm (I think) and cut each side of the profile seperatly. As such I was turning air for a good section of each rotation which was fun.

This is also the first proper skew work that I've done. I set myself the challenge that as soon as I'd got it "round" with the bowl gouge (strength) I had to do everything else with the skew. Sanding was also fun  Once the first side was done I same offset from the centre line was used the other way and the second face was turned. This proved t be the hardest part - not only was the degree of out of balance even worse now getting a straight line between the two sides was _hard_ with any imperfection resulting in a horrid wiggle in the interfacing line.

The top and bottom are two bowls turned, finished and then cut. Getting the top to an even 3mm and the bottom to 4mm was hard but very satisfying. The top and bottom are elm.

Finish = sand to 320, buff and carnuba wax.

Hope you like it as much as I do - doing the design bit without any assistance from you guys and girls was hard as heck but I got what I wanted at the start which I'm pretty proud of.

Miles


----------

