Project:Tree Trunk Tealights
| ProjectInfoBox Tealight Holders out of Birch Logs | |
|---|---|
| |
| Status: | about 40 made, now documenting |
| Release Date: | spring 2018 |
| Initiator: | Lukas |
| Team: | Gesa |
| Materials Used: | birch logs, coconut oil, steel tealight cups, tealights |
| Tools Used: | chop saw (and crosscut saw where too thick), drill press & Forstner bit, eccentric sander, sandpaper |
documentation unfinished, please just ask if you have urgent questions ;-)
I made a bunch of tealight holders out of birch trunks as a wedding decoration and will now work on turning this project into a woodworking seminar for beginners.
Materials
Birch Logs
- from Bauhaus, very wet!
- better cut & dry in advance next time??
- risk of mold forming at the cut faces...
Tealights
- steel holders from <smile link>
- "eco" tealights without aluminum cases <smile link>
Making
Need to test whether this can be sped up - drilling into the wet wood was very difficult! Lots of unforeseen mold problems..
- cut with chop saw - log often too thick for the small Herkules saw...switch to bandsaw next time?
- sand cut faces with eccentric sander
- let dry - continue & seal ends immediately next time?
- drill with 1-5/8" Forstner bit
- let dry/seal again so the bottom of the hole is protected
- insert steel holder before the log shrinks too much!
- gallery
the store-bought logs were very wet and quickly became moldy...
cutting approx. 8-10 cm long pieces with the chop saw
the logs were often too thick for our (then) available power saws and needed to be finished off by hand with a crosscut saw
a lot of mold formed again within a week after cutting...
after superficial heating, we applied hard wax oil in an attempt to protect the wood
another week of drying on my workbench with better spacing
there was still some new mold after all this, but it was easily sanded off by hand
finally, the logs were ready for drilling with a large Forstner bit
more drilling...good to have a drill press available!
after shaping, the ends were finished with coconut oil
make sure to insert the steel cups soon afterwards, the wood (and the hole!) will shrink as it keeps drying
