Project:Tree Trunk Tealights

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Tealight Holders out of Birch Logs

Birch tealights 10.JPG
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!