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HEARTH CANDELABRA FOR LESS THAN $15.00
Look at me I'm building things! Recently I had my "can-do guy" Steve from Farmington, Connecticut on the show building a Hearth Candelabra. With a small Mar Jennings Home & Garden budget I gave Steve the challenge to create, make and show me how to do this project. Surprise, surprise I did it! Although I asked many questions, Steve some how managed to help me finish this with no injuries to myself or others that were on the set that day.
What you will need for this project:
- Hammer
- Drill
- Drill bits, 7/16, 1/16
- Ruler
- Saw
- Pencil
- Wood glue
Materials you will need:
- 7 1/2 inch by 23 inch shelf top (finished edge on 3 sides)
- Two, 48 inch dowels 7/16 inch in diameter
- Nine, 3 inch diameter wood disks
- Nine, ¾ inch long flat headed nails
*all building materials can be purchased at your local arts and craft store.
*helpful hint: the holes you will be drilling need to be perpendicular to the board on the base of the project.
If you don't have any devise that will help you do this (e.g. a drill press, a drill press adapter for your hand
held drill, a level, etc.) you can construct a simple and inexpensive devise to help you. Go to your local hardware
store and ask for a 3/8 inch partially threaded pipe 3 inches in length, a reducer from ½ to 3/8 inches and a flange to fi
t the reducer. Screw these parts together tightly. With the flange lying flat on the board you'll find the 7/16 inch drill
bit you'll be using to drill the holes for the dowels moves freely inside the 3/8 pipe (if for any reason your bit doesn't
move freely inside don't use it when drilling). Be certain to always fasten the flange with the 3/8 pipe securely to the
work surface before drilling using a clamp. Your hands or any other part of your body should never be near the drill bit
while you're drilling.
Building instructions
- Take the shelf top and draw a line 7/8 of an inch from the back edge of the board for the entire length of the board. Do the same along the front edge.
- Next we want to determine where along each of these lines you will be drilling the holes for the dowels to be inserted. Working with the back line, first make a mark at the very center of the line. Next measure in from both the left and right hand side of the line 1 ¼ inches and make a mark at each of these points. Next make a mark at the center points between the mark on the right hand side and the center mark. Then do the same on the left hand side. You should now have 5 marks along the back line.
- Working with the front line, you simply want to determine the center points between the marks on the back line and transfer those (4) points to the front line. These will be the 4 points which you will be drilling along the front line of your project.
- Next using your drill with a 7/16 inch drill bit, drill the 5 holes that you have marked on the back line of the board. After that drill the 4 points along the front line. Drill the holes approx. ½ inch deep. Take care not to drill all the way through and damage the surface below.
- Now you're ready to cut your 48X7/16 inch dowels to the proper lengths. For the 4 front holes you'll need to cut the dowels into four pieces 5 5/8 inches long. On the back row, for the center hole cut the dowel 11 5/8 inches long. For the holes immediately to the left and right of the center hole cut the dowel to 9 5/8 inches long. And lastly, the 2 outside holes each need dowels cut to 7 5/8 inches long.
- Put some wood glue into each of the 9 holes on the base of the project, insert the dowels in there respective positions and tap them into place using your hammer to be sure they are properly seated.
- Using your pencil place a mark in the center of the top of each of the dowels you just glued into place.
- Take your 9, 3 inch round wooden disks and drill a 1/16 inch hole in the center of each of them.
- Insert a ¾ inch long flat headed nail into each of the holes in the 3 inch disks. Next, one at a time, place a small amount of glue on the under side of one of the wood disks around the nail (the underside is the side with the pointed end of the nail coming through it). Then taking hold of the wood disk place it on top of the first dowel with the point of the nail placed on the center mark on top of the dowel, then using your hammer, gently tap in the nail until the disk is firmly in place on top of the dowel. Repeat this step 8 more times, once each for the remaining dowels.
- Set your project aside over night to dry. Once it has fully dried you can paint or stain it whatever color you'd like. On the show we choose flat black, to give the candelabra the look of wrought iron.
And there you have it.
REMEMBER YOUR FIREPLACE CANDELABRA IS MADE OF WOOD, TAKE CARE NOT TO LET IT BE DAMAGED DURING USE. ALWAYS PLACE A
NON-COMBUSTIBLE, NON HEAT TRANSFERRING MATERIAL UNDER EACH CANDLE PRIOR TO USE.
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