Mantle Sun Candle

[gdon_2003 (Guy Donham)]

I had bought an ugly black metal triangular candle holder in a resale shop to just get the piece of glass that has the sun in it. I removed the glass and threw away the rest of the terrible candle holder.

I got the bright idea to carve a mantle clock shape to put the piece of glass in. I searched google for a mantle clock line drawing and found one. I downloaded it and converted to an SVG in Inkscape. I imported it into CC and eliminated the parts I did not want. I just left the outline of the mantle clock. I measured the glass and sized the mantle clock outline to accommodate the glass and look proportional. I needed a piece of 12" x 6" material. I went to the wood pile and found some 1.3" thick Mokai I got free. The boards are about 6’ long and about 6.5" wide and 1.3" thick. When I got it I was told it was sapelle and it looks brown like that but when I got it home on the side of one boards the work Mokabi was stenciled. This stuff is hard and I ran it through the planner to get the surfaces level and I could only turn the handle about a 1/16 of a turn and it would really strain my Dewalt 735 planner. Tough stuff.

Here is my project. I intend on cutting a groove in the bottom and have a piece in an L shape to hold the whole thing up and a recess for the candle. I will get on that tomorrow. Today it was 100 degrees F inside my shop and I am just wore out.

Partly what inspired me was a country music song I have heard lately on the radio about lets get some records playing and some candles burning.

[Jeffish (Jeff de Ruiter)]

Very creative Guy! Thats so cool! Is the glass a press fit or is there a lip on the back to hole it in place?

[gdon_2003 (Guy Donham)]

It is a little of both. The glass has a slight taper on the outer diameter. It is smaller at the front than the back side and there is a little lip at the back. When I get the wood finished I will put a dab of clear RTV to keep the glass from falling out. It is a friction fit right now but wood tends to change shape.

[gdon_2003 (Guy Donham)]

I got this sanded up to 220. This Mokai is hard hard hard. Plus it burns easily. Must have a lot of resin in it like cherry. Put a coat of Watco Danish Oil Natural on it. It is very nice looking grain. I have never even heard of this species and never worked it before.

I had intended to make a stand for this but I had this nice plug that was cut out for the center. I sanded it up and put a 2" hole in it to hold a glass votive candle. After the Watco dries I will see how it works. I can still make the stand but I think the disk will work fine and gives you the flexibility to put the sun in the window without the candle.