Open segment candle holder

[Ray Dewey]

Two candle holders for tea lite candles, birch, mahogany and walnut with bloodwood ring top. 12 segments per layer.

[Dick Parr]

Very nice Ray, I like segmenting but am afraid to try it.

[Michael Stafford]

Nice, Ray, very nice. About how large are they? Are they your first open segmented turnings? I have wanted to try them but can't seem to find the time to do all the things I want to do...

[Ted Shrader]

Ray -

Those are really nice. How did you get the consistent spacing between the segments? Any problems with catches?

Regards,
Ted

[Ray Dewey]

Each layer is 3/8" so they are 4.75" high and 5.25 " diameter at widest part.

Catches?? yes these are possible - the wood is oriented with the grain so it shears easily. When hollowing - catches will cause the things to break, most are repairable as the breaks follow the glue lines.

Alignment is done with a jig to set the diameter and the index wheel on the lathe. Mine has 24 stops so a 12 segment setup is easy. For situations where more or less segments are used - one must use a secondary index wheel drawn with the required number of segments and some form of holding the stops at the right position. William Smith has a book "Segmented Wood Turning" that explains the index system and how to build the simple jig for the diameter. He also shows in detail several techniques for building these.

For larger pieces they can be assembled in sections and glued together.