Cocobolo/leopardwood candle holder

[Patrick Nailon]

My latest creation. I have a tradition of making a birthday present for my sister every year on my birthday. This is because Noelle was born Christmas day and has always come up short on birthday presents. So this was my solution. She gets a nice surprise and I can spend more time/money on it as I'm not otherwise engaged in - well, you know, that other holiday.

Got the plans from WoodSmith. I didn't have the specs on me when I bought the wood, so the cocobolo feet came up 1/2" short, and the leopardwood body is both 5" short and 1" too narrow - again, according to the spec's. But it looks lovely, and I think the proportions came out fine. I've never worked with either wood previously, and they were a joy to work with. Many thanks to those here for insight and tips as to how to finish cocobolo (I simply used spray lacquer, per the article).

[Mike Wilkins]

Wow!!! Lucky sister.

[Joshua Meuser]

That candle holder looks great! I've been looking at that same issue of WoodSmith recently and just happen to have some cocobolo scraps that would work for the legs. I was thinking curly maple for the top, but yours is making me think twice about it!

[John Thompson]

That leopard-wood looks great on the candle-holder. I have never seen any of it before. I love cocobola and have seen plenty of it...

Nice...

[Patrick Nailon]

That candle holder looks great! I've been looking at that same issue of WoodSmith recently and just happen to have some cocobolo scraps that would work for the legs. I was thinking curly maple for the top, but yours is making me think twice about it!

The leopardwood was a bit of a fluke - I rememberd that the plans called for maple, but I thought it meant curly or some other figured, which was $15/bf at my local dealer (Austin Hardwoods, Santa Ana). I looked around and found the leopardwood, and really liked the grain, plus I always like working with a new wood, and at under $11/bf, it was an easy decision.

I'll probably make a few of these up this Christmas, using straight maple and walnut. I've crunched the numbers and it would be around $8 per piece that way - not counting the candles!

[John Keeton]

Nice work! I have seen this done in a variety of combinations, and this one certainly works very well.

[gary Zimmel]

Great candle holder Patrick.
That leopard wood/ cocobolo combo looks great together.
I'm sure your sister is going to really like her surprise present this year...

[Todd Bin]

I made a few of these for christmas a couple years ago. I put black flocking in the candle holes. You could also use red or some other color. It looked really nice and added a nice touch. But the main reason I did it is I didn't feel like sanding the holes.

~Todd

[Patrick Nailon]

I made a few of these for christmas a couple years ago. I put black flocking in the candle holes. You could also use red or some other color. It looked really nice and added a nice touch. But the main reason I did it is I didn't feel like sanding the holes.

~Todd

That's a good idea. I don't like that the end mark of the Forstner bit shows at the bottom of the hole (and is slightly off-center too), so that idea would have double value.

[Lee Koepke]

do ya'll remember which woodsmith issue it was in? I remember flagging that but cant remember...

found it !!! internets are a powerful tool. Issue 173, fall 2007