Elm Burl tea light candles, or "Fence Post Art"

I’ve found a use for some scrap wood I’ve been saving for a little over two years. I sawed a beautiful elm log, woops I made a mistake… It was an ugly elm log... But it was like the ugly duckling that became a swan when it grew up. With only a little sanding, this elm burl rivals the finest American Black Walnut in color and beauty. The entire log looks fantastic and I’ve been saving the slabs to make some beautiful furniture. The log was too big to saw on a Timberking B-20 sawmill, so I split the log and sawed each half into quartersawn slabs. I ended up with a beautiful stack of slabs with a live edge, and a few narrow strips with a lot of burl showing in the live edge. To make these candles, I just cut the narrow strips into chunks with the most interesting grain patterns, sanded them, drilled a few 1 1/2” holes, and rubbed in three coats of tung oil. The last coat was rubbed in with extra fine stainless steel wool on the flat surfaces. I used a wire brush wheel to clean the irregular surface and remove any traces of bark that were left. The last two photos show some of the raw elm I have left. The next to last photo shows a bench I’ve started. The top is finished and the parts are ready to cut the mortise and tenons. The last photo shows a block that was saved when the tree was cut on a stack of slabs! It’s amazing how beautiful this log turned out.

These candle holders help to find a use for wood that might otherwise be wasted. Any interesting scrap of wood can be used to make a tea light candle holder. The strips look so much like a split fence post. I call my candle holders, “Fence Post Art”

-- Hal, Tennessee http://www.first285.com