Skip to content
Gifts & Small Projects

DIY Wood Candle Holder

I think every woodworker has a pile of leftover scrap wood from other projects.

No reviews yet

Difficulty
Beginner
Time
1.8–3.3 hours
Cost
$

About this build

I think every woodworker has a pile of leftover scrap wood from other projects. Typically, I don’t throw away small wood pieces and try to use them on small wood projects. I’ve made these DIY Wooden Candle Holders from my scrap wood pile.

Tools

Essential

  • Drill / Driver
  • Miter Saw
  • Random Orbit Sander
  • Table Saw

Optional / nice to have

  • Tape Measure

Materials

ItemQty
Board, 4x4 72"1 board
1 1/2" Candles22 each
Pre-Stain1 each
Briarsmoke Stain1 each

Overall cost: $. Lumber prices vary by region, species, and season, so we give a band rather than a figure we would only be pretending to know.

Cut list

PartQtyT × W × L
Board14" × 4" × 6"

What to buy

Buy 1 board at 8 ft.

4" × 4"

1 board

Assumes 8 ft stock, a 1/8" saw kerf, and buying each part at its own width. Change the board size or kerf on the full board plan →

Start building →

Instructions

  1. 1Step 1 - Trim 4x4 Board to 2 1/2"x2

    The actual size of 4x4 is 3 1/2"x3 1/2". This is too large for these types of candles. So we need to reduce the actual size to 2 ½” x 2 ½”. Take a 4x4 board, and trim 1/2 an inch on all four sides using a table saw. You could just trim 1" from two sides to get the job done quicker, but then you'll have one rounded corner and three sharp corners. So that's why I trimmed all four sides. I didn't have a full 6-foot long board but I had smaller 4x4 scrap pieces laying around from my previous projects. And it works just as good.

    DIY Wood Candle Holder — step photo 3
  2. 2Step 2 - Cut Candle Block Pieces

    Then with a miter saw, cut the 2 ½” x 2 ½” board into small blocks ranging from 2” to 6” long. I didn't provide lengths for these blocks, because these are totally random and you could cut any length that you'd like. You would need 21 of these blocks.

    DIY Wood Candle Holder — step photo 4
  3. 3Step 3 - Drill 1 1/2" Holes for Can

    • Once all 21 blocks are cut, use a ruler or a square and draw a line from one corner to the next.
    • Then draw another line from the other two corners creating an X on the top of the block. The center of the X is the exact middle where you need to drill the hole for the candle.
    • Drill a ½” deep hole using 1 ½” full thread tip drill bit.
    DIY Wood Candle Holder — step photo 5
  4. 4Step 4 - Sand the Wood Candle Block

    Now using a random orbital sander, sand any rough edges.

    DIY Wood Candle Holder — step photo 6
  5. 5Step 5 -Stain and Paint Candle Hold

    • For this step, you could stain or paint any color you want. I used Briarsmoke stain and white paint.
    • First, apply a coat of pre-stain, then Briarsmoke stain and wipe it off with a shop paper towel.
    • Then lightly brush white paint over the stain to make a whitewash effect. You could arrange these wood candle blocks any way you'd like. You're done with the DIY Wood Candle Holder!
    DIY Wood Candle Holder — step photo 7

Tags

  • Candle Holders
  • Beginner

Reviews & builds

No reviews yet

Sign in to review this plan or share your build.

No reviews yet. Be the first to build this.