Making a Circular Outdoor Candle Holder (Extra Compartment!)

At the time of this article, the weather is warm and the allure of sitting on the back deck is strong. I look forward to sitting in a chair and resting easy after a long day of work, but then - bug bites! How dare they?!

I purchased some outdoor candles that are the perfect size for a patio table. They are big enough to burn a long time without the wind quickly blowing them out. The downside is…. they’re ugly, just like most outdoor candles. I came up with the idea of making a candle holder that will improve the look. I wanted it to be round, have a lid, and store matches so I didn’t have to hunt them down.

No Lathe No Problem

I wanted my candle holder round. Making a cylinder without a lathe is a bit more complex than simply chucking some wood into a lathe and quickly turning it. However, don’t let that deter you! I measured out my candle to figure out the height and diameter. Ultimately, that told me how big of a piece of wood I need if I want to place a candle inside it. Then I made multiple pieces that I can combine to make one large candle holder. Think of it like Lego blocks. You could use a large block or you can use two small blocks stacked together.

I used my router, a 1/4” router bit, and a circular cutting jig to make four round pieces. Two were thick (to hold the candle) and two were thinner (for the rest). This jig is absolutely amazing! I’ve used it a thousand times and it’s one of my favorite store-bought jigs ever. Seriously!

Using the router, I cut each piece into a circle. I also cut out an interior circle in each piece, ensuring it was big enough for the candle to fit inside. Then, I can simply glue them together to make the outdoor candle holder.

But WHY?...

I performed similar operations in previous project videos so I anticipated the response I would get when people watch this video. It ended up being exactly how I expected. A flood of comments by people saying I did the whole thing wrong because I could have simply used a hole saw to make this candle holder and skipped the router entirely. Let’s take a moment to unpack this.

A hole saw is a great tool for drilling out large diameter holes. In this case, it would be one heck of a large hole saw and it would need to be the exact diameter I wanted for my candle. If someone is lucky enough to have a 3-3/16th inch diameter hole saw, which is the interior hole I routed then awesome! I would use it too. However, what people aren’t thinking about is the exterior. A hole saw doesn’t make an object round. It simply drills a large hole. Every online critic I’ve encountered with this fact quickly stammers for a response that is not there. Ultimately, I completely understand the use of a hole saw and it’s a great tool, if that’s an available option. I wish I had one the exact size I wanted for this project. At the same time, it also only helps with part of the project.

The Large Section

The main body of the outdoor candle holder is two thick pieces of wood. I made these thicker than necessary so when stacked together, they stand much taller than the candle. This also meant they were thicker than I could actually route due to the length of my router bit.

To route out the circles, you need a center pivot point that lets your router spin around. For my jig, it’s a screw placed in the dead center of the board. I used that screw hole to my advantage. I placed a nail in a piece of scrap wood, set my candle holder pieces on the nail (using the screw hole), and then spun the pieces against a sander. That quickly sanded the remaining parts of the pieces that I could not route, making them round like the rest of the board.

My design called for the candle holder to have a compartment underneath the candle for a book of matches. If the candle is sitting on top of the matches, it needs a bottom to sit on. I used the extra unrouted (but now sanded) section for this.

I cut off this remaining section with the band saw. This freed up the middle cutoff piece (the above video explains it better than I can in words) so I have a ring. I took the cut off section of each piece and resawed them to get two thin pieces. One was glued back onto one ring. The other was saved for later. When stacked together I ended up with = 1x ring, 1x ring, 1x thin bottom. The candle fits right in, it has a bottom to sit on, and, if I want to skip the match book and lid, essentially the project is done!

Secret Compartment

My patio candle holder was a tad more complicated than it needed to be because I wanted to store matches. As I mentioned above, I used four pieces of wood to make my candle holder. Two were thick, which made up the actual candle holder. The other two were thinner. One served as a place to put a match box and the other ended up being a lid for the holder. I cut a rectangle out of one piece so the match box could fit inside. This was glued onto the bottom of my candle holder. Remember that thin piece that I set aside for later? I glued that on the bottom of the match box section. Now I have = 1x ring, 1x ring, 1x thin bottom, 1x match box section, 1x thin bottom. Now, the candle holder looked super fancy!

Keep the Weather Out

I wanted a lid for my patio candle holder so I used the fourth thin piece I routed to make one that fits snuggly onto the candle holder via a rabbet on the underside. I put a rabbeting bit in my router. It has a bearing that I pushed the lid piece against. By spinning the lid, it cut a rabbet into the underside. This was a quick process that worked perfectly for me.

Outdoor Wood Finish

After the whole candle holder was sanded, I had to decide on a finish. Woodworking finishes and outdoor weather do not always play well together. Everyone’s location, weather, and traditional climate is different. My backyard faces south, with a lot of sun all day. That means my patio deck is much hotter than my neighbor’s across the street, which faces north. Same state, county, town, neighborhood - but different outdoor conditions to take in account.

That is a long way of saying that there is no woodworking finish perfect for all situations. My philosophy is this: I can perform less maintenance, but spend more time and money doing it, or I can perform more routine maintenance but it takes just a few minutes and it’s cheap. There’s no wrong answer. A film finish that resists outdoor weather is much more expensive than an oil finish also suitable for the outdoors. This is a candle holder and I don’t want to invest a fortune into a finish so I opted for teak oil. If the weather starts getting to it, I can sand the candle holder, apply a fresh coat of oil and I’m done.

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