I'm posting this in response to a question I was mailed about one of the pictures below in reference to the shelves.First, let's talk about the wood. The more expensive and less knotty will last longer. These are made from an inexpensive cut. They work very well, but my next set will be a little higher quality wood. These are also nailed together. Next time I'll use screws.
The design had to be simple to make (I'm not a carpenter, I blow stuff up for a living), repeatable in case I needed more, cost effective (not waisting anything), and space saving. This is what I came up with. All of the wood for the shelves is from finished 1" X 6" lumber (actual size 3/4" X 5 1/2"). The horizontal pieces and the lowest vertical (front) piece are ripped to 4 1/4" and the scraps are used for the side supports. The rest of the vertical pieces are 5 1/2" (uncut). All the joints are nailed and glued. Better wood would have held the nails better, plus not having to avoid the knots in the middle of cuts.
The shelves are 22" wide. They hold 5 candles across. I made them that wide for two reasons.
1. They would be narrow enough to use at the end of a table by themselves. Two would fit on a 4' table, three on a 6' table, and so on.
2. They wouldn't sag in the middle. Candles are heavy, and I didn't want any sag.
The legs are made from dowel rods cut to the length that make the shelves level. They attach to the shelves using a bracket you can find in the table leg section of your nearest large hardware store. The double ended screw in the dowel was sold separately in the same store. It's a wood screw on one end, and a machine screw on the other. Make sure and drill a hole in the dowel before trying to install it in the dowel. You can see from one of the picture that when the legs are off, the shelves nest together to save space during transportation. They are quite heavy all together. I usually carry them in sets of two. And don't forget and leave the legs at home. You'll be hard pressed to find a substitute on the road.
I have not finished these yet, but a good polyurethane in their future. If I left them out in the rain right now, they wouldn't last very long.
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