Antler Candle Stand

Steps for making a beautiful candle stand that is shaped like deer antlers mounted on a wooden shield.I designed this product for my GCSE DT project.

you need to choose the wood that you are going to use for the shield. I recommend a light colour of wood because it contrasts nicely with the antlers. I used oak, but didn't have a piece big enough, so joined two pieces together with a biscuit joint as shown.

I marked out the shape of the shield using the template shown and cut it out with a band saw.

I used a router to make the edges of the shield look attractive

I cut the rods into the below lengths in cm.***NOTE for the branches I drew them out and bent them into shape before I cut them to size so I was able to still hold them while they were heated in the forge***
50x1 (two of these for main antlers)
4x0.5(two for top branches)
6x0.5(two for second branches)
8x0.5(four for bottom branches)

I heated all the rods in the forge and bent them into the shown shapes over the anvil.

Then I welded all of the branches on to the main antlers as shown on the orthographic projection that I drew. I used a MIG welder. After welding, I filed the joints to make the transition smooth.

I marked out and drilled the holes for the antlers slightly smaller than the metal rods. after that I filed the and of the rods into four sided pyramids to make them fit into the holes better. When I had filed them, I lined them up and hammered them into the shield.

I cut copper with tin snips into the size of circles to fit the candles I was using (in this case tea lights). then I heated the copper until it was red hot , and then cooled it in water. this made the copper soft and I used a bossing mallet to hammer the copper circles into dish shapes and then cleaned them off with wire wool.

After cleaning the dishes with wire wool, I also cleaned them off with some Brasso.I then allied flux to the bottom and soldered them onto the antlers as shown in the orthographic projection.

then I painted the antlers with black Hammerite, being careful not to get any on the sheild or the copper dishes.

I cleaned off the copper dishes one final time, with Brasso before spraying them each with a clear plastic lacquer to stop them tarnishing.

Finally I put a hanger on the back to hang it on the wall and placed tea light candles on each of the copper dishes to light later on that night!