Tubularfab Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 More Christmas gifts! Courting candles always intrigued me so I gave them a try. It's also the first time I tried making brass rivets - I like the look! First candle I made: Then I simplified a bit and made 3 more: I like the mechanical aspect of the moving holder. It took some fiddling to get them to work right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tubularfab Posted December 18, 2012 Author Share Posted December 18, 2012 Weird - they are all the right orientation in my photo album. Guess I can blame it on posting from an iPhone! I'm just impressed the forum will upload pics from IOS devices! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marksnagel Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 Those are great! I have made a few and never liked the way they looked. You nailed it. You inspire me to try again. Mark <>< Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeman Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 I had to look up "courting candle". What a fascinating piece of history. It definitely looks like you nailed it. Well done, sir. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tubularfab Posted January 4, 2013 Author Share Posted January 4, 2013 Thank you! They are pretty simple to make, but I really like the look of them. I also like the mechanical aspect - and the fact that they have a cool heritage/history just adds to them. I gave those 4 as Christmas gifts this year, and they were well received. I included a federal style candle as shown, and a printed out copy of the story of the courting candle was wrapped around the candle. The hard part is keeping the "pitch" of the spiral consistent as deviation will easily show. It was my first attempt at making rivets, and all I had on hand was 3/16" brass. I annealed it, but I would assume copper would be more malleable? These tended to get a little brittle on the edges. I guess I'll try purchased rivets and see how they go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeman Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 While your rivets may not be domed they look cleanly done to me and they add a nice contrast. I've pretty much given up on brass at this point. Between it's irritating cold working characteristics (it work hardens very fast) and it's propensity to behave poorly under heat I'm thinking just copper and bronze from hear on out. Of course your mileage may vary. Have you tried making rivets with mild steel yet? The process is very similar to nail making, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tubularfab Posted January 4, 2013 Author Share Posted January 4, 2013 I like the contrasting color so I only used the brass on these. I will have to pick up some heavy single strand copper wire to have on hand next time. I was up against a time constraint when I did these. They seem sound... I actually have made steel rivets before, just not ones to be visible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRobb Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 You did a fine job on all of these. Well done! Mitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironman50 Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 Interesting story behind those equally interesting candle holders. Like the intricately coiled design which is worthy as a decorative piece even as a collectible. ______________________ www.sawblade.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenbeast Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 Excellent work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfshieldrx Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 First, your work is beautiful. I've made a few of these myself...and repeated the "legend" of the courting candle. However, I am convinced the so called legend is a fabrication designed to sell candle holders! I have several books on traditional lighting. None mention the "courting candle". A couple months ago, I posted a question to this site, asking if anyone had verifiable donumentation of the legend. Nothing. It's a cool story, but until someone can provide me with documetation, in the interest of historical accuracy, I will not propagate it. Once again, beautiful work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironduck Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 TubularFab, The candle holders look real good. Your trouble with maintaining uniform pitch could be addressed by instead of curling the rod individually, take two rods (or three rods if you want a really steep pitch) side by side and wrap them simultaneously around your form (pipe, large rod, or some other mandrel) and when you've got the coil length you want just uncoil the rods from each other and finish the ends as necessary. The extra rod (s) will determine the pitch and help in maintaining uniformity in the wrap, and it also means one more gift for someone - Just a thought. -Charlie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bosox Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 This is simply incredible – a fantastic work of art! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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