How to make a DIY lightsaber candle holder

I wanted to make a prop for a while. I also wanted it to be some kind of a useful item. As a result this idea came up.

I based my design on original references but I added a few personal touches.

I used lime tree for this build.

First of all I jointed one face of my wood by using a hand plane across the grain to remove much stock. I also marked the area with chalk to let me know which areas of the stock had been removed. I then used the plane parallel to the grain of the wood to smooth things out.

I cut the piece in half on the bandsaw.

I applied glue and glued the two parts together using clamps.

I then drew the diagonals at the ends of my stock and used a compass to drew equal circles in both ends.

I used my wood vise and a long clamp to secure the piece. I then used my plane again to round over the piece. I could do this on the lathe, but I thought it was a cool technique, worth presenting. This also saved me quite a bit of time on woodturning.

I then mounted the piece on the lathe between centers and used a round scraper to round over my stock. I used my regular flat chisel to make a clean cut in the end.

I also used the parting tool to create a tenon on one end for my chuck.

I took the time to design a template which I glued on a piece of MDF and then cut it out on the bandsaw. The templates for the lathe must be halfs of the intended shapes.

I then established the length and the width of my stock on the lathe, based on my template.

I used my calipers and a sharp flat chisel to create a cylinder with the maximum diameter I needed.

I then used the template to mark and measure before shaping on the lathe. I mostly used a flat chisel and a skew to make all the shaping on the lathe.

I the sanded the piece on the lathe, and removed the last bit with a gouge.

I cut the tenon on the bandsaw and sanded it flush on the disc sander.

I then cut a small piece to size to use as the lightsaber’s switch. I mounted the piece on the vise with a piece of sand paper wrapped around it. I then sanded the small piece over that set-up in order make the small piece round underneath. I then glued it in place. 

To make the small buttons I shaped a really small piece on the disc sander and used a chisel to cut out two triangles, which I also glued in place.

I then primed the whole piece. After the primer dried I sanded it over it.

I applied a few coats of silver metal paint.

I masked the piece with blue masking tape and then sprayed on the black color.

I masked again and applied the bronze color. 

I used acrylic paint to paint the buttons red and green.

I sealed the paint by applying a few coats of clear glossy varnish.

My lightsaber candle holder was now ready, I hope you like it!