Wood Block Tea Lights

One day, Brent came home with this huge, thick piece of wood.  I know, you're snickering.  But seriously, it was huge.  It sat in our garage for several months and every time I would pass by, I would think about what in the world we could make out of it.  I thought about cutting big, thick letters out of it, like K R U S E - but we don't even have a saw big enough to cut through something this big.

Brent cut it in half and used a Forstner bit to drill holes in each of them.

I gave him a tea light so he would know exactly how large the holes needed to be.

Using some of our leftover stain from finishing the basement, I gave each piece a good rub down.  That's the technical word for it, right?

We keep a bucket of Brent's old socks around - the work perfect for staining wood or keeping your hands warm.

It's a beautiful grain, isn't it.

All done staining.

I wanted to give them a little clear coat to shine them up a bit.  Make sure you use this stuff outside and in a well ventilated area.  It's pretty strong stuff.  For small projects, the spray can of lacquer works really well.

After my coat of lacquer had dried, I gave each piece a very light sanding with 150 grit sandpaper to make them super smooth.