How to Route and Sand Vessel Candles

1. Set up the top-bearing template router bit. The top of the blade should be JUST higher than the base of the candle. We do NOT want the blade to cut any of the wood off the candle.  It is useful to make sure the bearing is spinning freely before you start.

2.  Turn the router speed up all the way. Starting at the thinnest part of the base, route around the edges. Go slow.

Using 150 grit on the Random Orbital Sander, remove all the hairies left from the routing process

Before picture

After picture, note there is a little sanding that got on the candle itself.  That's fine as long as we don't remove all of the paint.  A little sanding just blends everything together.