Table Lamp

My wife wanted me to take a break from building things for other people and just to make something fun for myself. After some thinking I decided on a new table lamp in an arts & crafts style but something that could easily be a bit contemporary as well. I’ve been toying with this design since mid November and finally decided I was ready enough to commit it to wood. Changing out the Motawi tile for a panel of dyed quilted maple really did make a difference in how the lamp presented itself but I chose to install the tile instead.

The wood is mahogany with wenge accents and the shade finial is turned ebony which was drilled out in three steps to accommodate an epoxied-in threaded insert. The finish is hand sanded Minwax Antique Oil (120-220 grit) and rubbed out with 0000 steel wool lubricated with Howard’s Feed N Wax after eight days curing time. The tile is held in place with clear silicone adhesive. For more of an old-school look I cut the plug off of a salvaged old lamp but used modern fabric-jacketed UL lamp cord. The light bulb is similar to the Restoration Hardware Edison-style filament bulbs.

I am going to have to find a source for a better socket and harp as this one tilts the shade to one side but that is something that can be fixed easily enough in the future. Yes, the steel post is square with the base :)

A few things I learned while making this lamp:

- A subtle curve repeated on all edges of the base pieces really improved the look of the lamp.
- The tap required to thread the inside of the steel pipe for the steel nipple is 1/8-27 NPT. Reference
- Steel pipes have a weld seam inside that makes tapping straight nearly impossible unless you file it down first.
- Finial screws on the lamp harp aren’t 1/4-20 or 8-32 but require special threaded inserts available in a pack with ugly acorn finials at Home Depot.
- 60W Edison filament bulbs aren’t as bright as regular 60W incandescent bulbs but they look cooler.

Thanks for looking!

-- Mistake? No, that's just an unexpected design opportunity....