Peter’s Bedside Lamp

Sometimes inspiration comes from broken things. My sister gave me the glass from a broken clock and said that she would like to have a lamp like the one she saw in a magazine a while ago. The only condition was that it had to be made out of birch.

After searching for the electrical parts at Home Depot, I found one of these new LED-light bulbs which matched the glass.

Up to the workbench:
First I made the base at the router table. Two stripes of wenge for a decorative touch crossing the center. For the post I made four grooves at the table saw at an 60° angle a little deeper than half the with of the blank. These grooves where filled with strips of wenge. At the lathe I turned it to the round post. The strips of wenge turned out just as amazing as I thought. For the cord I drilled a small hole into the back of the base, reaching the center of the base. After drilling the hole for the bulb fitting, I glued the post into the hole which I had previously made inside the top of the base. The finish was a few coats of linseed oil an a final touch with beeswax. It was hard for me to hand it to my sister, but it turned out to be the best birthday present she got.

As I used a LED-bulb for the lamp there is no concern about heat, it stays pretty cool although the light efficiency is a little too high for a bedside lamp. Next time I´ll use a dimmable LED.