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In this plan you’ll find:

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Elegant Floor Lamp

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Copyright Woodworker’s Journal © 2015 www.woodworkersjournal.com WJ174

Floor lamps are expensive to buy and areoften disappointingly flimsy when you getthem home. This lamp is stylish, solidand remarkably affordable.

The flowing shape of the lamp’s feetprovides an elegant base for thisfloor lamp. The author shaped thefeet on a band saw and then createdthe details with a spokeshave.

Woodworker’s Journal

ElegantFloor LampBy Simon Watts

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Woodworker’s Journal

Ineeded a floor lamp for an old house inNova Scotia — one that would not wobbleon 100-year-old floors. The result is about

as simple as you can get — three feet (toaccommodate a floor that might be saggingfrom age) firmly attached to a hexagonal stemwith 3/8" dowel pins. And while my lamp istruly simple in every regard, it is also attractiveand very useful.

Since it’s impractical to drill 48"-long holes,I made the stem in two halves, after cutting ashallow groove down the center of each piece.Ideally, if you have the stock on hand, youshould cut a 2"-thick section in half, rout orsaw the slot for the wiring, then glue it backtogether. This makes an almost invisible joint,and you’ll have the added benefit that it ismuch easier to plane if the two halves havea consistent grain pattern.

Any reasonably stable hardwood will do forthis project, as strength and durability are notcrucial considerations. I’d suggest matchingthe wood to the environment that the lampwill be used in — it’s one of the benefits ofbuilding your own furniture. In this case,I used mahogany since I had some narrow1" boards that could be ripped in half and thenglued up. It’s also a reasonably affable wood toplane by hand — my preferred method ofmachining wood.

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Getting StartedIt may be hard for some woodworkers tobelieve, but I don’t have a router — nora dado blade for the table saw — in myNova Scotia workshop, so I just madethree or four adjacent cuts with a regularrip blade to form the matching grooves inthe stem. How you form the long channelis up to you, but it needs to be sized totake a six-inch length of 3/8" threadedtubing — which is a standard size formost bulb sockets. I recommend gettingyour hardware before you begin the proj-ect; it will avoid unpleasant surprisesdown the road if you can test fit the partsas you make them. Put the tube in placewhen you clamp up the stem, but it’simportant to leave enough of the tubeprojecting so you can secure the shadesupport (called a harp) with a second nutas well as the bulb socket. If you lookclosely at the photos (center left), it isclear that I used epoxy to glue the twopieces together. The reason is that I pre-dominantly build boats in my Nova Scotiashop, and that is the adhesive I had onhand. You could use any good qualitywoodworking glue to make the stem. Toglue the metal tube in place, technically

epoxy or polyurethane glue wouldbe best, but even white glue willlikely hold the tube well enough.To avoid glue squeeze-out fromblocking the internal passage, laya piece of thick string in thechannel, work it back and forth afew times to pick up the glue,then pull it clear.

Six Sides from FourAfter the stem is glued up,machine plane it to an exact

square and drive temporary plugsin the square holes at one end. Layout an accurate hexagon by firstdrawing a circle and then, usingthe same compass setting, dividethe circumference into six equalsegments. Join the segments withstraight lines, making the hexagon

The author formed the opening for the threaded tube and lamp wire by making multiple cuts on histable saw (top photo). A dado head would work well, as would a router — he had neither. Lay thethreaded tubing in place before gluing up the stem. Leave enough of the tube projecting so there isroom for the shade support (or “harp”), a second retaining nut and the bulb holder. The author usedepoxy as his adhesive, but any good quality wood glue would work as well.

Glue up the stem flat on theworkbench with a 6" length of3/8" threaded tubing in place.It took multiple clamps to getgood pressure along thelength of the stem to create atight seam.

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MATERIAL LIST

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15/8"

3/8"

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ABB

Exploded View

Foot Location (Side View)

Stem Layout (End View)

The lamp’s feet are attached to thestem using glue and 3/8"-diameterdowels. Dowel points are useful totransfer the locations of thedowel holes to the stem.

3/8" holefor wire

To form this hexagon, first draw a15⁄8"-diameter circle on your stockor template from point A. Next,strike two more arcs from pointsB, to establish your other four“corners.” Connect the corners

with a straightedge tocreate your hexagon.

symmetrical about the glue line. You’llfind this faint line a convenient guidewhen planing the stem to its finishedsize. Set a marking gauge and scribelines along the length of the stem to indi-cate the four flats.

I recommend making a half-templatein thin cardboard so you can check theshape of the stem at various points whileshaping it to a hexagon. Plane these flatsby hand, but if you’re using some “spite-ful” wood (such as red oak), set a tablesaw blade to 30 degrees and rough themout on the table saw (photo, page 46).

Finish with a low-angle block planeand scraper or, if the grain is really diffi-cult, a disc sander will do a quick job.

Cutting the FeetCut out the three feet on the band saw, making sure that the grain runs parallel to the long axis, not across it — see the Drawings (page 7) and the photo on the next page for details. After cleaning up the curved edges with a spokeshave and sandpaper block, mark the position of the 3/8" dowels, a pair for each foot. Use a doweling jig so you can be sure the holes are centered. A quick, accurate way to transfer the centers of each hole to alternate faces of the stem is to use 3/8" doweling points. Clearly mark which foot goes where with a letter or number as they are unlikely to be interchangeable.

T x W x L1 Stem Blanks (2) 13/16" x 15⁄8" x 48"2 Threaded Rod (1) 3/8" x 6"3 Foot Blanks (3) 5/8" x 45⁄8" x 11"4 Dowels (6) 3/8" x 11⁄2"

Stem Detail

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Form the lamp’s feet using a band saw. Orient the grain so that it runs thelength of the foot. This will add strength and avoid short grain failure.Refine the shape of the foot later with a spokeshave and sander.

Woodworker’s Journal

Before gluing the feet, try running theelectric wire up the channel inside thestem to see that it is clear. If it’s blockedby glue squeeze-out (and you don’t havea super-long drill bit), straighten a heavy-duty wire clothes hanger, beat one endflat and grind it to a spade-shaped point.Chuck it in an electric drill and run itdown the hole, working from both endsalternately, until clear. Drill a 3/8" holediagonally for the wire to exit at the baseof the lamp. The closer to the floor, theless chance of people tripping over it.

Clamping up the feet is awkwardbecause of the shape. I found it best toclamp a foot firmly in a bench vise withthe dowel pins facing up, as shown in thephoto at bottom right. I then used a smallbar clamp to force the stem down until itwas a snug fit. I left it clamped longenough for the glue to set, then did thesame with the next one. When done,you’ll need to clear the channel of glueand projecting dowels with a 3/8" bit.With that done, I used three coats ofDanish oil to finish the piece.

It is an easy process to use a compass to strike lines that will give you the hexagon. Bisect thesquare exactly in half and draw one full circle and then two half circles as shown. Where the linesintersect, you’ll have the corners of the hexagon.

When cutting the hexagon on the table saw, you will need to cut thefour remaining angles from the two faces that were ripped previously.That means flipping the stem end for end.

If you are using a hand plane to form the hexagon, you’ll need to mark the sides of the stem with amarking gauge (photo at right). If you choose to cut the 30-degree faces on the table saw, you willneed to rip the two opposing surfaces flat as shown in the photo at left.

“Since it’s impractical todrill 48"-long holes,

I made the stem in twohalves, after cutting a

shallow groove in each piece.”

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It is important to test fit all the parts. The author located the dowel holes on the stem by pre-drillingholes in the feet and then using dowel points to transfer their positions.

Woodworker’s Journal

The shade in the photomeasures 13" from top tobottom, 9" in diameter taper-ing to 13", and came fromIKEA. It cost less than $15.You’ll find 12 feet of #12lamp cord about right.

When you’ve got the wiringdone, set it up near a com-fortable chair and find a goodbook — or woodworkingmagazine — and enjoy thelight and the read!

Simon Watts is a frequentcontributor to Woodworker’sJournal. He lives in SanFrancisco in the winter andat an island home in NovaScotia in the summers.

11"45/8"

Grain

To clamp the feet securely, place one in the vise, apply theglue to the dowels and the stem, then clamp down to the vise.This makes an otherwise awkward process much easier.

Foot Pattern

Each square = 1"

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