LED Accent Lamp

Season 28 Episode 9 | 26m 46sVideo has Closed Captions

A union of burl turning scraps, saved burnt wood and copper light up any space.

A union of burl turning scraps, saved burnt wood and copper light up any special interior space. Bandsaw sculpting leads to this decorative statement of wood art. Sanding tools show how wood grains can be brought to life!

03/13/2021

Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback

American Woodshop is a local public television program presented by WBGU-PBS

The American Woodshop is generously supported by the following companies:

LED Accent Lamp

Season 28 Episode 9 | 26m 46sVideo has Closed Captions

03/13/2021

Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback

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LED Accent Lamp
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(bright upbeat music) - Hi, welcome to The American Woodshop. I'm Scott Phillips, and today it's all about creating your own custom lighting. Make your mark in this world and be different. So, stay with us to learn how to create your very own lighting accents. - [Announcer] The American Woodshop with Scott Phillips is brought to you by Woodcraft, since 1928, providing traditional and modern woodworking tools and supplies to generations of craftsmen. Woodcraft, helping you make wood work. - Pro tools for tool pros. (Upbeat Music) RIKON tools. -Woodcraft magazine.

Projects, plans and web links designed to help you make wood work. PS Wood home of Timber Wolf Swedish Silicon steel bandsaw blades and super sharp scroll saw blades. - A bed to sleep on, a table to share meals, a house that feels like a home. The Furniture Bank of Central Ohio providing furniture to neighbors in need. - Where would we be without the right light in our home? Okay, and if you're a woodworker, you can create beautiful things that people go, "Where did you find that?

" Well, I made that.

We turned this pine cone column and resined and turned maple to Walnut base on the show, and then these luminaries over here these candles are battery powered, totally safe. Those were a fun scroll saw project and all those are available 24/7 at our website. So be sure to check that out. Now today my muse has challenged me to come up with one that will rival that luminary lamp. And so, a while back, and we're using LED lights for all of this because you just can't beat it. And it's a three-way light. So, you'll see details on that in a second. But look at that gnarly piece of wood, I mean it's just grand and it came off of this turning that's big leaf maple burl. And so, this was scrap that some people wanted me to cut it up into pen blanks. Oh, no way, that's just too majestic. I mean, look at that wood it's just gorgeous like the grain on it. And then this is a burl. And then look at this, this came from Brazil, and it was harvested in an environmentally responsible way. And this is called pequea. I live in the city of Piqua but this is wood that the tree had been dead for 60 years in the middle of a wet area, it was the only tree. It had been burned out, it was hollow. They harvested it and got these slabs. And I bought this from a retailer. And now, this is the perfect piece saving all of these natural edges to use as a base. And then what I have to do, is marry this piece to it and turn it into a lamp. Simple?

Absolutely.

So, here's what we're going to do. I want to show you the key to all of this. And that is to take a lamp part. You can go to a habitat restore or Goodwill and buy a lamp and save the parts. That way it's all UL approved, or you can buy a lamp kit. And that rod is three eights of an inch in diameter. Get the length you need for the wood you're working with. And then what I'm going to do, is take this piece because that's the way I want it right there to orient it. And the rod's going to go through a hole right in there. And then I'll put a piece of copper here to create the union, make it very uplifting. But, for all that to happen, I have to drill a hole for that rod to come all the way through this side piece. This will be cantilevered like that. So, to drill that hole, the first thing I need to do is use a Forstner bit right there. That's a bit tricky and it has to be that type of Forstner bit. It has to have multiple spurs on it for you to be able to do what I'm about to do. So, here's what's cooking. We'll bring this over here, and rotate this in to a position where I can clamp this with a hold fast, like so, that's what this is. And let me reconfigure that slightly right there like that. You don't want to be gentle with that. And I'll bring this Forstner bit up, and what I can do then is brace this to my body, and get it into an established flat, (machine buzzing) and lemme tighten that just a bit and create a square shoulder, for that mechanism to fit on in the copper tube. Now, watch that. Okay, and I'm going to bring this around and since this is going to be the base, this is the front this is the back. I need to drill a hole right now that joins the base, for a place where I can put the cord through. So, let me ease that up. You'll see what I'm talking about just a second. So, the cord hole is gonna go right through there. I'll swing this around the other way so you can see it. A good front vice is key to all of this working well. And I'll hold that securely. I don't want to crack the wood, ease it up like that, just like that. Okay, one more crank, right there we go. I'll get that out of the way. No ankle busters here, I'm being careful. I'm using a spade type bit to, that's three eights of an inch in diameter, chase a hole through the back side. Now, at the right angle, I'm going to drill a hole. Remember this will be the top of the lamp. This will be where the cord goes through. And this is called a piloted spade bit. And whatever you do as you're drilling, you want to make sure you evacuate the hole. (machine buzzing) So what I'm doing is clearing the chips. If you do not what that bit to become a permanent part of that wood, you want to take it easy. And as you're working your way all the way through. Oh good, I'm through. Look at that, that's amazing. You think that's hot? Well, that's where the cord's going to go right there. Okay, well, I'm glad that worked because I only have one piece of wood like this, that's perfect. Now, how did I make this? Well, as I said earlier, this came as scrap from that burl blank that I cut out, big leaf maple burl and I used bandsaw. And so at the bandsaw, I simply cut it round following a circle, and then once that was cut out, it was easy to save this for just the right project. Now, let's head outside to sand these work pieces to perfection. What's the most important thing about sanding? Wearing a dust mask, a good one at that. And working outside is even better, because you don't have to deal with the dust that sticks all over everything in your shop. Now, here are the three sanders that I really like. I like the five inch over the six inch random orbital sander. Why?

You have more effective torque, and you can flex into the curves when you sand. And you'll see more on that in a second. This little detail sander the triangular shape, is great in tight spots and yes the bane of most wood workers, a belt sander. You go, you really can't do much with that. I don't know how you're using it, because I can do a lot with this. As long as I do two things, number one, that metal plate the Platte and on the bottom keep them flat when you're sanding on the surface and you end up with a great surface. Number two, use good belts, and don't get them so hot that it blows the seam that holds the belt together. Turn it off, flip it around. You get more life out of a belt as long as you have one thing, let me get that off. It's being a little ornery. As long as that tape seam right there is on a diagonal, disregard the directional arrows reverse it. It gives you more effective grit. So I'm going to sand this down, and then I'm going to show you how in the world do you sand all these super tight bud spots. Well, we do that on the drill press, say what? So, I'll get set up, do some sanding, then it's back inside to the drill press to sand those. Okay, gonna start out simple on a few of these edges with the detailer, and I'm gonna swap this out. Velcro is a great invention. That's all I use any more. (machine buzzing) I can't wait to get a finish on this, but before we do that I must sand all these epicormic buds. You go what are those, from the burl? Well, that's where branch DNA was on this wound on the tree. And the burl was trying to heal the wound usually fire scars, but not always. And then it just goes crazy, and it produces all those bud patterns that give you that wonderful grain. And to sand it, what we're going to do is use what's called a Sandoflex. And whatever you do, be sure to read, understand and follow all the instructions that come with tools and products you use in your woodshop, work safely. And then on this one, the Sandoflex. It says don't run it at more than 2,500 RPM. That's why we have this set up at a thousand RPM, which is just perfect to work into all of these nooks and crannies. Now, this has brushes and this has 60 grit abrasive strips that's curled up on the inside, kind of like an octopus. So, you just released the nut when you need to pull more out, and tighten it back down. And this flexes into all of those tight spots. So dust collection on, here's my dust collector, here we go. And we'll just sand it down always presenting it into the rotation in a controlled way. So, there's the dust collection. Ambient air cleaner is on as well. So, get that clear, and now watch how this flexes in. (machine buzzes) And that cleans it up beautifully. And that cleans it up beautifully. So I'll get this sanded and cleaned off. And once we get this done, and don't even think of doing this without a dust mask on, and control that work piece whatever you do. Once we get this all cleaned up, we have to finish drilling one more hole, and then it's on to assembling the three-eighths inch rod. (machine buzzing) Man, oh man, that's looking sweet. So, on the burl base, the epiformic buds pointing this way. This will be the front, but the back will look cool too. And so that's the front. You can see how the cord goes through that diagonal freehand hole that we did earlier. That was three eights of an inch in diameter. And now we have this hole, that you saw the flat being drilled earlier with the Forstner style bit, multi-spur. And now what I need to do is bring that up and get this located so it's clear and gently. I do not want to crack this. This lamp post is going to go all the way through. That's a three-eighths inch threaded rod right there, and it comes down here and I, that gets nutted. The cord goes up and in like that, and for that to happen I have to open up that three-eighths inch diameter hole a little bit. (machine buzzing) I don't want it too big, I just want it to be a perfect fit. Let's see if that does it. Oh yeah, I can force that all the way through now, because it's three eights of an inch, but I don't want to do that just yet. Because as I'm looking at that, I need to get this set up so that it's positioned the right way, and I'm going to use these heavy duty construction fasteners through a counterbore in the bottom to join these two parts together. And that's important because, see how that goes in, so that this will stay flush just like that. And you obviously want to plan it, so that it doesn't go all the way through the work piece. So I know exactly where to slide that up. So now, I'll swap this out, use the driver, and join these two pieces together. Make sure you drill pilot holes for all of this. And I'm going to ease that down, swap out drivers, and these are, I call them sneaky feet, because they're so easy to do. And they elevate this beautiful burl base. And obviously, I have pre-drilled all these holes, that's just a inch and a quarter dowel rod right there with a hole through the middle needs a bit of sanding there on those, but let's bring this up. And this has to come around like this right here. That's because that's the front right there is that drifts down and that looks good. And I've inserted the rod now and nutted it on the bottom. Nothing else with the lighting yet, because we have to do the finishing. Okay, I'll get this board scrap board up that I finish on, and we'll be using Arm-R-Seal. You go, wait a minute that's bothering me. What are we gonna do with that? Well, right here, this is ordinary copper pipe. And you use a hacksaw to cut that off, like so, steel wool it to get just the right look four ott steel wool, watch those sharp edges, from the cut, that's good. And that will go up on there like that. And that gives us just the right amount of room to trim that off but we have to do the finishing now and this has been tacked off. So it's clean everywhere, and on the burned areas, you need to be careful with that, because if you brush on the Arm-R-Seal onto that, now you could raise that burn. And I want to keep that, I didn't sand that off. That was centuries in the making.

This slab right here is over 1100 years old. How cool is that? That it has new life. And so, again, this was harvested responsibly, working with the community and all proper permits from Brazil. And this is big leaf maple burl and this is the majesty of it right here. This is why you work with wood. When you start brushing out that grain. Oh my, it just looks spectacular. That's the payoff as a woodworker right there. I mean, that's just outstanding, it's breathtaking. And every time I turn this on, or hopefully Suzy turns it on, it will just bring a warm glow. And then the base is just grand, but not to be outdone. I want you to see the explosion of color and grain that you get from this burl up here. Just look at that. That's just whew! And it doesn't stop there. This wood just keeps on giving because as pretty as that is, wait until the light illuminates this. It's gonna be spectacular. So, I'm going to get this all brushed out and all finished and then we'll come back and put on, once the finish is dry, all the parts and you'll see the light once she's done. But now it's off to Suzy's Barn Shop to see her doing some finishing on her cabinet doors for her tool keep, all right. At Suzy's barn, we've used these and these are amazing, 1500 lumens, batteries that last, you use them outside on motion sensors, solar charged and this thing holds a charge, great batteries in it. And inside you can just run this to a window and use it, turn it on right there. These are great. Come a long way.

Now let's see what Suzy's doing. Hey, I recognize this. - Yes, little did you know when I saw it that I already had in mind for it to be a perfect tool cabinet for me not you. Thanks for building it and I love the doors. - Well, the doors are coming together, but it's also built in clever because I can't take it. That's right. Its fixed to the wall. - That's the point. - Okay, now, a couple of things on this see these 35 millimeter holes in the back or pockets, they fit on these 35 millimeter hinges that are adjustable six ways. And these are hydraulic, so, they're slow closing. - Perfect. - Yeah. Now, as far as the finish time for you to give us your pointers. - All right, yeah. Really make this cherry and Oak come alive. - Excellent. - Okay, now it's time for some finishing tips. First of all you always wanna wear safety glasses, gloves, and work in a very well ventilated area, which this is it's great. You can brush it in and then get out, let it air out. I am using waterlox. It's a penetrating tung oil and it's really gonna soak into the grain and just really make that patina of the wood just really pop and this Oak and cherry, it just really goes on nice. And I'm gonna brush it out, but you can use a roller or a rag. If you use any rags or anything when you use a finish like this, the tung oil, it can combust. So, you don't wanna leave any of the rags in your shop. You wanna make sure you dispose of all of those. It's always a good idea just to toss them out on the ground after you're finished and then before you leave you can get rid of them responsibly. And you can just really see how, boy, that tung oil is soaking in to this cherry and bringing the color up, and in the barn, there's a lot of changing temperatures. And that's another reason I chose to use this finish. Because it's really gonna hold up. The oil is really gonna take care of the wood with the changing temperatures in here and just gonna keep brushing this in, man, that's looking great, I love it. It's gonna really show off my tools. So, we'll let this dry for about 24 hours and then we'll put the doors on the cabinet and see how it all looks. All right, got the last screw in there and let's see about those self-closing doors. - It's magic. - I love it. Nice touch on the pulls. - Thank you. You have to know your customers. - Absolutely. - Okay. I can't wait to see how you have this trimmed out next week more on that, let's head back to the wood shop to finish that lamp. The finish should be dry. - All right, get going. - And you too. [Suzy laughs] Now, here's the payoff, the finish is dry on the burl base. And I just use the lamp kit to put the harp up to hold the shade. LED three-way bulb, with a nice daylight, 5,000 K output, which means it's great to read by for me everybody's different, but that's what I like. And so, let's check it out. There's one, that's low, medium, and high power, I love it. Now, why do I do woodworking? Well, if you're a woodworker, you already know that answer. There's nothing more satisfying than using your own hands to create things that enrich our lives. So, that's it from The American Woodshop. Now, go make a custom lamp of your own and do it safely and go with LED because they'll save you a bunch of money. And last for years and years, see you next week. - [Announcer] Woodcraft, since 1928, providing traditional and modern woodworking tools and supplies to generations of craftsmen. Woodcraft, helping you make wood work. Pro tools for tool pros. (upbeat music) RIKON tools. - Woodcraft magazine, projects, plans and web links, designed to help you make wood work. PS Wood, home of Timber Wolf Swedish Silicon Steel bandsaw blades, and super sharp scroll saw blades. - A bed to sleep on, a table to share meals. A house that feels like a home. The Furniture Bank of Central Ohio, providing furniture to neighbors in need. - For more information on tips behind The American Woodshop, and watch free episodes 24/7 check us out online and like us on Facebook. (bright upbeat music)

Support for PBS provided by:

American Woodshop is a local public television program presented by WBGU-PBS

The American Woodshop is generously supported by the following companies: