# Pair of lamps



## Howard Ferstler (Sep 27, 2007)

I recently purchased a new table saw, a Ridgid 4510 jobsite model that fits into my small shop with no problem. I already had a small Ryobi BTS-20, but I needed a somewhat bigger saw, and having two of them allows me to put one blade in the new saw for ripping work (a 24-tooth Freud Industrial ripper) and another blade in the second saw for general work (a Freud Diablo combo blade).

Anyway, my first project with the new saw involved making a couple of lamps for our guest bedroom. I chose cedar for the wood, because I intended to just urethane it and not use any stain, and cedar really responds to that kind of finishing nicely, with no blotching problerms and the like.

I got a big, rough-cut cedar board at the local Home Depot and planed one side with my Ridgid jointer and then ran the other side through my small Ryobi thickness planer. With the board thus smooth finished, I used my Ridgid 12-inch sliding miter saw, with a fine Freud Industrial LU91 crosscutting blade, to cut the boards into the lengths required for the main sections and then used the new Ridgid table saw to cut them lengthwise as required. 

The bases and tops were also cut with those saws. The finials for the shade tops were made out of leftover cedar “chunks,” with one given beveled edges via my Craftsman 6×48/9-inch disc sander and the other rounded off freehand with the same sander. Small bolts were glued into recesses in the finials so that they could be screw-mounted to the lamp harps. Circular recesses were machined into the bottoms of the two bases with forstner bits (mounted on my Ridgid floor-standing drill press), allowing for a flat bottom with the wires exiting, and small holes were drilled horizontally into those recesses to allow those wires to exit at the bottom-rear of the lamps.

Once the boards for the main bodies were glued up I used the new saw to cut bevels along the edges of one unit and used my Delta table-top shaper to roundover the edges of the other unit. I then used the shaper to cut decorative vertical V-grooves in the bevel-cut unit and used a rounded bit to vertical cut half-round grooves in the second. 

The bases and tops were beveled and rounded over accordingly, and so we had two lamps: one with a rounded-edge and rounded groove theme and the other with beveled edges and V-grooves to complement the bevels. The tops were installed with glue and screws that were recessed, with short dowels inserted and then cut off flush, to give the impression of full-dowel joints. The bottoms were held on just by screws, since down the line if one wanted to have shorter lamps the bottoms could be removed and the lamp bodies cut shorter, with the bottoms then reinstalled.

Each unit was given two coats of brushed-on Minwax urethane, and then, after a steel-wool rubdown, given two more coats of the spray-on version.

The electrical and finishing work was straightforward: sockets, screw shafts, harps, and of course shades. The photos show the lamps in our guest bedroom (also in the picture are two end tables that I made some time back, as well as picture frames – and photographs – that I also made), with a second showing the initial wood sections before the tops and bottoms were installed, and the third showing the finished lamps, minus their shades.

The project was fun, went fast, and allowed me to enjoy the new saw.

Howard Ferstler


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## JEC559 (Jul 1, 2009)

Nice looking lamps, Great Job.

I love cedar and I rarely see many projects with it. I always wonder if I am the only one that likes cedar.


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## NorCal Scot (Dec 31, 2010)

Very nice! Simple yet elegant.


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## sawdustfactory (Jan 30, 2011)

I love cedar and I rarely see many projects with it. I always wonder if I am the only one that likes cedar.[/QUOTE]

I like cedar, it just doesn't like me :no:. One of the only woods that gives me somewhat of a reaction...makes me sneeze a lot and also makes me itch. So I tend not to use it.


Great project by the way. Looks nice.


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## tymann09 (Mar 4, 2011)

the lamps look great. i am very fond of cedar as well. however it's a bit pricey thus the reason i don't use it


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## JEC559 (Jul 1, 2009)

I have heard that people react to it sometimes. I guess I am fortunate.


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## TGRANT (Jan 25, 2011)

The lamps have a clean elegance that reminds that sometimes less is more. Well done project.


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## Fudwrecker (Jan 27, 2011)

I love the lamps very nice!! I just bought the same saw Back in Nov) and although I'm new to all this - I love the saw and think I made the right choice - the stupid flip down lock that holds the splitter in place is annoying (i cannot get it go all the way down with the splitter inserted). Perfect saw for space restricted shop however and glad I got it


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## Howard Ferstler (Sep 27, 2007)

tymann09 said:


> the lamps look great. i am very fond of cedar as well. however it's a bit pricey thus the reason i don't use it


Interesting. I actually purchased a rough-cut 2x6 board, 8 feet long, at Home Depot for about ten bucks. (They had stacks of them.) The finished stuff costs more, but thankfully I have both a jointer and thickness planer to handle rough-cut woods.

I wish more board lumber was available this way. That would save plenty of money, I should think.

Howard Ferstler


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## Howard Ferstler (Sep 27, 2007)

Fudwrecker said:


> I love the lamps very nice!! I just bought the same saw Back in Nov) and although I'm new to all this - I love the saw and think I made the right choice - the stupid flip down lock that holds the splitter in place is annoying (i cannot get it go all the way down with the splitter inserted). Perfect saw for space restricted shop however and glad I got it


I just "modified" mine by installing an outfeed extension at the back. I also installed a zero-clearance throat plate that I made from 3/8-inch chipboard. To secure the back of the plate a tab was glued and screwed to the underside at the very back of the plate. I also replaced the knob on the height crank with a solid wood version that I cut and shaped myself. I have done the knob modification on all of my tools with knobs.

Photos are attached.

Howard Ferstler


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## Kenbo (Sep 16, 2008)

Wow, those are gorgeous. Very very nice work. Thanks for sharing these. I don't think I'll be letting Mrs Kenbo see these pictures any time soon though. :no:


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## aigolfer27 (Feb 6, 2011)

Gotta say i have seen it all now, Never thought i would see the day when guys pimp out there tools but now i have. Good looking though


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## tymann09 (Mar 4, 2011)

Howard,
i purchased 4- 1x8x19' red cedar for around 450 bucks. i know that it's a special order due to the length but i still felt it was pretty dang expensive.


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## Howard Ferstler (Sep 27, 2007)

aigolfer27 said:


> Gotta say i have seen it all now, Never thought i would see the day when guys pimp out there tools but now i have. Good looking though


Not quite sure what you are driving at when it comes to "pimping" my tools, but glad you like the look of either the lamps or the modified saw.

Incidentally, I decided the wood rail at the back would just get scuffed. So, I found a steel sleeve (part of a discarded torchiere floor lamp), sanded and cut it, and fitted it over the wooden dowel. Looks more trick than ever now.

Picture attached

Howard Ferstler


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## Fudwrecker (Jan 27, 2011)

Great mods to the saw! I use a out feed roller and come to think of that knob has fallen off twice!
For the plate did you trace the shape of the standard one and then use a scroll saw? I could actually use a dato throat plate and have a couple of times when a zero clearance would have been sweet!


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## Howard Ferstler (Sep 27, 2007)

Fudwrecker said:


> Great mods to the saw! I use a out feed roller and come to think of that knob has fallen off twice!
> For the plate did you trace the shape of the standard one and then use a scroll saw? I could actually use a dato throat plate and have a couple of times when a zero clearance would have been sweet!


The round steel bar does not turn (it is clamped between the arms, which helps stabilize the thing), but it is very slick and of course I coated it with good automotive wax. It is certainly as slippery as the top of the saw table.

Yes, I traced the plate onto a piece of chipboard (that had once been a shelf in an old hi-fi equipment cabinet), and used the bottom of the board for the top surface of the throat plate. I also stained it to give it some character, but did not coat it with anything else. I lightly planed the board to get it to the right thickness.

I cut the outer perimeter with a band saw. The saw blade actually does not retract enough to allow the un-grooved board to sit so that you can raise the running blade and cut the groove, so I carefully lowered it into place initially, with the blade running, using a larger board above to prevent any weird artifacts and kickback. Once the board was seated and the groove partially cut, I simply cranked the blade upward as it turned (holding the plate solidly in place) and finished the groove off. I drilled two finger holes, but actually only one was needed. Then, again, the holes serve as air intakes when the dust-collector is sucking away, which helps to pull dust away from the blade and out the dust chute.

Howard Ferstler


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