Japanese-style
modern lamp
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I came up with this design from gathering ideas from the internet. is is quite a simple project, except for
one part where the cut can be challenging. All the joints are butt-joints, no special joinery, as there are very
little pressure on a lamp and glue joints should suffice.is document shows the illustrations from
Sketchup Web, as well as pictures of my real project of making 2 lamps.
Here we go... Enjoy and feel free to copy, improve, make your own... I do not seek for any credit, copyright,
or anything of sort.
Christophe
It all starts with the wood...
For this project, I chose Ash and Roasted Ash for the rst one (on the le) and Teak and Wenge (on the right). I
like the constrast between 2 wood species. I realized later that I did not have enough Ash and Teak for the lid, so
I used Red Oak for that part.
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All the parts for building the lamp.
Do not worry about the 4 pieces for the lid frame, just cut 4 2x8 pieces of wood, and cut the miters (45 degrees).
We'll deal with the slant at a later stage.
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For the top and the sides, the design calls for 1/4" dados on each side but perpendicular to each other as shown
above.
Here is my method to set up a regular spacing between the dados:
All the parts for building the lamp are ready...
I actually did not cut the lid frame pieces, as they are no needed right away. e bottoms are not cut to size
either because their size depends on the electrical equipment that will be chosen (more about it later on).
I started to sand the pieces, especially the sides as they will soon be inaccessible with my orbital sander... and I
am not a fan of manual sanding.
I actually make a light sanding at each of the steps aer the glue is dry.
As usual, I begin with 80 grit, then 120, and nish with 220/240.
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Step 1 - Side glue-up
For each side, glue the side piece with 2 small structure pieces
(4" long).
e design calls for the horizontal dados to be on the outside.
e 3 pieces should be ush on the inside as shown on the
picture below (the second glue-up from the le, for instance).
is has to be done 4 times per lamp.
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Step 2 - Side glue-up
Take 2 of the sides glued in the previous step, and add 2 long
structure pieces (7" long), centered (3/4" at the top and at the
bottom).
e structure pieces should be automatically ush as they have
the same thickness (3/4").
is has to be done 2 times per lamp.
Step 3 - Body glue-up
It is time to glue up the body for the lamp, with the 2 complete
sides from the previous step along with the 2 sides le from
Step 1.
Make sure to take time to align all the parts. Clamp and wait...
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Step 4 - Lid glue-up
Time to glue the lid. Take the square with the dados
and add the 4 pieces with the miter.
All the pieces should be ush on the bottom.
Step 5 - Cutting the lid
WARNING: is part is quite challenging as this is not an easy classic cut on the table saw. Please be sure
that all safety precautions are taken before performing this step.
Safety is your responsibility!
e lid is securely clamped to a jig that I made and that goes over my table saw fence. at way, I just need to
push the whole contraption with my hands as far from the blade as possible.
e blade is set to 16 degrees (I made a few tests before the nal cut).
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Congratulations!!! You have almost completed your lamp!
To complete your lamp, you'll need to add the
electrical part.
Several options:
- add a socket and a power cable, so you can add a
bulb. If so, the lid should not be glued, so the bulb
can be easily replaced. A dowel system could do the
trick.
- add a LED spotlight (IKEA ~ $10.00) or a solar
LED light. If so, the lid could be glued (although
dowels would be stronger).
Do not forget to apply a nish to your lamp, inside and outside. For that kind of projects, my favorite nish is
Danish Oil. It is easy to apply and fast!!!
I hope you enjoyed this document. Feel free to contact me on Facebook if needed...
Christophe Lengagne
(Gatineau, QC, Canada)
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