A Book of Vintage Lamp Making Designs

ELECTRIC LIGHT STANDARDS

The decorative value of a standard lamp is secondary to its function which is to provide a movable light at the correct height and angle. The indispensable shaft should be slender and graceful in appearance and the base of sufficient spread and weight to support it and the shade it carries. These contemporary designs are clean and simple in outline, and can be made without drilling and turning. The shades for the lamps require careful consideration. An excellent plan is to use white opal glass as an inner shade opening upwards. Much play and ingenuity can be used in making the outer shade which is open top and bottom. On the usual metal framework plastic strips are suggested in design (A), varnished paper in (B), and preformed, bent, or woven veneers in (C). The latter is a suggestion only and somewhat outside the scope of the home craftsman

FIG. I. ALTERNATIVE DESIGNS FOR CONTEMPORARY STANDARD LAMPS

An inner white opal glass shade opening upwards softens and spreads the light. Suggestions for the outer shades are: (A) plastic, (B) paper, and (C) veneers

GOOD straight-grained hardwoods such as beech, mahogany, oak, or white sycamore, etc. should be used.

Shafts.—These are similar in all three designs. (A) and (C) are hexagonal, and (B) is given an octagonal section. To assist readers in setting out the alternative sections the methods are shown in (A) and (B), Fig. 2. A hexagonal (six-sided figure) is obtained by striking a circle (see plan A, Fig. 2), and using the same setting of the compasses to divide the circumference into six as indicated. The points can be connected by straight lines. An octagonal (eight-sided figure) is obtained by striking a circle as shown in (B), Fig. 2, squaring it, and using a set square of 45 degrees, the line touching the circle all round.

Stuff 1 1/4 in. thick, finishing 1 1/8 in. is used in all designs, but needs to be wider in (A) and (C), see sections, Fig. 2. After trueing up, work 1/2-in. wide by 1/4-in. deep grooves along both pieces centrally. Use glue sparingly when putting together or the hole formed by the grooves may be blocked with excess glue.

Square off and put temporary plugs in the central hole and carefully strike off the hexagonal or octagonal shape at each end with a hard pencil. The bench top should be perfectly level when planing off. If not, use a stout piece of about 4 in. by 3 in. timber 6 ft. in length fixed in the vice and supported one end. The octagonal (B) will be found easier to work than the hexagonals, for which the plane will have to be used at an angle for the third and fourth face. A heavy cramp of sufficient length to hold the shaft at each end fixed to the bench or held in the vice would be