Firewood Lamp with a Twist - Arbortech Ball Gouge Projects
320A diy project using the Arbortech Ball Gouge grinder attachment on a piece of firewood to make a simple house lamp. Added a twist to this one which has turned out into another good looking lamp I think.
Having a pillar drill is useful although not totally necessary and a hand drill would work well. This pillar drill is a 1939 Delta which came over to the UK from the USA as part of the lend and lease arrangememnt. It still works well but i did notice a little bit of smoke coming out the top of the motor not so long back when it was under load.
I marked 6 roughly equal lines around the outside of the log that I had chosen. The center was allready fairly hollow and rotten and the outside of the timber dry and without splits. i used a suitable sized forstener bit to drill out between each line leaving a gap.
Keep drilling as far as you can, as you keep going round it will core itself, this piece of wood had a major rot running all the way up and through it which made it a bit easier to carve out.
The ball gouge is a decent bit of kit, it was a case of just sticking it in and then running it along the slot making it smoorth and of a fairly consistent width.
I used a router sled and quarter inch router to flatten a ring i cut off another piece of firewood which has split, The split was ideal for running the cable in and with a bit of router work to clear out the center worked nicely.
Finished it all off with OSMO Poly x hard wax oil in satin and applied with a sponge. A great finish, brings out the grain and gives it a great colour and protective coating.
Arbortech Ball Gouge https://amzn.to/2B57QSa
Makita 115mm grinder https://amzn.to/2S63ILM
Forstener bits https://amzn.to/2HxxJQh
Abrasive Wheel sanding flaps https://amzn.to/2Sa87x0
Osmo https://amzn.to/2HvnwUA
Vintage light fitting https://amzn.to/2B7z4Yv
Power lead and switch (UK) https://amzn.to/2B618vz