And now for something completely different.....

[Robert McGowen]

I guess you will either hate it or like it and not much in between We have a "country" house and I made this lamp for the den. Turned from a dry cedar log. The top part was turned and is symmetrical, while the rest of the log is natural. The bottom was turned in order to get a flat surface relative to the top of the lamp and the inside of the bottom was then turned to get a cone shape for the lamp cord to hide in.

Two coats of Danish Oil, then the top part was Beall buffed. (yes, the Beall was on the lathe and I just horsed the lamp up.) 27" tall plus the shade and 9" in diameter. Was a pain to turn as it was off balance, weighed around 20 pounds, and was all done on a Jet mini with a bed extension. Thanks for looking.

[Jim Becker]

I like it, Robert. The rustic look sounds like it's just right for your usage, too...informal; comfortable; effective.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Robert I agree with Jim. I like it a lot. Nice rustic looking piece. Nice job.

[Ernie Nyvall]

Great idea Robert. Good job.

[Curt Fuller]

Since I was a kid I've vacationed in Yellowstone, Island Park, and Grand Teton and one of my favorite parts of any trip there is all the rustic lodges and cabins with all the log furnishings. I really like you lamp.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Robert - I like your lamp! Have made a few myself and been using them for years. Cedar one I removed the bark but have 2 birch that I left the bark on - just for effect. Lots of fun and always draws attention. Nice work!

[Jim Ketron]

I like it!
Great Job!

[Jonathon Spafford]

Hey, that is really cool... I like the rustic stuff!!! You did a great job on it!

[Christopher K. Hartley]

Robert, I love it, and you did a great job on choosing the perfect log with the way the branches come out of it. I like your choice of shade as well. I don't know if you've ever thought of it but you might want to try turning a thin shade.

[Jon Shively]

Yep, like the others above, really really like it. Our lifestyle and home is rustic so if you need a place for that, will send you my mailing address!! grin Looks very nice and have seen on TV the guys that turn the lamp shades, that would top it off nicely.
Question, did you drill a hole through the entire log to run the lamp bolt and cord? If so, did you use your lathe? Good job, thanks for sharing.

[Mark Patoka]

Looks really nice and not what most homes have. The last picture without the shade looks like you were trying to sharpen a very large pencil.

[Mike Ramsey]

That's one of those pieces that looks hmmmm, then it begins to look
better & better! Nice lamp & conversation piece!

[Rusty Smith]

Absolutely beautiful!!! I love the rustic look. Did you use a lamp kit, or pick up the parts from your local HW store? Maybe you could give a tutorial on it's construction??

[Robert McGowen]

Thanks for the comments. The hardest part about turning the lamp was that it was so off balance. You had to have room for the knots to clear the lathe when spinning, plus picking out the center of both ends was a lot of trial and error. Even when you were close to the center, there was still a lot of vibration as you weren't turning down anything but the top 1/4 or so, so it never balanced out. (Remember, I did this on a Jet mini lathe!) Also, the bottom and the first part of the top was like turning something with large mutiple voids. The tool would only hit a small fraction of the time until you got down into the meat of the log. Tools used were a round-nosed scraper and then a flat-nosed scraper the vast majority of the time. The lamp parts were just borg parts, about $12 total. I used an 18" x 3/8" drill bit to bore the center. Started at the top in the hole left by the tail stock so I knew it was in the middle. I then just eyeballed the bottom and actually met up the holes the first try!

[Glenn Hodges]

I sure do like it. It reminds me of the cypress knees we have down here in Georgia. You lucked up on the drilling, I would never be so lucky.