Modern Style Red Oak Table Lamp

I was in need of a gift for my parents this upcoming holiday season and they’re currently in the process of renovating an old guest bedroom. To go with their upgraded design, I decided to have a go at building a modern style nightstand lamp. 

I had a supply of leftover red oak flooring boards available to me. These boards had some imperfections with some knots and significant bowing or twisting, but for my purposes I was able to cut them into the necessary pieces for constructing the lamp. 

I wanted the general design to be something sleek but with a way to showcase the natural wood grain and color. I went with a rectangular prism constructed using a style of lap joinery to make the 90-degree angles for the frame of the lamp. I went with this specific method of joinery over other methods like butt-joints or spline miter joints as I think the corners of the prism look unique with the exposed wood ends on each of the three axes and matches the overall style I was aiming for.

Materials Used:

Red oak flooring boards (other species of wood can work but I recommend using a hard wood for the dimensions specified)

Finished dimensions:

Eight: ¾” x ¾” x 5”

Four: ¾” x ¾” x 20”

Two: ¾” x 1¾” x 10”

¼” plywood

One: ¼” x 4 x 4½”   

Wired light socket with switch

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B092T8G1MV?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

1/8” frosted acrylic panels

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07K15CCRB/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Cut to Four: 1/8” x 3” x 19”

(An additional 1/8" x 4" x 4-1/2" rectangle may be used for an an alteration) 

½” wood screws

Wood finish (I used Danish Oil which I think gives the red oak a nice look)

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Tools:

Miter Saw

Table Saw (Flat top blade preferred if using this tool for making the beam slots)

Router (Router table preferred if using this tool to make the beam slots)

Rabbit bit no more than ¼” thick and can cut at least ¾” deep

Screwdriver with an appropriate head shape and size

Power drill with a correctly sized drill bit

Sandpaper (I used 100, 150, and 220 grit)

Small file or rasp

The frame design is relatively simple and consists of wood beams of two different lengths, each with two prongs located at the ends. The prongs are dimensioned to fit snugly when placed in position. 

The rectangular frame I designed calls for a 5” x 5” base and measures 20” tall, but these dimensions can be altered to what is needed / how much wood you have available. I chose a hard wood like oak since I was aiming to make the beams ¾” x ¾” but if a softwood is used, I would recommend making the beams bigger, at least 1” x 1”. The length and thickness of the prongs on the beams follows the following guidelines (note these are only for beams with their length and width are the same):

Prong depth = beam thickness

Prong length and width = beam thickness divided by three

Gap between prongs depth = beam thickness

Gap between prongs length and width = beam thickness divided by three

Length of the cut area above and below the prongs = beam thickness divided by three

For the material used the thickness (X) is ¾”.

When cutting the stock into square beams try to make it as close to the stock thickness as possible. Depending on the quality of the wood used additional prep in the form of jointing or planing may be required.

The red oak flooring used had a tongue and groove on both sides of the board. Using a table saw I cut the tongue and grooves off, which left enough material to cut two ¾” wide beams. I would recommend cutting them slightly wider than the ¾” width to leave room for any sanding that needs to be done. If your cuts leave burn marks (like some of mine did) that might be the saw blade is dull, or the wood is being fed too slowly through the table saw. The beams are cut to their final length on the miter saw. 

Once the twelve beams are cut, lightly sand each of the four longer faces. Be sure to take care not to sand too much to significantly reduce the beam dimensions. I did my sanding by hand with a block sander and proceeded with the classic grit progression of 100 to 150 to 220 for the cut sides and just 220 on the already "natural" top and bottom faces. I tried to remove as many wood burn marks as I could but didn’t over focus on it. 

When making the prongs for each beam end this can be done in two ways. It can either be done with a router with a rabbet bit or a table saw with a flat top saw blade. If using the router option, the bit should allow for a cut depth of ¾” and have a maximum cutting height of ¼”. The table saw can be used to cut the slots out, but the sizes of the pieces may be a bit too risky for some woodworkers. Be sure to take the necessary safety precautions when using either the router or table saw.  

Using the router

Routers cut by spinning the router bit and taking small slices out of the wood. When using the method, I made sure to only take light passes in order to avoid as much chipping and fraying of the wood as possible. This may take a bit longer than the table saw method but allows for a smoother finish if performed correctly. I started by routing out the top and bottom 1/4" to make the center prong. After that I sliced into the center very carefully with small passes making sure to avoid any chipping or splitting of the wood in the center. I chose to make the prongs slightly oversized and then sanded them down to their final thickness.

Using the table saw

The table saw can be used to make the shallow cuts needed for the prongs, but extra care needs to be considered. The use of push blocks and cutting sleds will make the cutting much safer than trying to freehand it with just the table saw fence. Make sure to avoid dangerous practices like pinching the cutting material between the fence and saw blade. With the table saw I focused on cutting out the 1/4" chunks on the top and bottom to make the 1/4" prongs. This was done by raising the saw blade height to 1/4" and taking light passes from the end to 3/4" in from the end of the beam. After those are cut I raised the table saw blade to 3/4" and slowly cut out the center gap, making sure to leave just a bit more than 1/4" worth of material on both side. I chose to make the prongs slightly oversized and then sanded them down to their final thickness.

After the prongs have been cut on all the beams, do a dry fit to make sure everything fits together. Sandi anything down that isn't fitting together properly, making sure the fit is snug but not too tight.

Once the prongs are cut out, window slots are added to each of the twelve beams. These slots will be used to mount acrylic, paper, or other light shading material. These, like the end prongs, can be cut with either a router or a table saw. The slots are located on one corner of a beam with two 1/8” wide slots cut ¼” deep. To avoid any mistakes when cutting, dry fit the frame and mark the interior edge of each beam as that is where the slots will be.

Once all the beam slots are cut, soften the edges with a light 220 grit sanding. The purpose of this is to remove any sharp edges that are still present of the beams so don't go too hard with the sanding.

The four beams being used as the base of the frame get an additional groove cut into them to hold the plywood which the light socket fixture is mounted on. The two beams with the prongs horizontally aligned have a 1/4" slot cut 1/2" into the beam's bottom side while the two with the prongs aligned vertically get a 1/4" slot cut 1/4" deep into the beam's bottom side.

Fit together the bottom four beams oriented so the additional bottom slots are facing each other. Measure the length between each of the slots which should be around 4” x 4½”. Cut out an appropriately sized rectangular piece of plywood and notched out four ¼” x ¼” squares on each corner so the plywood can fit into the slot. Drill out a 1/2" hole in the center which will be used to thread the lamp socket wire through. Attach the plywood base onto the bottom of the square beam frame using a drill and ½” wood screws. drill two holes, each on one of the beams with the 1/2" wide slot cut out. Try to use thin screws and manually attach the screws to avoid any splitting of the wood.

The lamp base is made out of two 1¾” x 10” pieces and fit together with a center lap joint. The lap slots were cut using the table saw in a similar method that was used for cutting out the prongs. Once they fit together, glue them and let it cure. After the glue is cured, drill out a hole and file out a path for the lamp wire to pass through. Position the bottom frame of the lamp in the center of the bases and mount four screws through the plywood into the base boards. Thread the lamp socket base into position on the plywood and then mount that into the plywood and base using the included screws.

With all the material dry fit it should look like the last picture.

Dry fit the frame together and adjust any of the prongs or slots until they fit well. For gluing I started with the bottom part of the frame and applied a decent amount of wood glue to the inside of the horizontally aligned prongs and the middle slot of the vertically aligned ones. Clamps can be used to further secure the frame while the glue is curing. Once the bottom frame is cured, add glue to the bottom prongs on the vertical frame beams, making sure to avoid putting glue on the exposed sides of the prongs. Use a square or right angle block to try and keep the vertical beams at a right angle to the frame base.

Glue up the top frame as well but do not attach it to the top of the vertical beams just yet. The light diffusers still need to be attached and it's much easier to do that before the top is glued into place.

Follow the directions on whatever finish product you choose. I chose to use a natural toned danish oil finish which I think made the wood pop nicely, especially against the frosted acrylic.

Depending on what material you use for the lamp shade this step might be slightly different. This lamp design used frosted acrylic as the light diffuser. For the horizontal dimension, measure the space between the vertical beams. The vertical dimension is the length of the slots on the vertical beams plus the extra 1/4" from the slots cut into the top and bottom frame bases.

For my measurements this lead to cutting four acrylic panels to 3” x 19”

I chose to attach the acrylic to the wood using a small amount of super glue on the bottom and side pieces of the frame. Be sure to apply pressure to the light diffuser so they are attached smoothly to the inside of the lamp. Once all four light diffusers are secure add the top frame onto the vertical beam prongs, adding wood glue to the inside prongs. Like the bottom frame, make sure to avoid putting glue on the visible outside prong faces.

Once the glue is cured it should be ready to use. Personally, I liked the sharp lines and edges this design offers but alterations can be made to fit any style.

Chamfers or round-overs can be added to smooth out the frame and an additional light diffuser panel can be added to the top of the lamp to limit the amount of light the lamp emits. The lamp frame or base can be altered to a different shape or size and a different light diffusion material can be used. Other materials like a translucent fabric or lamp shade paper make good options. Small strips of 1/4" plywood can be placed around the top and bottom frame slots to hold the lamp shading material in place instead of super glue. This would allow for an easier time replacing or changing the shading material if need be.