Lamp Shade

[kelLOGg]

I had a pine board that I milled 1.25" thick and needed to resaw it to 1". The kerf is 0.092" so the cutoff was about 1/32" which I thought would make firepit kindling but when I illuminated it from behind (see pic) I thought this is not kindling. I am thinking now "lampshade" and advice from NCWW.

It measures 11" x 8' (I cut it shorter with scissors for easy storing and drying) and as a conical lamp shade it will require a sloped length of about 10". I assume it will survive light sanding and hope it will not crack when made into the final product. How would you make a lampshade from this? and finish it to prevent cracking? I need ideas for making/buying circular frames to which the pine will be attached to define the top and bottom of the cone.

 

[Berta]

If I was doing it. Lampshades don’t need to be round.

it.

 

[kelLOGg]

That's a good idea. Less stress on the wood and easy to make a frame.

 

[JohnnyR]

I made two of these out of 1/45" cherry veneer.
I got the frame and all the other parts for the whole lamp from Grand Brass Lamp Parts, LLC. I taped off the "joint" (joined to itself) and finished both sides with OSMO Polyx. The first one I braced the inside of the rings by notching out 1/8" kerfs in sticks which held the rings by pressure. I spent hours making sure they were co-planer - a lot harder than you would imagine. With the help of Donn Ward DRW we wrapped the veneer around it clamping along the way. When doing the second one, a clamp rotated on the circular ring and punctured the veneer. After several not so nice words decided to call it a day. Luckily the sheet of veneer was just long enough to make another. Next day I took off the clamps, the rings slipped out and it dawned on me it would be so much easier to just calculate the circumference and glue together without the frame. To do this I cantilevered three sticks off my work bench, the outside ones to clamp the shade in place and the middle one (taped with packing tape) as backer for glue joint. Using the braces I then re-inserted the frame and attached it with clear silicone caulk.

Yours is thicker and not as tight grained as cherry so it might be trickier. I would make it before you order the rings to make sure it will work. I've seen a suggestion of flooding it with epoxy and scraping it off. I tried this on a sample using slow drying epoxy, it worked but caused quite a mess so I didn't bother. you can see more of the construction in my gallery.

 

[JNCarr]

If it has to be conical, you will need to determine the base and upper frustrum diameters. The 11" width will limit the delta between the two (in other words it will need to be nearly cylindrical, not very conical) unless you cut it into triangular pieces, edge glue them (pretty thin for that), and then cut out the upper and lower arcs. That would then be wrapped around two forms and end-glued. This results in the grain running vertically, not horizontally as in John's (great looking) lamp.

 

[bainin]

If its not enough light transmission, here is a way to make transparent wood !

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/scientists-develop-transparent-wood-that-is-stronger-and-lighter-than-glass-1.5902739

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