Lamp Shades

One of our antique Lamp globes was shattered in an accident a few years ago... A mis-matched replacement was found and used until it too was broken...
These are expensive to replace and two would be needed, because matching the hand painted original would be next to impossible...
It was decided to make a couple of wooden shades, a simple pair of wooden cylinders constructed by attaching a bunch of thin slats to a circular frame...
The "challenges" on this project were in the making of a lot of identical parts quickly!  A sliding jig was made first for the small table saw's fence, to cut numerous thin slats in a hurry...

That was an idea that was seen on Facebook, of all places, though it was adapted a little to the use at hand...
When the thin strips or slats were all cut and sanded they were carefully taped together, then rolled and glued around the circular forms...

Those who know me, know that I favor using dowels to attach things... It was decided to use them here too, as additional support for the slats... This idea became the second "production" problem, in that a lot of them were necessary, 2 per slat, 27 slats around 2 lamp shades for a total of 148 dowels or pins... In the past, I've never had to make a tenth of that many at one time!
The cutting is easily done with the Scroll Saw...

One dowel is cut to the right length becoming the measure for all the others... The second step, is to sand both ends... Usually, this is fairly quickly achieved by hand, scratching and rotating the dowels on sandpaper...

With so many needed, it was a daunting prospect, thinking of sanding so many... But having done this so many times, and having lots of time while doing it, the Drill Press had always been considered as a possible solution???
In the event however, I chose the cordless Drill, chucking up each piece in turn, and using the Drill to supply the action!

Though still tedious, this way was definitely quicker and more uniform... It also gave considerable relief to my arthritic hands...
The finished size of the shades is 8" tall and 10" in diameter... Three coats of wipe-on poly were applied... Another "experiment" was attempted with good results, after finishing, the shade was placed under a desk lamp to try to gently bake the finish on, curing it... This too worked very well and the pieces were virtually odorless in less than 24 hours...
A different kind of project and ultimately pretty time consuming, but they look nice... Debbie loves them! 
Thanks for your Time!

8 April 2026