Stonescape Lamps....: Driftwood Lamp 101 ( Ha

First and second pictures show the threaded tube epoxied in place. I usually use a full length tube that goes from the bottom of lamp through to the top of whatever middle piece I use for most of my lamps (sometimes easier said than done) but with this piece of driftwood I had to use two shorter threaded tubes - one for each end. This piece of driftwood has a lot of character - aka split/cracked/twisted - making drilling full length not easy. I will probably put some dowels in a couple spots to strengthen the wood further even though the wood is well seasoned and stable but I still prefer to pin it in a couple places.

The second and third picture are of the top threaded tube that will have the lamp socket and harp added on the end that shows. 3 inches of the tube - unseen - is down the drilled hole and will be epoxied in.

In the 2nd to last picture the smaller hole shown drilled in the side of the driftwood is the exit hole from my attempt to drill a hole all the way through from top to bottom with a 1/4" diameter 18" long drill bit. With the twist in the wood and the drill bit being not the thickest to start with I got a good "bit" of the way through but not all the way. A 1/4" hole will be enough for the lamp cord to get through but I then needed to drill cross holes to meet another 1/4 hole drilled from the inner end of the 3/8" hole I had drilled in the bottom. This is the first time I've used this technique so I drilled more holes than I wanted (only 3 in the side) but I will make some plugs out of some other driftwood. The side holes were made to be able to fish the lamp cord to and thru to the 1/4" hole.