I saw this fireworks light bulb when I was on the internet one day and I thought it looked great so I ordered one.  Once it arrived I could not wait to put it in my lamp but I was so disappointed because the effects were lost once the lampshade was put back on.   So I wanted to try and make a wooden block lamp with no lampshade so you could see the effects of the lightbulb. 

How to make a wooden block lamp

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Make the block

Because all my projects are made from recycled materials, I wanted to try to use what I had at home to make this lamp.  To get the wood thick enough to make the block I glued some scraps together. 

Once my glue was dry, I set the table saw fence to the size that I wanted my block.  I did not do mine as a square I went for the biggest I could get out of my block with was 13 cm high x 12 cm width x 10 cm thick.

Add some decoration.

Straight away I thought my block was boring and needed something to make it look more attractive.  I used a ruler and pencil to divide the block into sections.  Once I was happy with the pencil lines, I set my table saw blade to 1 cm high and ran the wooden block through to make shallow cuts in the block.  I only added the cuts on the sides and not the top and bottom.  There were some small areas in the grooves that had a small blow out in the wood.   To fix this I used some 120 grit sandpaper folded in half and pushed into the grooves to smooth them out.

I wanted a softer look and not just a big block of wood.  I used a wood router with a curved router bit to remove all the square edges for a softer look. Next, you can use an orbital sander to smooth out the surface.  To hide the wood, blow out I added some wood filler, and it was hardly noticeable once sanded.

To add the light fitting

I marked out the centre of my block.  I wanted my fittings to be hidden inside the block.  To do this if you have the correct size spade bits it is super easy.  But I did not have one, so I had to do mine the hard way.  First, I used a hole saw to cut down as far as it would go.

Then I used the biggest spade bit that I had which was 25 mm to remove the bulk of the wood from the hole.  To remove the wood that was leftover was easy to remove with a hammer and chisel. I repeated this process until my hole was deep enough to hide the fitting.

My hole did not go all the way through the block, so I had to drill a hole using a large drill bit for the cable to fit through.  I also chiselled out a small channel in the wood for the wire to fit into so that the block could sit flat.  

To tidy up the channel I used a round file to smooth out the wood, so the wire sits flush.

To tidy up the hole in the top of the block I used the router and curved bit to remove the edges.

Add stain and polyurethane.

I stained the block using cedar stain and gave it 2 coats of polyurethane.

To add my varnish, I used a foam paintbrush and a small paintbrush to get into the small grooves. Make sure you do not add to much varnish to the grooves, or you will end up with runs.

I am lucky enough to have an electrician for a husband, so he wired my lamp up for me.  The bottom of the fitting was secured to the wood using epoxy glue.

Finished lamp

It is a bit boring to look at during the day, but it looks totally awesome at night.

The pictures do not do them justice.

These are some of the other light bulbs I ordered, the pictures definitely don’t do them justice. 

I ordered this one as a night-light for my great-niece, but I think she is more likely to wake and dance than sleep.  It would also be great for a party.  I made a short video of the spinning light bulb to show the effects.   It lights up the whole room.

This is the spinning one in use. 

Are you looking for more lamp ideas?

How to recycle and empty bottle into a lamp.

You can make this Game of thrones lamp using a Jack Daniels bottle and a tea light candle stand.

If you are looking for any of the items used in this project, please consider using our links. By clicking on the links we will earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.  Which helps us come up with new and exciting ideas to share with you.