Make a Steampunk Solar Night Light in 10 Steps
Drill wood block
credit: Winged Fist
For the base of this lamp, I used a piece of Brazilian hardwood called "Massaranduba," the same type of wood I used for my Steampunk 3rd Hand and my Steampunk incandescent USB lamp.
What makes this wood great for a lamp base is its density, which provides the necessary weight for the base of a lamp. It also makes it very difficult to drill!
Critical for this build is a good set of hole saws and a clamp. Cheap hole saws would likely have snapped in this process. And the clamp is absolutely necessary to prevent the block of wood from spinning around.
In the picture above, I had already painted the edges of this block of wood, which was a mistake. I should have waited until all the sanding was done, as I had to paint it again.
Once the wood is securely clamped, use hole saws to drill a set of concentric circles, as seen in the photos above. Use a file, knife or other sharp tool to scrape away the excess wood. I chose not to drill all the way through the block of wood, as I wanted to mount the dowel into the wood block base.
The result should be a sort of donut drilled into the wood, that will hold the hollow dowel in place.
Social Hub