Mother's Christmas Lamp: BUILD IT IN ONE EVENING

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Christmas just wouldn't be . . . well, Christmas . . . without a few old-timey artifacts and decorations to prod us all into the right frame of mind for the season. And this little "fancy but homemade" oil lamp designed by the band of merrymakers who inhabit MOTHER's research labs is just the kind of holiday decoration that can do the job. 'Tain't hard to put together, either. Matter of fact, you can handle the whole project in one evening if you already own a few basic power tools.

Kick this one off by gathering together two 3/4" X 3-1/2" X 5-1/2" pieces of the nicest hardwood you can find, a 3/4"X 3/4" X 24" piece of the same wood, 8" or so of 1/4" dowel, 1" of 3/8" dowel, and four pieces of 3-3/8" X 5-7/8" single-strength glass. You'll also want to round up a glass bulb about 2-1/4" in diameter (try a drugstore, hobby shop, or novelty shop). a 4" X 8" piece of fine felt, velour, or velvet, some cotton "stuffing", an ordinary pipe cleaner, and a piece of 3/16" glass or copper tubing that's about 1/2" longer than the height of your glass bulb.

Begin your shop work by routing out a 1/8"-deep and 3/16"-wide groove down two adjacent sides of the 3/4" X 3/4" X 24" piece of wood. (Make these grooves right down the center of the two sides.) This is also a good time to use a router or shaper to cut a decorative border around all four sides of the upper surfaces of both the 3/4" X 5-1/2" X 5-1/2" squares of wood. (These decorative cute can be any shape that appeals to you. Just don't cut more than 3/8' in from the edge.)

Now drill four 1/4" holes—each 1/2" deep—into the corners of the 5-1/2" X 5-1/2" squares of wood. These holes are spaced 3-7/8" apart on their centers, and you must remember to drill one set of four holes into the "top" or "finished" side of one block and the other set of four holes into the "bottom" or "unfinished" side of the second block. This is a good time, too, to drill a 13/32" hole about 1/2" deep in the exact center of the square which will be your lamp's base (the one with its set of four holes in the top) as well as a 2-1/2" hole right through the exact center of the square which will form the lamp's cover (the one with its boles in the bottom).

Cut the 24" length of wood (the piece that you routed two grooves in) into four 3/4" X 3/4" X 5-7/8" lengths. Drill a 9/32" hole 5/8"' deep into the exact center of both ends of all four pieces of wood. Sand these four wooden corners, the base, and the lamp's cover and finish all six pieces of wood with stain or tung oil.

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