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Segmented Lamp Project

Segmented Lamp with shade
This segmented lamp is made from Plywood and Iroko.
Individually there are 252 segments of Iroko and 942 segments of Plywood. Each of the plywood segments are 5 ply with a veneer both sides of them, this would work out at over 6,000 pieces of individual wood. That is if you want to be precise, but in actual fact it is only 1194 segments.
I wanted to try it because people normally say that plywood can be glued together either vertically or horizontally. I wanted to combine these two elements, and introduce a third element, namely segmenting it.
I had to construct it in three sections. First was the base, the second was the vertical section which made the shoulder, and third was the neck. Unfortunately I did not photograph the three sections, so you will just have to take my word for it. After having glued the neck and shoulder to the base, I ran a bead of resin around that joint, and then re-turned and finished the whole lamp. Being an enclosed vessel as such, I did not have to turn the inside, but not wishing to be excessively heavy I turned all parts to a reasonable wall thickness, both inside and out.
Plywood however, tends to dull your tools rather quickly, so what I did was to use a really cheap set of tools, as you can buy on many auction sites on the internet. In turn they blunt even quicker, but there is a positive side, that being, that if you are like me and relatively new to turning it gives you a cheap way of learning to grind tools to the angles that you like. It still might not be the right angle, but it will be the angle that you find most comfortable. Therefore not a complete waste of money. I like working with Plywood because it gives you a whole new dimension, especially when you segment it, and it is a stable wood. The only downside I found was that you do end up with a lot of end grain.
Try it. Have fun!
This Picture shows the outside of the base, roughly finished.
The outside of the base, roughly finished.
This Picture shows the outside of the neck and shoulder, roughly finished again.
This Picture shows the outside of the neck and shoulder, roughly finished again.
This Picture shows the inside of the base, roughly finished.
This Picture shows the inside of the base, roughly finished.
This Picture shows the finished lamp.
This Picture shows the finished lamp
This Picture shows the finished lamp with shade.
This Picture shows the finished lamp with shade.