>> TOM: This week on Classic Woodworking, we're making this beautiful table lamp with guest Chris Becksvoort.

The design features bands of quarter-sawn maple veneer wrapping around cherry frame.

When switched on, the light filters through the maple veneer, creating a natural warmth and amber glow.

And although it's fairly easy to make and the parts are relatively small, this lamp is deceptively strong.

The frame is solid cherry, and put together with a combination of cross lap joinery, wedge through tenons in the base, and bridle joints at the top.

And that's all coming up next, right here on Classic Woodworking.

♪ ♪ >> Funding is provided by: >> Woodworking is a passion.

Woodcraft understands that.

We offer name brands and tools for fine woodworking.

Woodcraft, proud sponsors of Classic Woodworking.

And by Felder.

>> It's not only about work.

It's about fun and success.

We are with you.

Felder Group is your partner for your woodworking projects.

>> And by SCM-- a rich heritage of woodworking technology since 1952.

>> TOM: I'm really excited to make this beautiful lamp with a great craftsman and new friend.

He's been making furniture for over 40 years, and he's a renowned instructor and author as well.

He's Chris Becksvoort.

Welcome, Chris.

>> Hey, Tom.

Pleasure to be here.

>> TOM: It's so good to have you here to work on this project.

Now, you're primarily known for your working in the Shaker style.

>> They've had a great influence on my work, and I've been privileged to do restoration work at Sabbath Day Lakes since the mid-'70s.

>> TOM: What I love about this lamp is that it has this contemporary feel, but it's not really Shaker, is it?

>> No, no, I grew up with a lot of Scandinavian furniture, and that too has influenced my design, and this is what I came up with.

>> TOM: It's a beautiful lamp, and one of the things I really love about it is that there's just a few pieces to make the cherry frame.

Now, the piece begins with the base, and to make that, I'll head over to the table saw.

So to make our base, we want to create a cross lap, which is a dado cut, in the center, half the depth, so they press together and fit nice and tightly, just like that.

So now I've got a template that I made already with the dado centered, and I want to just mark it here and make another X.

And on the bottom of the other piece, and again, mark the location.

So now, I've set the blade height half the thickness of our material, and I want to start by just wasting away that gap.

(table saw whirring) Beautiful.

So, with the base cross lap finished, we're going to do the exact same type of process, making a cross lap for the thinner top pieces.

Make a nice little pencil mark.

(table saw whirring) So, we've got our cross laps all made, and now we need to mark out some joinery for the base.

>> First, we'll do the center hold for the post.

That's a three-eighths hole on the drill press.

So, we'll find our center.

The mortises are two and an eighth from the end, they'll go here.

We only need to mark one because you're going to set a stop on the mortising machine.

>> TOM: Great.

So, you'll take care of this center hole at the drill press, and then I'll head over to the mortiser.

>> Will do.

♪ ♪ >> TOM: So we've got all our mortises and our center hole cut in our base piece.

Now we're ready to do a little bit of shaping.

So, we want to shape this outer end of the foot, and then also cut that relief at the bottom to define the foot at the end.

>> So, we'll use your pattern, Tom.

And I will mark these-- hold them flush, both sides.

Okay, all set.

>> TOM: That looks great, Chris.

Now, how about you saw those out at the bandsaw, and I'll cut that shallow relief at the router table.

>> Great.

(bandsaw whirring) (router whirring) >> TOM: So we've got all our shapes cut-- our rounded-over feet and the leaf underneath.

Now we have to clean up those bandsaw marks.

>> We'll start with 150.

Perfect.

>> TOM: That's looking good.

Now we're ready to glue it up.

So that doesn't take much.

>> Nope.

>> TOM: Just a little dab, right?

>> Yeah, you don't want to get too much on there.

You don't really want a lot of glue in that hole.

So, we'll get that lined up... like so.

Squeeze it in.

>> TOM: Nice.

>> And then clamp it and put it aside.

>> TOM: Sweet, okay.

Beautiful.

Wow.

>> They squeeze dry.

>> TOM: Nice.

All right, so, with that drying, we can turn our attention to our uprights, and even though they're really small and light, they have some surprisingly strong joinery.

>> Yeah, we're going to put a three-eighths square tenon on the bottom, cut all the way around, you get to do that on the table saw.

And at the top, we're going to have a through mortise, or a bridle joint.

So, that's basically just a saw cut.

♪ ♪ >> TOM: All right, so I'm going to take these pieces and we're going to cut them in the same order we did the through tenons on the bottom.

Make our shoulder cuts first, then I'll set it vertically with our tenoning jig and make our cheek cuts to fit down into our bridle joint.

Then I'll set it vertically with our tenoning jig to make our cheek cuts.

So we've got all our tenons cut for our bridle joints, and now we can check out and see how they fit.

Nice.

>> Looks good.

>> TOM: All right.

All but one thing.

We just need to make that last little curve cut on those tenon extensions.

(bandsaw whirring) >> TOM: All right.

>> Here we are.

>> TOM: Nice.

So we've got our pieces sawn with that nice curve for the top, and we're going to sand them just like we did our feet.

(sander scraping) >> Nice and smooth.

>> TOM: That looks great.

Now we can glue those together and get them ready for our final glue up, but we just need to put a dab right on the cross lap?

>> Yeah, just one little dab will do it.

>> TOM: Okay.

Zip those guys together.

>> TOM: Nice.

>> Let's put a piece of tape on them.

>> TOM: All right, that sounds good.

Just tape across the joint?

>> Yup.

>> TOM: We're just about ready to glue up our lamp, but what's involved in gluing this up?

>> Well, before we do our actual glue up, we're going to cut kerfs for the wedges to seat these in the mortises.

So, what I'm going to do...

I'm going to take two of these at a time so we don't stress the vise.

>> TOM: Okay.

>> And the saw kerfs are going to be perpendicular to the bridle joints.

>> TOM: Okay.

>> Okay?

>> TOM: Got it.

>> So we're going to put these in the vise.

That's it, make it wander a little less.

(handsaw teeth grinding wood) I'm just eye-balling rough center.

>> TOM: Nice, yup.

>> And going almost all the way down to the bottom.

>> TOM: We're going to put glue in the mortises, but we don't really want much on the tenons?

>> No, it's going to tend to squeeze out, because we got very small shoulders there.

>> TOM: Right.

>> All right.

So now we're going to have to be very careful.

All of the bridle joints want to point toward the center of the lamp.

>> TOM: Right.

Okay.

>> Yeah, I'll let you do one.

>> TOM: Well, thanks, Chris.

Go right in there.

>> Okay.

>> TOM: Nice.

>> So let's place this on here temporarily to keep everybody in line.

>> TOM: Yep, okay.

Nice.

>> Okay, and then we'll give it a quick flip over.

>> TOM: All right.

>> And we'll get our wedges.

(hammer tapping) Good, we made four wedges.

Excellent.

(hammer tapping) So you can cut those off, or we can just take them off here.

You're still going to have to cut... >> TOM: Oh, that's a neat trick.

(laughs) >> Efficiency's what it's all about, Tom.

>> TOM: All right.

Now, I'm going to trim them off with a Japanese saw, just pretty much flush with the underside.

And there it is.

>> Good.

>> TOM: Our cherry frame.

And those wedges are really holding it tightly together.

>> So now we're ready for the veneer.

This is the best part of the lamp.

>> TOM: Absolutely.

So we'll just get things cleared off, and we'll get our veneer bands going.

Now, Chris, this is the fun part where we get to make the veneer bands that go around, and you can really use any kind of veneer for this, so why do you like to have this type of quarter-sawn maple veneer with this lamp?

>> Well, the maple is not only light in color, it lets a lot of light through.

Working with a darker wood, you don't get near the translucence, the ambience that you do with maple.

>> TOM: Right.

>> And the quarter-sawn is just amazing.

If you look at the ray fleck across there, it's almost like bees' wings, and as you move this a little bit, the shimmer really knocks your socks off.

I mean, it's a fabulous wood, and this is a great cut.

You got lucky.

>> TOM: I love this material, and I can't wait to see it in the finished light.

But we have to get our wider material into these two-and-a-quarter-inch- wide strips.

What I'm going to do is put a stack of ten pieces together, one extra in case we have a problem, and I tape the ends to keep them aligned.

Just a few pieces of masking tape will keep everything together.

Now I want to bring in this jig.

So I'm going to use that as my guide to rough cut this material.

I'm going to mark this side.

Pen's okay, because we're going to saw it off.

Now I'm going to cut this out on the bandsaw and then come back and get it into my jig.

(bandsaw whirring) So I've got all my veneer pieces over-sawn slightly for the jig.

I'm just going to position them on the lower part.

Then I'm going to bring in the top piece.

Now, before I screw them together, it's a good idea to pre-drill.

That keeps the veneer from splitting out the end.

Now we're ready to take it to the router table, and with a flush trim router bit in there, I'll trim these smooth to the edge and I'll have my ten strips, dead-on two-and-a-quarter wide.

(router whirring) All right, we've got all our bands routed to width.

Now we can check it out, see what we got.

Those look nice.

Nice and clean.

Now, we've got... our pieces are two-and-a-quarter wide, but they're over length.

How do we figure out how long to make these circles?

>> We're going to measure the inside diameter, multiply times pi, 3.1416, and then add three-eighths inch overlap.

>> TOM: Okay.

>> For the larger-- for the five larger rings, we're going to measure the outside, which is eight and seven-eighths times pi, plus three-eighths, and what we've come up with for the shorter rings is 25 and an eighth after we do the math.

And for the five larger rings, 28 and a quarter.

>> TOM: Okay, great.

>> So let's trim them to that size.

>> TOM: Yeah, so, I'm going to just square one end.

Now, I'm going to take that clean-cut end and make it flush with the end of our little story stick here.

Now I'll align my square and just go ahead and cut across.

Now, I'll need four of the shorter and five of the longer.

>> Correct.

This really makes quick work of it.

That was good thinking to make this little jig.

>> TOM: Now that we've got them all cut, we're ready to glue them up.

>> Let's glue up some rings.

>> TOM: So the first thing we need to do with our rings is mark the three-eighth-inch overlap, so I've set up a little square.

I'll just make that little tick mark and then bring it around and square it up using the edge of the table.

Now, Chris, what's the method for gluing these up?

>> Ah, there's a method to this madness.

>> TOM: Okay.

>> What we're going to do is, we're going to use these little backer strips, just little pieces of pine.

Tape one on the back of the marked end, like so.

I'm going to flip it over and tape one onto the front.

So we've got one on each side, and then I'm going to put glue on this little strip here, top to bottom.

>> TOM: Not too much.

>> Not too much, I don't want this stuff squeezing out.

>> TOM: Right.

>> I'm going to bring this around like so.

I'm going to hold it like this, I'm going to cover that pencil line.

>> TOM: Okay.

>> Hold both of these guys very tightly, and then use one of my clamps.

>> TOM: Okay.

>> My spring clamps.

Just like that.

>> TOM: Yeah, nice.

>> And I want to make sure that both ends are flush with each other.

And we'll put this aside... >> TOM: That one looks perfect.

>> ...And we'll go on to the next one.

>> TOM: Wow, here's your next one.

So we're just going to go through... >> You keep marking, I'll keep gluing.

>> TOM: You got it.

♪ ♪ Beautiful.

We made quick work of that.

>> All right.

Good job.

>> TOM: All right.

We'll just let those set out for a bit, then we'll be ready for our final assembly.

All right, we're ready to start assembling our lamp.

But we've got these extensions here that are in the way to fit our rings down the side, and we don't want to be pulling that off and putting it back on, so this will just be a little temporary helper.

We'll get it set in.

And then get a rubber band around there to hold it.

>> Yeah, hold everything together.

>> TOM: Now, can we just start gluing on our bands at this point?

>> Before we do that, let's get the light post in there.

This has to be threaded in.

This is a seven-inch rod that's threaded on either end.

>> TOM: Okay.

>> And we're going to get this started.

It goes in pretty tight, and what we may have to do is use a... use this wrench.

>> TOM: Okay.

So it won't need any glue on the stem, it fits so well, we're just going to... >> No.

It's a real tight fit.

Okay, so next on the list is to mark the locations of all of these rings.

And what I've done is I've made a story stick, and starting at the top, I've measured two and a quarter inch, a one-inch space, two and a quarter, all the way down.

And then I've brought these lines around.

This is where the space is on the outside, and we want to have five-eighths above and below, so this is where my top inside ring goes.

One-inch space, second one, one-inch space... >> TOM: Right.

>> ...Third, and fourth.

So we're going to mark these all the way around, inside and out.

>> TOM: Sounds good.

>> This is the outside.

So I'll just make a little tick mark.

>> TOM: Yep.

>> And I'll come around.

>> TOM: And that's the way we get that beautiful, filtered light coming through the lamp.

>> Exactly.

>> TOM: All right, so we've got all our marks set, now we're ready to start gluing on the rings.

>> Let's do the bottom ring first.

So we'll slide that around.

>> TOM: Okay.

>> See how easy that goes on?

>> TOM: Yeah.

>> So let's put a little piece of tape on there so it doesn't shift on us.

Yeah, and we'll get some glue going here.

Just pull it away as far as you can, get some glue in there and... >> TOM: Okay.

It doesn't take much, we're just trying to... >> Doesn't take much.

>> TOM: ...Keep it from slipping, basically, right?

>> Yeah.

Okay, so now we're going to take this, and again, the seam goes to the outside.

So, we can slide this right in there like so.

>> TOM: Okay.

>> I'm going to put a piece of tape over here and then adjust the other one.

>> TOM: Okay.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Beautiful.

>> Okay.

>> TOM: Okay, let's glue this one on.

Okay, that's it.

We're ready to sub out our little temporary top and glue in our top cross pieces that have the extensions.

>> Let's get a little glue in there.

>> TOM: Okay.

>> Little dab will do you.

>> TOM: And we just need it in the... >> In the slots.

>> TOM: The slot side.

>> Okay.

>> TOM: Okay.

Now, we can feed that in over there, and we'll work our way around.

>> Look at that.

>> TOM: What a good fit.

>> You'd think it was made for this.

>> TOM: Now we're going to squeeze it in tight to the shoulders... >> Yep.

>> TOM: ...and get that little clamp on there to pinch it.

Because we've got a bridle joint, it just squeezes that bridle joint right tight to the tenon.

>> Yup.

>> TOM: Beautiful.

>> Look at that.

>> TOM: Nice.

All right, so we're going to set the lamp aside, just let it dry for a little bit, and then we'll be ready for our finish.

So, finishing this piece is super easy.

I like to just use shellac, and you can buy it in the can like this.

We're using a clear version of it.

Now, I'm in a well-ventilated area and I'm just going to be misting it on, as well, so we won't have a problem with that.

But I like to do the hardest area first, so we're going to turn it upside down, then we'll spray inside, and then work our way down the lamp.

I'm just going to get in there and mist it on.

(aerosol can hissing) And get the bottom side here.

(aerosol can hissing) You want to keep the can moving so you don't get these pools of finish.

(aerosol can hissing) That's it.

So our lamp is nice and dry to the touch.

Now, let's see how you're going to wire this thing up.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Whoo!

>> Voila.

>> TOM: It's there!

Look at that light filtering through, and you can really see the flecking.

>> Yeah, beautiful.

>> TOM: It's really beautiful.

I've enjoyed this project so much, Chris.

I really appreciate you being here.

>> Well, thanks for having me.

♪ ♪ >> TOM: Join me next time for more great projects right here on Classic Woodworking.

>> Closed captioning is provided by AWFS, the Association of Woodworking and Furnishings Suppliers.

Funding is provided by... >> Woodworking is a passion.

Woodcraft understands that.

We offer name brands and tools for fine woodworking.

Woodcraft, proud sponsors of Classic Woodworking.

And by Felder.

>> It's not only about work.

It's about fun and success.

We are with you.

Felder Group is your partner for your woodworking projects.

♪ ♪ >> And by SCM-- a rich heritage of woodworking technology since 1952.

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♪ ♪