When I was a kid, my parents supplied me with a desk and a table lamp, in order to give me one less excuse for not doing my homework. It was a run-of-the-mill lamp; it had a fake marble base, a wood column with some fluting, and a bulb on top. Out of inertia, I kept it for about 35 years. But its classical styling never appealed to my contemporary tastes.

As I pondered what woodworking projects to do, my eyes fell upon the lamp. The time had come to replace it. After much Googling, I came across an article for an attractive contemporary-styled lamp at the Amateur Woodworker site.

My first thought was to build it out of exotic wood, as I had done with my Wooden Super Probe. But my local Woodcraft store did not have the sizes I needed, so I retreated to Lowe's (or was it Home Depot? Who can tell?) and bought red oak instead. It was just as well, since I ended up making mistakes and throwing things out, which is much less financially painful with oak than with exotics.

Speaking of making mistakes, I must vehemently disagree with one part of the Amateur Woodworker article. It advises cutting a hole in the base big enough to accept the stem, but fitting snugly enough around it to show no gaps. I, with my level of skill, was unable to do this. I tried and failed twice.

A mortise and tenon joint

So instead, I made the bottom part of the stem narrower, turning it into a tenon. I could then cut a smaller mortise hole in the base. The hole no longer needed to be perfect; it was completely hidden by the shoulder of the tenon.

After assembling, staining and finishing, there was just one thing left to do: give the old lamp away to charity and declare a big fat tax deduction for it!