Some time ago, we made a trip to the regional lumber yard from which we usually acquire Hawaiian Koa.  But this time, they had something new for us to play with; Tasmanian Blackwood.  Like Koa, this wood is often used to craft fine musical instruments.  We bought some seriously rustic cut off chunks with knots and embedded sawed off limbs that were so dirty on the outside it was hard to even tell what the grain looked like.  We used one chunk to make a Mid-Century style 'traditional' lamp (complete with hand made shade) and liked it so much we decided not to sell it (see our website).  We understood after that just how beautiful this wood is, but we only now got around to using another piece for a second lamp.  We don't really want to sell this one either, but we're running out of space!  So we present the 'leaning tower' of Tasmania--a super modern geometric 'deconstructed' table lamp.

 

This lamp was styled to emulate enormous metal sculptures found in so many public spaces, with arching panels of geometric forms.  Only this one is made from really cool wood, and designed to sit on your table.  We used one 3 inch thick chunk of Blackwood with an embedded limb to create the three vertical panels, resawing the chunk, hand planing it, and arching the cuts to create three overlapping panels.  This process of resawing revealed the heavily figured grain of the wood surrounding the embedded limb which is spectacular.  A second, smaller chunk was used to create the base.  Again, the chunk was resawn and then biscuit joined.  The raw shape was then cut into a sort of trapezoidal form to accent the panels of the lamp, and one of the cut away sections was then subdivided into three irregularly shaped feet to add yet another level of geometry to the total effect.

 

We used a hole saw to create openings for circles of blue and white stained glass with a swirling pattern that emulates the spiraling grain patterns in the wood, and attached the 3 panels to the base with a system of hidden dowels.

 

The lamp was finished with multiple coats of hand rubbed oil and urethane satin finish.  It includes a long life LED 'warm light' Edison-style bulb to further enhance the warmth of the wood grain, on a 6 foot cord with in line switch.  It is irregularly shaped and measures approximately 15" tall x 10" wide x 9" deep.  It is very heavy for its size because Tasmanian Blackwood is a very dense wood, and this necessitates extra shipping charges.