To see the whole process on how to make the wooden lamp shade using hangers do not miss the videos. In the first video we can watch how I make the lamp shade with varnished wooden hangers. And in the other video, at the end of this post, I use white wood hangers. And after that video, we see in detail how to make the doweling jig, which I used to be able to drill the dowel holes to join the pieces with wood dowels.
3 woodworking videos in this post!
Two lamps plus one makeshift jig for wooden dowel joints.
A friend asked me if I could make him a lamp with wooden hangers. And the thing is that he showed me some models of lamps made of wooden hangers that he had seen on the Internet … and I couldn’t resist trying to make some. These lamps made with coat hangers look very simple, but to make them I had to improvise some woodworking jigs. Although the truth is that, for me, one of the nicest parts of this woodworking hobby is making projects where I have to improvise woodworking jigs.
How to cut wooden hangers to make the lamp
To make this wooden lamp with hangers, the first thing I have to do is to remove the horizontal rod from the wooden hangers (the one on which we hang our pants). I simply pull on the ends of the rods to pull them out. And then with a pliers I remove the small nails that held the rod in place.
Now, to cut the hangers I have to modify my jig to cut at 90 degrees with the disk saw, making a kind of template in my circular saw cross-cut jig. This way I can cut all the wooden hangers more or less in the middle and in two equal parts. And all the pieces should be identical.
This way I can put the wood hangers on the jig to cut them into two equal halves. I fit the hanger into the template in the modified cross-cut jig, I press it with a wooden block under the runner on which the circular saw base slides, and cut it. I move away the piece of wood hanger that I had fitted in the template, fit the piece that was loose, and cut it as well. so that both pieces should be equal. And I do the same with all the wood hangers.
Using a makeshift doweling jig
Now I have to improvise a jig to drill holes to insert dowels. This woodworking jig allows me to drill a 6mm hole in the cut I made in each half of the wooden hangers. And the important thing is that it allows me to make all the dowel holes in the same position. This makeshift doweling jig is very easy to make, and fits perfectly on the cut I made in the wood hangers for drilling dowel holes.
As we can see in the picture and in the video, we “only” need a workbench vise to clamp the jig around the hanger to drill the holes for the wooden dowels.
Now I just have to make a piece to attach the hangers to, and give shape to the wooden lamp shade. Almost as simple as making a wooden circle and drilling a few holes to attach the hangers with dowel joints. In my case making a wooden circle is easy if I use the jigsaw table circle cutting jig.
Then I use a protractor to draw a radius for each hanger I want to join. This way I know where to drill the holes for the dowels.
So, now, in order to drill the holes in the wood disk, I have to put the metallic table of the drill press vertically. And I have to clamp a small wooden board to the metallic table of the drill press. So now I can screw the disc to the wooden board and rotate it to drill all the necessary holes to make the dowel joints.
To finish that piece, I have to use a hole saw to drill a hole for the lampholder. In this case I will use a lamp holder with a shade ring that will hold the lamp shade hanging from the cable.
How to assemble the wooden lamp made of hangers
Finally, I can attach the hangers to the wood disk piece using wooden dowels.
And when all the half hangers are joined to the disk, I can use toothpicks to keep an equal distance between the hangers. I also use a threaded rod to clamp the lamp shade and keep the pieces together in the correct position with a little pressure while the glue dries. So, I practically finished making this lamp out of wooden hangers.
As soon as the glue dries, I give it a couple of coats of spray varnish. I wait for the varnish to dry, and then I can put the lamp holder with shade ring and the bulb. And my friend can hang the wood hangers lamp at his house. I’ve already done enough with making it 😀
And here are the two wood hangers lamps I made, one lamp made of varnished wooden hangers and one made of white hangers. Let me know what you think of them. I personally love them.
Here’s how to make this wooden lamp with white hangers: (And you can also find other homemade lamps on this woodworking blog, too).
And now we can watch how to make the makeshift doweling jig to make the dowel joints of this wooden lamp:
