#89 - The desk lamp

I am very excited to have one goal accomplished!

Several months ago, I started having troubles with the desk lamp that I use by my bedside for reading -- little flickers when I turned it on, having to work the switch a couple of times, etc.  One day, it just wouldn't turn on at all; I unplugged it and pondered the situation.  This is a lamp that I am very attached to because I knew my father had made it as a gift for his mother in the 1940s.  However, I know next to nothing about electrical wiring beyond unplug and check the circuit breaker.  I was determined to fix it though because of the family history.

Last week, I brought the lamp along to the farm when I visited my parents and asked Dad what could be done.  He showed me how to take various bits apart, and we decided that the problem was most likely in the socket.  In the process, I learned a bit more history relating to this lamp.  It's made out of honey locust wood and started it's life on the farm that my father's aunt and uncle owned in Indiana as a fencepost.  My dad brought it back on a visit in the 1940s and using a lathe turned out the shape and added a few brass bits from leftover farm machinery.  I think that I am now classifying it as one of my family heirlooms.

Dad suggested that I leave it with him, and he'd fix it for me before I visited next.  As kind as that offer was, I was working on my 101 list and thought "hmmm....never done anything electrical before -- perhaps that could be added to the list and I'd gain the start of a new life skill".  So, I put it back together and brought it home.  Tonight, I tackled the project, and it went pretty slick.  I'm even thinking about making a bottle lamp of my own since I saw wiring kits in the hardware store ...

Wanna see ...