I’m in the early stages of creating another long Edison lamp, but this time get to try some birdseye (or bird’s eye – you choose) maple for the work. It costs a bit more, but it is considerably more interesting than stock maple.

In the series of photos below I’ve shown the front of the box after dimensioning the lumber. For the front of the box and the sides I always try (doesn’t always happen) to get those 3 pieces out of one piece of lumber. In most cases that allows the grain of the wood to flow around the piece. In this case it is less about the grain and more about the location of the eyes.

The “easy” part of the project is over. Next up are the dovetails and the groove for the light top. The dovetails aren’t too hard, but I can’t tell you how many times routing that groove on the router table has forced me to mill up an extra side piece. Hopefully a little patience and planning will pay dividends here.