Wood and Resin LED Lamp

A decorative build to brighten the mood wherever you are!

Step 1: Cut Lamp Piece

Cut the portion I wanted to use as the lamp from a Cherry slab using a Jig saw.

Step 2: Stabilize Wood

The section of cherry with the most impressive grain patter was slightly rotted so I used Minwax wood hardener to firm it up. This is basically a super diluted CA glue that stabilizes the wood.

Step 3: Flatten Slab

This section of slab was wider than my 6" jounter so I used a flattening bit on the router with a router sled to flatten the piece. I agree this is big time overkill but I wanted to practice the technique for a later more expensive build.

Step 4: Make Form

Used some scrap 3/4" melamine to build a form for hold the epoxy around the lamp wood. I coated the melamine with a thin layer of past wax to aid release when the epoxy had set up.

Step 5: Pour Epoxy

The epoxy needed to be poured in 3 layers to prevent overheating. Mixed the resin and hardner in a solo cup and poured into my form. I used a heat gun to help pop the air bubbles as they floated to the top. I did not want all the bubbles out as I wanted this piece to look like water when you are swimming under it.

Step 6: Remove Form

After a few days of hardening I removed the forms and was SUPER happy with the results so far.

Step 7: Plane

The planer makes quick work of removing any excess epoxy.

Step 8: Power Sand

Sanding from 60 to 220 grit with a random orbit sander.

Step 9: Hand Sand

Then sand by hand using 600 and then 2000 grit wet sandpaper.

Step 10: Polish

And lastly polish using some scratch remover and a polishing wheel on a drill.

Step 11: Make Trim Molding

I dadoed a groove in some cherry trip to hold the LED strip and controller.

Step 12: Add LEDs and Trim

LEDs were wrapped around the corners and held in place with hot glue. The trim mitered and fastened in place with fast setting CA glue.

Step 13: Finish

Used Arm R Seal to finish the wood. Be careful not to go over the epoxy as it will drip and ruin your beautiful polish job.

I put this lamp on my desk at work and have gotten a lot of comments about it, it looks pretty cool! Super fun build and works great as the decoration to brighten the mood in your space.