The Dale C. Maley Family Web Site

 I googled this on the internet, and the WB Brown Lamp Company in Blufton, Indiana probably made this lamp.  The farm house was built in 1905, and the builders, the Bodleys, had relatives in Indiana. My guess is that this lamp was a house warming gift.

My sister Lisa asked me to make her at least one copy of the lamp.  I was not sure where to buy the special colored glass and the dual-light fixture.

I found the dual brass light fixture and associated parts at GrandBrass.com.  The fixture is model  CL2505WP.

I googled to find where to buy the special colored glass. I found Kokomo Glass company in Kokomo, Indiana.  It is America's oldest operating manually made glass factory.  We visited their showroom and factory tour while on vacation in the Summer of 2012.  The lady in their showroom immediately recognized the model number of the glass, when I showed her a picture of the 1905 lamp.  I bought some of this glass to make more lamps.  I suspect the WB Brown company also bought their glass from Kokomo Glass company!

I normally enter my woodworking project into Google Sketchup 3D drafting package. I do this so I better understand how to make the object, plus I often print out paper patterns to make the pieces.

I had a very difficult time entering the oak lamp shade into Sketchup because of the angled design. After taking measurements of the old lamp shade, plus making some trial and error pieces in pine, I determined the shade slides were tilted at 32 degrees, they are actually cut at 28 degrees, and the chamfer angle on the 4 joints is about 36 degrees. 

After I established these 3 critical angles required to make the lamp shade, I found a downloadable calculator that computes these angles. 

 The top of the shade needs to be flat or horizontal, so the cap piece sets nicely on top. I could have tried to cut these angles on the individual 4 sides, but I elected not to. I planned on used the Wagner Saf-T-Planer on my drill press to carefully plane the tops horizontal. I used a flat scrap piece of particle board for the shade to rest on. 

This technique worked very well. Unfortunately, I can not use the same technique to make the bottom of the shade frame horizontal. If you set the shade on the small end, it is too wobbly to properly support the shade while planing. Later I will use the horizontal belt sander to make the bottoms horizontal. 

 The real challenge is drilling a 1/2" diameter hole the whole 12 inches through the center post. I started the holes in the drill press. I used Rockler black plastic 90 degree guides to assure I was drilling vertically.

 The original shade had 4 pieces glued to the shade frame and first top cap.  Each piece was about 1 to 1.25 inches long.

I measured the angle required, then cut that angle on the table saw. Then, another angle cut was needed, kind of like a 45 degree angle across the other angle.  I was unable to make this cut on the table saw. I resorted to hand sawing the special angle with the piece held in the vise.

But when I measure the brass on the old lamp, it is 1" wide, then folded in half with 1/2" on each edge..........so the 1/2" wide I bought would not work. Can't find where I bought the 1" wide?

I was very concerned about how to bend the brass so it looked very nice on the outside of the lamp.  So I made a fixture to bend the brass.

I did find the old picture showing the box of 1" wide brass I bought back in 2012........

 The final angle is about 10 degrees less than a 90 degree corner.  I made the fixture with 90 degree corners, because of the "spring back" of the brass. I placed a scrap piece of wood on the brass, then hit the scrap with the hammer. When I was done bending, the angle was less than 90 degrees due to spring back.

I found it easier to cut the angles on both ends of the brass before I bent it...........versus bending it then cutting the angles.

 I used hand shears to cut the brass before bending.

I watched a Youtube video showing a lady cutting plain picture frame glass....since I have never cut glass before. She said the following:

-cushion glass by setting it on a towel

-use a straight-edge with cork bottom, so it would not slip on the glass while you are scoring it

-no oil lube required on the cutter

-make a continuous stroke, you should hear the glass being scored or marked

-grasp each side of the score with the your hands, and break glass

Boy, she sure made it look easy.

I bought a new glass cutter......

 I bought an aluminum ruler with cork bottom.

This design of Kokomo glass has a smoother side, and a rougher side. I decided to cut it on the smoother side, because you can never score all the imperfections in the rough side. The smooth side is not really smooth like picture frame glass either. 

The first thing that went wrong was the new rulers. The aluminum and cork were so thin, the ruler slipped under the body of the cutter.  I guess I should have bought some thicker cork, and made my own straight-edge. I substituted a white oak stick, but it wanted to slip while I was cutting. I clamped down one end, and then it seemed to stay put fairly well.

The second thing that went wrong was no scoring sound when I cut the glass. It was an intermittent sound at best. I then tried dipping the cutting wheel in oil, but this did not help either.

The only thing I could get to half-way work was to score the line between 10 and 20 times. Sometimes it would break the right way.

Then I must have been pressing down so hard trying to score this glass, that I broke the first cutter.  The little shaft that holds the wheel fell out. I went to Ace

and bought a new cutter.

I scrapped as much glass, maybe more, than the 4 pieces I netted out of 2 big sheets. 

I was able to use the belt sander with 60 grit paper to smooth the 4 edges of the cut glass. 

You must have to do something different with this model 12P or 12LL Kokomo glass, with respect to how you cut it. I have emailed Kokomo, to try to see what the secret it.  

I Googled to see if there was some secret to cutting opalescent glass like this, but could not find anything. 

I thought making the angled shade was tough on this project.......it now looks easy compared to cutting this Kokomo glass!!

Update on Cutting Glass

 The lady from Kokomo glass replied to my email asking what the secret was to cutting their 12P model glass:

No secrets.  The diamond or carbide tip on the glass cutter needs to be oiled.  We suggest cutting oil or kerosene as a lubricant for the cutting wheel.  Beyond that you use a SINGLE motion to score the glass applying aproximately eight pounds of pressure.  You should hear a scratching noise as the glass is scored with the cutter.  If you have done this correctly, the glass will break apart easily by applying pressure on both sides of the score line pushing upward.  That is to say that the score line is on top and your use an upward pressure on either side of the score line.  If you do not get the score line correct, you can use the ball or screw cap which is metal on the back of the cutter to lightly tap the score line through the glass by tapping the underside of the glass below the score line.  Often just by tapping the underside of the glass it will break apart.  Give us a call if you are still having difficulties.

 I then went to Hobby Lobby today and bought a pistol grip type cutter.  I had no success with the straight plain cutter, so I thought I would try this.

 When making each side of the 4 sides on the shade, mark in pencil those areas that need material removed to make the lap joints. It is easy to get confused and remove material from the wrong place. Also double-check and make sure top and bottom pieces will run horizontal with no joint mark (the 2 sides could have the no joint marks versus the top/bottom with no joints).

I made each side to the finished width without the side chamfers cut. This means you have to line up each piece manually when you cut the chamfer, and try to end up the same width on all 4 sides. It might be easy to make side frames about a 1/4"wider on each side, then miter saw them to the same width........so all 4 sides are exactly the same width.

Before gluing up each of the 4 sides, make sure you did route the glass grooves in all 4 pieces. I forgot to do one and had to make it with the Dremel after the shade was assembled. I used a small round saw blade on the Dremel to cut most of the groove, but remember this is a very dangerous attachment to use on the Dremel.....because it a saw with no guard.

 The small horizontal piece at the top of each of the 4 sides of the lamp shape is a relatively small piece to process in woodworking equipment. I initially used my router table to cut a 1/4" wide slot to hold the glass. This small piece is hard to hold, plus has very little surface area to rest flat on the router table.  I found it much safer to pinch the piece in the vise, then use a hand saw to cut out the 1/4" wide slot.

Also hand saw the 4 little 1 inch long piece pieces for the top inside of the shade, as shown above.

Mount the 4 shade supporting brackets one at at time using the shade......versus installing all 4 brackets then checking the fit with the shade. Also wait to scroll saw the notch in each bracket until you use the shade with it.

 Use a hand shears or tin snips to cut both ends of the brass strip before bending as noted above.

The roughly 4x4 cap on top of the shade is both glued and screwed to the main shade body. This may be designed this way because there is a natural tendency to pick up the shade using this cap piece.....so the designer did not want it to fall off the main body of the shade.

With white oak, all screw holes must be pilot drilled first.  Brass screws also strip easily, so the holes need to be the right pilot size.

The glass cutting turned out to be the most difficult part of this project. Alternatives to cutting the glass yourself include hiring Kokomo glass to cut the pieces, or hire a local glass cutter.