Lawnmower Blade Table Lamp

Dimensions: Height 33 inches; Diameter of lamp shade 8–16 inches, Weight 6.5 pounds; the cord is 6 feet long from the base to the plug. If you’re looking for a one-of-a-kind industrial art lighting piece, maybe this is it. It is what it is. You either go for this sort of thing (like me), or you don’t. It could be an attractive and practical feature in a living room, den, bedroom or office. Because it comes from the second lawnmower I found with five blades spiraling around a central shaft, I call this piece “Quintuple Helix #2.” The lamp accommodates a 30-70-100 Watt three-way bulb. (The pictures feature light from 100-Watt bulb.) The shade is brand new. Was $225, now $200. Click here to purchase.

The Story

I found the lawnmower in an alley, not far from my house in the Glover Park neighborhood of D.C. I disassembled it and retained only the blade unit—on which the edges are quite dull. I used a stiff wire brush to remove loose paint, then sprayed on three coats of satin polyurethane. Because the axle/shaft was a hollow tube (unlike the three other lawnmowers I’ve found to date), I realized it had the potential to become a lamp—if the electric components would fit. And they did, rather easily—after I used some grinding bits with my Dremel 4200 to clear out some minor burrs inside the tube. I bought a build-a-lamp kit and one other threaded piece from Home Depot. I used Loctite Premium Construction Adhesive to secure one long threaded piece into the top of the mower shaft, and the rest of the components are screwed onto that piece. For the base, I cut six pentagons out of leftover lumber—the middle two are red oak and the bottom two and top two are some other type of wood. I stained pairs of pentagons three different colors (Minwax Ebony, Red Mahogany, and Provincial) to complement the tones of the metal and remaining paint and glued them together. I offset them to echo the spiral design of the five blades. I applied two coats of Minwax water-based clear satin Polycrylic to the wood and drilled a hole all the way through to accommodate the shaft and electric cord; it’s in there pretty tight. I bought the brand new shade, for $64, from a fantastic store in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, called The Lamplighter; locals should check it out for both new lighting pieces and parts. The crosshatch texture of the linen shade complements the striations on the five twisting mower blades.

Related Items: Lawnmower Blade “Sculpture” #1, Lawnmower Blade “Sculpture” #2, Lawnmower Blade “Sculpture” #3.