Christmas,  Crafts

Lighthouse Christmas Tree Topper

custom made,woodworking,lighthouses,Christmas tree toppers
custom made

The Lighthouse Foundation of Wake County  contacted me, asking if I could make a lighthouse for an upcoming fund raising. They liked the lighthouse Christmas tree topper I made years ago. I was happy to oblige and spent a couple hours in the workshop today making up the parts.

 

 

 

I decided to make one similar to the lighthouse they have on their web site. Making up the 6 sides wasn’t that difficult, but it does take some attention to measuring and getting the correct angles. This section is 8 inches tall.

custom made,woodworking,lighthouses,Christmas tree toppers
custom made

After the tower was made it was on to making the top. A scrap block of 2×4 lumber was first cut on the table saw to get the six sides.

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a six sided roof

From that point on, the work was more hands on and freestyle. The twelve square pegs had to have their holes drilled and mounted. The trickiest part was making a spear on the top. I had to make a couple before getting it to screw on correctly. The spear is nothing more than a scrap piece of spruce cut down to 0.5 x 0.5 x 3 inches. And then sanded down on the belt sander (mounted upside down on the workbench), which is where the freestyle came into play. A little bit of hand eye coordination on a high speed belt sander requires careful attention not just for the piece of wood but for my fingers too 🙂

There is  a 3/4 inch diameter hole to push up a light to show off as a beacon.

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rough assembly of lighthouse

Now its time to paint!

Oct 09 2015 update:

All done as per their painting instructions. We donated the lighthouse to the foundation.

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Lighthouse Foundation Wake County

 

A Newfoundland born Canadian with a life long interest in woodworking, baking and anything else that peaks my curiosity.

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