Scratch Build – In Progress Steam & Current - final photos.

Well, another dilemma

I came up with three mounting options. As the lights are above the screen, I would like them to be mounted parallel to the screen. Then they will be most visible.

VER1.



The combined system of "tubes" as a module.

VER2.



As above, but without "caps".

VER3.





Separate modules.

And which kind you like it most?

 

version 2&3 look great. mounting them solo looks neater then group. But all look great

 

The sample color. Dark mahogany. I'm still not convinced to change

 

mahogany is a very red color. try walnut and dont forget to apply the finish you intend to use to really show the color it will turn out like.

Here is one of my guitars. Its Ash timber (I think thats what you used) with walnut stain applied thin, with cotton wool and then sanded back until desired color was reached.
I applied a small amount of satin tung oil to show the color. you could go even darker.

 

This thing is as awesome as it is mad. It looks like it should be mounted next to the wheel of a ship about 200 years ago. Absolutely loving this...+rep

 

I did vote for mahogany, but now that i look at it again it just looks too dark. I honestly think you should just put a couple nice coats of shellac on it. If you use the french polish method on the maple it can really bring out the grain and make it look beautiful. Beeswax goes nicely over top of a shellac finish as well and makes it shine even more.

 

I voted don't change it.

Brilliant work on this.

 

Thank you all for yours interest and suggestions.

Today a small update.

Lamps - the next version.





And the most important thing. I did a sample of colors.

Picture in daylight:



And a series with a flash as usual.











I put pieces of brass and copper to make a comparison. At the same time on the left you can see the section of wood with no changes.

From the right we have:
- lac/shellac
- Wax - dark walnut
- dark walnut stain

Shellac with wax can be combined. Does any option is similar to your wishes?

It is hard to get a good picture without proper light

 

ah the pics dont work!

 

Pics should work. Maybe Your IP is blocked?? You don't see last one, or all of them?

 

they are showing now but weren't last night. They look good! shame about the light. did you prep sand the test piece before staining?

 

Wow. I will be following this. Great stuff.

 

Can you run some electricity through the tubes? Some of the metal pieces inside should glow a nice reddish yellow once the tube is on. Even if you're not doing anything, simply running electricity through the correct pins should make them glow. I think that would look far nicer than lighting them from below with LEDs

 

you would need far more than 12volts to get valves glowing is the only problem.

 

My favorite is the last version of the lamps.

I think the lac/shellac painting is a little bit to yellow, I like the other paintings more. They look more noble.

 

Thank you all guys for yours professional advices. It's nice feeling, that someone is reading it
And most importantly, that councils give people knowing what is shellac and how to work with the wood.

No. My mistake. I've wanted to show you results fast. That's why it looks little "scratchy".

I've tested lamps. Yes. They looks great! But..... They consume more than 60W. I can't afford that loose of power for nothing. I will show you next week results with red laser led. Should be fine.

For today.

I've installed the operating system. Fortunately, everything works and nothing broke in the tests.



And so it looks like after the lamp mount.

 

With stains its very important to have it perfectly sanded or the stain looks patchy and scratchy. I like the center one btw. the stain seeps nice into the veins of that timber.

 

I do like the look of the stain in the middle and I really like how the shellac made the grain sorta glow. I'd be interested in seeing how the stain looked with shellac over it. I think I'm just a sucker for warmer feel of shellac though.

If you do go with the shellac I'd suggest using a lazy version of the french polish so you don't get the streaks. You can also lighten the color a bit if you thin the shellac with denatured alcohol.

Lazy man's french polish: get a clean cotton cloth and ball it up so you have a pad sorta thing, dip in for some shellac and rub it on in a circular motion and just keep going till it's shiny and nice. When you're done with that, wait like 30 minutes then use some #000 steel wool on it and then apply the beeswax if you want to shine it up even more.

I'm seeing a lot of nice figure in that wood, so I can't wait to see how your finish will bring that out.

 

Wow this is wicked!!

 

That is just funk'in cool!! Great work!