I have a lamp with tripod legs. One of those legs cracked at a joint and the lamp became wobbly and unstable. So I picked up some dowels from one of those big box stores to make some new ones.
The original legs are rounded and tapered. I don’t have a lathe, so I can’t duplicate those legs. So I have an idea! I’m going to make legs that are round at the top and taper to an octagon shape at the bottom. I’m going to do this using a hand plane. What I will do is start each pass of the plane about eight to ten inches from the end of the dowel and make a pass to the other end. Make about four passes and then rotate the leg 45 degrees and make another four passes. Keep doing this until you get back to the side you started with.
At this point, you want to examine your leg and decide if it has become tapered enough for the look you are trying to achieve. If not, repeat the process.
Click here to see the whole project. New Legs For A Tripod Lamp
