Tripod Lamp Made from Crutches

The Inspiration

This picture stared it all. It was small and in the corner of my computer screen and, at a glance I thought it was a picture of some old crutches. When I looked a little closer I saw that it was a way cool vintage tripod lamp, and I thought, Hey...

The hard to find wood crutches

The first thing I had to do was find a couple of sets of wood crutches that were similar. This was surprisingly difficult. It took most of the summer to find some at flea markets and yard sales, even craigslist didn't have much. Most of the ones I found were aluminum.









Once I found them the real work began. I squared off the top of the arm rest at the top of the crutch, drilled some holes in sides and inserted some hanger bolts. Next I drew an equilateral triangle on some paper, cut it out, and used it as a template to cut out the "hub" that the legs would attach to. I used some 5/8ths plywood that I had lying around.





I got some metal brackets from the hardware store and screwed them to the hub using the top of the crutch as a guide. I carefully drilled some holes in the top sides of the crutch and inserted some hanger bolts.

oops...forgot to take pics before I painted

After this the rubber feet were removed and a slight taper cut into the end.












Next I removed the handles and added some jack chain which will stop the legs from sliding out.










Once all the construction was done the entire thing was disassembled, sanded, and painted in a faux dark wood grain. The tips of the feet and a few other spots were painted with a silver spray paint in a hammered metal finish. The silver parts were a little too shiny so I brushed a little black paint over them, let it sit for a few seconds, then rubbed it off to give them a vintage look.

Then I added a new socket and other lamp parts including a vintage look wire.

The Finished Tripod Lamp