MtnDon's Hand Made Class, 8th Annual BLF/OL contest entry

Nice finish of the button :slight_smile:

I remember that switch, has been around for ages, i.e. it is in the Xeno E03 as well and in a few other lights.

I like the way it’s looking, nice work :+1:

Very clever MD. :+1:

This post has nothing to do with this contest entry, but has everything to do with having some fun. :slight_smile:

While I was waiting for the switch to arrive, my light had a baby.

Remember the BLF-348? For those who are not familiar with the several years old BLF-348 here is one of mine, along with the baby. (The BLF-348 uses a single AAA cell and has one mode.)

I had this weird thought and measured the BLF-348 dimeter and sure enough, its 0.47-inch diameter was a near-perfect size. After gluing up some scraps of woods I bored a 31/64 inch hole through the block. A few minutes on the table saw and I had roughed out a near-octagon cylinder shape. I finished it off using the bench belt sander. A short piece of brass tube was press-fitted at one end and hit with a little cyanoacrylate glue. The brass ring serves as a stop for the ligght. After a final sanding with 400 grit, I sprayed it with clear lacquer. The 348 slides in with a mild friction fit. It will not slip out on its own. I use a rubber-tipped pencil to push it out far enough to be able to grasp it.

The woods used include; bocote, osage orange, bloodwood, walnut and padauk.

I’ll return to the regularly scheduled program for the next installment, which will be images of the more or less completed project light.

:+1: Nice idea.

The bocote around the switch looks especially nice.

Thanks, I like that wood a lot too. I have only scraps left and it is not cheap; 3/4” x 3” x 24” is about US$28 plus shipping in some cases as nobody within my local area stocks it.

Here I have the luxury of the Amsterdamse Fijnhouthandel, a shop near my work in the Amsterdam port area so I can go there in a lunch break. They sell almost every type of special wood, and still have stock leftover (although often just small scraps) from times when chopping ancient trees from primeval tropical forests was no issue. Their new supplies (they say) follow the newest guidelines for sustainability of forests. But in any case they serve such a small niche market that their turnover will not be the reason that the planet looses their primeval forest.

I looked them up! Wow! A wood guys dream place. One of the advantages of a port city. Twenty-soe years ago there was a company in Albuquerque (65km distant) that sold many exotic woods. That is where I bought the piece of bocote I have been whittling away at. Nowadays there ia a place that has a very limited selection of exotics, or online orders.

They have bocote in stock. Really Scary price. :open_mouth: But then it had to travel from Mexico/Central America to NL.
https://www.fijnhout.nl/shop/bijzondere-houtsoorten/bocote-ongekantrecht/

The little 348 looks like its ready to pounce at any time ambushing something or someone from its little hideaway. :smiley:

More pictures. I believe this is now complete, but I could be wrong. I reserve the right to make changes and update this anytime before the contest closes. I will be doing a video displaying the functioning light but that has to wait until some evening when I can have a little darkness.

Well done MtnDon :wink:
It looks super gorgeous!
You have your own “brand” here on BLF with the wood construction and this is surely a nice adition to it :+1:

Thank you so much!

In case I did not mention this before, the front end is osage orange, as is the other lighter colored band near the tail. The striped tailend piece is bocote and everything else is bloodwood. No stains or dyes were used. The wood was sprayed with three coats of satin finish clear lacquer after being sanded with 400 grit sandpaper.

I am not a great video producer. But, I made two attempts tonight. Part of my trouble is that I only have the camera in my phone and the auto levels feature of that tries to even out the rise and fall of the crescendo firmware.

The second video includes having the light I made in the view.

Very nice build, Sir :+1:

I’m getting This Video Unavailable.

Very nice MtnDon :+1: The various wood types gives it alot of character. Great job on your competition build, I believe you hit all the requirements spot on. :beer:

Sorry, I messed up but they should work for anyone now.

Love the finished product MtnDon. Its a real credit to your skills. :slight_smile: :beer:

Great job. Really nice looking light .