Using my funfetti craft hammer, I lightly tapped them into the tripod leg. I decided a staple gun was too risky and too semi-permanent, but the staples themselves were the perfect hardware for the job. To make my industrial floor lamp to appear “neater and tidier”, I wanted to gently secure the cord along one of the legs of the surveyors tripod. Now it was ready for the lamp kit so that the transformation into industrial floor lamp could really happen!Ī few minutes later, we had wired the socket into place and we had a functioning tripod floor lamp!! Now all I needed was to do something about the hanging cord and to buy the perfect lamp shade. We then hammered the plug into the tripod (a perfectly snug fit!) and screwed in a lamp nipple. This was no easy task without cracking the small plug in half- fair warning! Then, we inserted a reducer for the lamp nipple. Jon then sanded down one end of the dowel to the point that it barely fit in the surveyors tripod.Īfter sanding down enough dowel to fill the hole at the top of the surveyors tripod, he cut off the “plug” and drilled a hole through the center. We cleaned out the tripod hole (it was coated in vintage goo- fun!) and we bought a wooden dowel, slightly larger in diameter than the tripod hole. Jon knew he had to build a “plug” for it- something to fill the wide hole so that the lamp kit could be secured in place. But there was a problem the large hole at the top of the tripod- where the lamp kit needs to go- was a gaping hole, way too big for a lamp nipple. We’ve built lamps before, so it wasn’t our first rodeo with wiring a lamp kit. Upcycling a Surveyors Tripod into an Industrial Floor Lamp So, let’s get to upcycling this wooden tripod and transform it into the industrial floor lamp of my dreams! This post contains affiliate links for your crafting convenience. I mean, who has that kind of cash laying around for a tripod floor lamp? Ok, maybe lots of people do- but I don’t! They are all the rage, and can cost upwards of $500.

I always knew that the surveyors tripod would eventually become an industrial floor lamp. And making an industrial floor lamp was at the top of my to-do list with that wooden tripod.Ĭottonball was intensely fascinated by the vintage tripod from the start, and he briefly thought about a surveying career. At this sale, I bought two things- a pretty antique picture frame and a very cool, very trendy vintage surveyor’s tripod. A couple of years ago, a local store had a FANTASTIC “yard sale” which was more like a fancy flea market.

Surveyors tripod for sale