Upcycling

[Rorschach]

I am very much against this "upcykling" trend. Essentially it is all about downcykling.

Way too often the downcyklers destroy a perfectly rebuildable and perfectly practical tool or machine or piece of furniture with generations of use left in it only to downcykle it into a trendy lamp or lawn decoration which ultimately will be binned within a couple of years when the hipster owner gets tired of it and jumps onto the next decoration trend.

There is no better example of downcycling than throwing something away which is what would happy to everything we have seen here.

 

[rafezetter]

There is no better example of downcycling than throwing something away which is what would happen to everything we have seen here.

This could be true for a lot of things, but we have no real way of knowing if those 2 woodie planes would have been dumped. They were in pretty good nick and were it not for the silly person ideas of making them into a lamp, and to be fair at least the first guy had the common to upend it and put a stabilising plinth around it, they may well have gone to a car boot or "oddments" shop to be sold as is and probably used as intended.

With luck neither of them will sell at those prices and whomever made them will move on to upcycling more common items.

I have to admit, that hand powered chainsaw made me chuckle.

 

[transatlantic]

Whats worse though? the people making it? or the people buying it?

In all cases where something annoying like this happens (for me it's pallet wood furniture), it's supply and demand.

Whilst the people making it are Satan themselves, the people buying it are equally Satan.

So I guess what I am saying, is that we need to kill them both.

 

[ColeyS1]

I bought a rusty vintage fire extinguisher and fitted an old looking bulb to it. One of the quickest projects I've ever done.
Should I have looked at getting it restored, pressure tested, holes patched up etc etc ?

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[thetyreman]

I think upcycling is a cultural reaction against people who are leading a (mostly) mediocre life in a typical 9-5 soul destroying office job, it's so popular because the IT hypsters can't express themselves in any other way, and in a last feeble attempt to look cool before they reach middle age, they reach for that plane/lamp and like a golden trophy show it to their peers, the other hipsters get jealous and so they have to buy something to compete, starting a chain reaction.

 

[John Brown]

Just saw this bad boy !

Just awesome

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Nice, but do they have a version for right-handed folk?

 

[Doris]

My latest recycled project bought this table from a charity shop a few months ago and just so happen to have an old thick piece of glass knocking around so thought I'd pair the two together. Gave me a good excuse to paint the glass too.

Was good fun.

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[ColeyS1]

My latest recycled project bought this table from a charity shop a few months ago and just so happen to have an old thick piece of glass knocking around so thought I'd pair the two together. Gave me a good excuse to paint the glass too.

Was good fun.

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A new lease of life ! That looks absolutely fantastic!!!!
Nice job

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[AndyT]

Doris, that's cheating! You've used artistic talent and skill!
The painted pattern on the glass is really clever.

 

[Rhyolith]

Yeah Doris, stop cheating

 

[AndyT]

Yeah, it doesn't even have a light bulb screwed onto one corner. :-(

 

[Rhyolith]

And you have not cut up something rare from the 19th century to do it... this is scandolous

 

[ColeyS1]

Yeah, it doesn't even have a light bulb screwed onto one corner. :-(

Perhaps there's a little led strip underneath so it lights up the paintwork ? :lol: Pretty remarkable really- the painting and the imagination to do it.
Coley

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[YorkshireMartin]

My latest recycled project bought this table from a charity shop a few months ago and just so happen to have an old thick piece of glass knocking around so thought I'd pair the two together. Gave me a good excuse to paint the glass too.

Was good fun.

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Thats identical to the coffee table my parents had when I was growing up. Is it marked as Schreiber? They would have bought it in the mid 70's. Most of their other furniture was the same make, as they couldn't afford G-Plan apparently.

Lovely painting...!

 

[Doris]

Thanks gents! I'm saving the lightbulb for my next project :wink:

Thats identical to the coffee table my parents had when I was growing up. Is it marked as Schreiber? They would have bought it in the mid 70's. Most of their other furniture was the same make, as they couldn't afford G-Plan apparently.

Lovely painting...!

Interesting. I presumed that if it was Schreiber then it would have had a stamp on it. The only one I could find when I dismantled it was the date 1983. The top which I was hoping to salvage was in fact veneered chipboard. It came in a set of 3 at the charity shop I volunteer at, if that rings any bells. I knew that I had a glass top from DTR's old surface plate so just needed to find the right sized table to put it to good use again.

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

Nothing complicated, yet a great result. Impressive =D>

Obi Wan

 

[Stanleymonkey]

I can't stand the phrase.

I've been looking for a reasonably priced treadle dentists drill. So many of them get turned into poncy lamps and sold for hundreds of pounds.

 

[skeetstar]

Fellas I really don't like the lamp planes that have been posted on here, - would rather see the tools put to their proper use. A 100 year old tool is 'upcycled' to meet a need for a current trend. in 5 years time tastes will change and the lamp will be dumped. A pity and a waste of a decent tool.

Anyway the real point of the post was a question. I was thinking of making and selling some lighting using new timber as the body of the lamp. A block of timber, and just inlet an LED downlighter into it - can be made to look great. I didn't pursue since I was worried about liability should anything go wrong.. fire, electrocution etc etc. - unlikely but you never know.

Vis a vis these upcycled lamps.. are they covered by any legislation? Should they be tested, or manufactured to any specific standards? - just wondering.

 

[AndyT]

Vis a vis these upcycled lamps.. are they covered by any legislation? Should they be tested, or manufactured to any specific standards? - just wondering.

Yes of course they are. Full details here

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/electrical- ... sibilities

Ask yourself if the eBay chancers will bother with any of that, or care if an electrical fault burns your house down. :evil:

 

[custard]

Anyway the real point of the post was a question. I was thinking of making and selling some lighting using new timber as the body of the lamp. A block of timber, and just inlet an LED downlighter into it - can be made to look great. I didn't pursue since I was worried about liability should anything go wrong.. fire, electrocution etc etc. - unlikely but you never know.

Vis a vis these upcycled lamps.. are they covered by any legislation? Should they be tested, or manufactured to any specific standards? - just wondering.

It's an interesting question. I exhibit my furniture at a couple of county shows each year. I see more and more independent makers at these shows with lighting based products. It's not surprising really because they sell well, and at profitable prices!

However, when I talk to these makers about exactly the issues you raise, then I'm left feeling they're flying close to the wind. I've yet to meet a furniture maker who is entirely confident that when it comes to lighting they are offering a product that won't invalidate their insurance. I've also been told that some exhibition organisers are taking a tougher line on the safety aspects of the products for sale, insisting on CE marks and proof of compliance for example. So, tempting though it is, I'm scared off from entering the lighting market.