Construction 

We build our lamps to last a lifetime

Wood

When it gets down to it, it’s all about the wood. Primarily we like to use sustainable American Hardwoods including Cherry, Walnut and Quarter Sawn Oak.

Cherry, as in American Black Cherry (Prunus Serotina), is not the tree that produces cherries that you see at the supermarket. It has a beautiful reddish brown color and an attractive grain that finishes well. It takes on a rich patina (darkens) as it ages and actually becomes more beautiful over time. It is very popular for making fine furniture and cabinetry. When we use it for our beautiful lamps, it tends to fit in and enhance many different decors.

American Black Walnut has become our client favorite. It has a beautiful dark brown color with a variety of high light colors running through it, including red, orange and sometimes purple. It also has the most dramatic grain structure that can get very complex. It is a dense, heavy wood that is considered one of the very finest in furniture making, and usually cost twice that of cherry or oak.

Quarter Sawn Oak, both white and red, is also very popular. The structure of this wood (more specifically the way it’s cut) makes it very strong and dimensionally stable. QSO is the quintessential wood used in classic Craftsman style furniture.

We mill all our own woods (except for cherry) using a saw mill in NC. We own land in Chatham Co. that is mostly wooded and has a good variety of species. We never have to actually cut any down, there is more than enough on the ground from all the storm fallen trees. Instead of cutting it up into fire wood, we cut these logs into lumber and then start the drying process. They usually air dry from 6 months up to a year then they go into our solar kiln for the final drying to around 6% to 7% humidity.

Finish

We work hard at producing a fine finish that accents the beauty of the wood and compliments the overall look of our products. We are constantly learning, perfecting techniques and adopting environmentally safe processes to improve our finishes. We love to use shellac which is a natural product and “Old School”, the only old school finish I like to use. Shellac is so non-toxic you can actually eat it, in fact, you probably have! It was commonly used to coat medicine tablets. Shellac has been around for a long time and is a wonderful base coat that penetrates, seals and protects the wood. It’s properties are much better than traditional “oil” finishes that unfortunately, still allow moisture penetrate into the wood and over time require much more care. The shellac coats also allow us to add color to the finish when needed, we never (never-ever) use stain. Stains use tinted solids that simply muddy the finish and hide the grain. We only use dye, it is the same dye used by makers of fine musical instruments. When this dye is added to the shellac the color stays perfectly translucent and allows the grain to show through. Shellac is used for the seal coat and then mixed with dye for the color coats. Last, we top coat with a waterborne polyurethane because of the low odor and clarity. This premium top coat helps completely seal the finish and offers excellent durability and protection while having exceptional “non-yellowing” properties. Basically, it’s invisible. This special top coat allows us to easily choose a satin, gloss, or a semi-gloss finish. To apply it correctly, we had to purchase specific spraying equipment that was waterborne compatible. In general, applying water born finishes is more challenging than other types of finishes but we think it’s worth the trouble for the advantages it offers.

One of the best aspects to our finish is the very low maintenance. Simply dust occasionally with Pledge or wipe off with a damp cloth or Swiffer. No wax or “oil” is needed.

Much of the time it takes to complete your order comes from the finish process. This includes multiple coats, the drying times of those, and a lot of hand work in between each step of the process. We hope you agree that this is one of the things that helps brings value to your purchase.

Lamp Components

The safety and functionality of our lamps is our first priority. We only use top quality UL listed components that we source from our favorite US vendor that has been in business since 1913! We use solid brass parts wherever possible and steel parts in non-visible areas. We meticulously assemble our lamps and test them for function before we carefully box and ship them. In the case of our floor lamps it takes more than a day just to construct the container and pack the lamp. All of the lamp components we use are replaceable or rebuildable. Even if one of the switches were to wear out or the cord was to get cut accidentally, it can be replaced. We plan on these lamps to be functional for generations to come and construct them accordingly.

Bulbs

This may sound strange, but we are very particular about our light bulbs. And that’s why we include them with every lamp. Shields spent a lot of time experimenting with many different bulbs to get just the look he wanted.

“For our lamps with mica shades I needed to find a balance between brightness, color and the overall look. Without question they needed to be LED and the retro style of the Edison type bulbs go great with the vintage look of our lamps. Plus these bulbs offer the warmer color ranges that look good with Mica. They had to be a top quality, real glass bulb, so after trying about a dozen different examples, I found the ones I think look the best.”

Now these bulbs are readily available at the big box stores (Home Depot carries a great line of glass Edison style bulbs) or online if you ever need a replacement. Simply read the info on the bulb itself and it will give you the color range and wattage equivalent that you need to maintain the correct look for your lamp.

Mica

Mica is a wonderful natural product that is mined. When you were a kid and someone handed you a piece of “Fool’s Gold” that was mica. They have used it for everything from windows in wood stoves, to microwaves to fighter plane canopies. We use the thicker grade of domestically sourced Mica panels for our lampshades, and it’s available in a variety of colors. This example is “Stained” Amber mica, it has a beautiful rich color that really warms the look of a room.

Final Touches

Our lamps are sold complete and have excellent standard features. Every lamp has thick, upgraded felt pads underneath so as not to scratch your furniture. The Cigar box lamps have a nice liner in the bottom to add some class and to help keep the noise down when you put your pocket items in. Plus the liner is removable so it can be dusted off. Every lamp is meticulously packed and shipped to help ensure they arrive in good condition.

The Signature

All of the lamps we craft come signed and include a serial number. You can be assured it is a genuine Long Craftsman Designs product. Our Award winning Craftsman, Shields Long, personally constructs each lamp and signs them when they met his high standards, only then are they released for shipment.