You Know Where To Put the Cork*

Back to bourbon bottle lamps…

Building the bottle hardware that fits the top of the bottle isn’t always straightforward. I try to use as much original material as possible to retain the spirit of the brand.

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1. Place a piece of painter’s tape on top of the bottle’s top for easier drawing.
2. Use a ‘center scribe’ (red tool in photos) to draw lines at different angles across the painter’s tape.
3. Use a scratch awl to press a point into the center of the lines that I drew on the top.
4. Hand-drill a very small shallow hole into that point, then one slightly larger as a starting point for the large drill-bit.
5. Wrap the cork with painter’s tape.
6. Clamp the cork into a drill-press vise, being careful to keep it level against the top.
7. Drill a hole large enough to fit the 3/8″ threaded nipple through the top into the cork itself. I use a ‘Pilot Point‘ bit for more accuracy.
8. Remove the tape and clear off the dust.
9. Locate a threaded nipple that will fit through the top / cork with 1/4″ to spare on either side (this often involves cutting a large nipple to size with a dremel tool equipped with a cut-off wheel).
10. Thread the bottom of the electrical socket onto the top.
11. Thread and tighten a washer and nut to the bottom on the cork side. The washer may be too large for smaller bottle openings; you may have to find a smaller washer or go without.
12. Wrap the cork with electrical tape (as needed) to provide a tighter fit.
13. Rotate the assembly so that the socket screw, etc. faces the back of the bottle.

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But what if the top is plastic or metal screw-on with no cork? I repeat the same steps as above, but I add a bottle plug to the underside of the cap to extend the nipple length and build stability. I may add a seating ring to the top if the cap is damaged (or ugly).

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What if the bottle doesn’t have a top at all? Maybe you forgot to save it, or maybe it’s a bottle of Blanton’s and you can’t really attach the light socket to the horse 😉 . Well, in that case you have two options:

1. Find a spare cork that’ll fit.
2. Use a bottle plug / seating ring by itself. I did this on the Blanton’s lamps (#1, #6).

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*In case you didn’t figure out the source of the quote, here is a hint