Recycled Wood and Resin Lamp 2026

A recycled wood and resin lamp is a beautiful DIY idea that will give a different look to your bedroom.

When you build strong relationships with the local community around you, that's when you receive hidden gems, like I did with the completely riddled and obliterated piece of hard maple.

One of my local wood sources stumbled upon a piece of maple found while cutting down a full maple and knew it would be something he would not only appreciate, but put to use, and he was right.

I had been keeping an eye on a piece that I could use to make my first lamp out of recycled wood and resin.

Step 1: Design

Other than knowing that I wanted to fill the wood with resin and put an LED light in it, I had no idea what to do design-wise right away. I took some time, did some research on Pinterest and YouTube looking at other wood and resin LED lights to see what kind of style I liked. I then did some free hand sketches on my computer just to get a general idea of ​​what I was looking for. I was going to put the light in maple and resin with an LED strip going up the piece. To help dissipate heat from the LED and make it emit more light, I would cut slots in the finished piece.

Step 2: Preparation of the wood

The maple piece did not rest on either end, so the first step of the prep work was to cut one end flat with my band saw. Next, I cut a hole for the LED strip lights. I used a 5/8 inch drill bit to make a hole large enough to fit a tube and the light strip. Since I wanted the tube and lights to run the length of most of the piece, I used a long drill bit that didn't fit my corded or cordless drill, so I had to use my hand drill to do the job.

Once the hole was drilled, I used my handheld Dremel tool to remove any of the completely rotted and loose pieces from the maple piece before pouring the resin.

Step 3: Resin

I wanted to leave the piece intentionally not square, it seemed more organic and natural that way. However, because of this design choice, building a mold with melamine was really out of the question. I decided to try using a carpet protection film that they sell in large rolls. I reinforced it with blue painter's tape to try to keep the sides from bending when it's full of resin.

Step 4: Pour the resin

So, looking at the piece of maple, I got a wave of the ocean waves. I went with a mostly blue colored resin with a little blue/green shimmer in the dark resin.

Now, in my head, I wanted the glow in the dark resin to be at different points throughout the blue, so I poured a little bit of blue, then glow in the dark, then more blue and so on. Unfortunately, in the end, all the glitter in the dark resin sank to the bottom and was concentrated in one place.

Also, as I was pouring, it became clear that the painters tape was not going to be strong enough to hold the resin without bowing. So, I quickly grabbed some wood and clamps and placed them along the center section, which was the place with the least amount of support.

Step 5: Fixing the Bubble Burst

The type of resin I used for this project was not intended to be poured at the thickness it was poured. originalI thought it would still be okay to pour it because there were so many cavities filled that I thought the wood that would be internal would provide enough of a break that it would be okay. I was wrong! Because it was so thick, it overheated and created a huge bubble explosion along with several internal cracks. Consider this a great lesson learned.

So, the idea of sanding through the entire bubble seemed a little less appealing. After some thought, I decided to scrape off the layer of bubbles with my band saw. Using the band saw instead of sanding definitely saves a lot of time.

Step 6: Final shaping, sanding and resin arrangement

Once the bubbles were taken care of, I used my angle grinder with the flat turbo attachment and belt sander to create a more natural edge and surface. Using the band saw had left the piece square and flat on all four sides and I wanted the piece to have a more organic look.

Once the final shape was achieved, I sanded at 180 grit. At this point, cracks in the resin, from overheating during the curing time, became very evident.

Although I couldn't completely erase the cracks, I could ensure that they were stabilized so that no more cracks would occur and that the resin would not loosen and fall off.

I used only a two part epoxy resin. The epoxy I used had a setting time of 5 minutes and a total cure time of 24 hours.

Step 7: Cuts for light

I decided to attach the LED strip light to see how well it reached through the dyed resin and found that it didn't shine through as much as I expected. To address this issue, and also to help with some potential heat dissipation issues, I decided to cut some slots in the light piece.

I used my miter saw to cut the slots, which would be the width of the saw blade.

I made sure to go deep enough to go through the channel that was there for the LED light strip.

Step 8: Finishing and lighting

After cutting the slots, I sanded inside the slots and the rest of the way to light up to 600 grit. Then I went with a brush in a lacquer finish. I used a disposable foam brush to apply the finish.

Once the finish was dry, I inserted the LED light strip. To keep the light strip inside the channel, I just applied a little hot glue. This allows for fairly easy changing of the lights when they burn out.

I am very happy with the result of my recycled wood and resin lamp, I look forward to the opportunity to make another one. I just need to find another perfect piece of wood for it!

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