I built a Black Limba pendant light inspired by a $5,500 chandelier — stainless steel suspension wires double as the power conductors, no visible cables. Here's the process.
I'm new to this whole posting thing so forgive me if I've errored. I think I've made some pretty cool things though, and I'm just really excited to start sharing them. If you like what I make, or have some feedback, lmk! I've updated the post with pics as requested. If you like what I make, considering following along as I renovate my 1952 gut-job house. Here's my pitch, and I'm shamelessly going to plug:
"Join me and my wife as we breathe new life into our dream house. Watch as I slowly lose my sanity project by project... and as our family 'crew' helps us build our home with a lot of love, earnesty, and integrity. You'll see us try to set a high bar for what we think is possible as we attempt high-end custom furniture and builds with modest resources, questionable experience, and a budget I routinely massacre. Usually, right after I confidently do it wrong. I pair my love of fine cabinetry and millwork with an unhealthy curiosity to learn new skills, a level of fastidiousness that borders on self-sabotage, and a willingness to try on any hat. Electrician, plumber, drywaller, painter, you name it. Sometimes I nail it, often I don't. But we always cross the finish line, eventually."
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Here it is:
https://i.redd.it/plutbohv9g1h1.gif
Post:
Been obsessing over this for a few years. Saw a Luke Lamp Co. pendant on Instagram — Rockwood Custom Homes in Calgary posted a video of it — and it just stuck with me. The braiding rope light was a unique feature I hadn't seen anywhere else.
Let's totally overlook the fact that in the time since I saw it, there are stupidly cheap imitations of this that you can now purchase. Lol.
Soooooooo yeah, I chose to build it myself. During covid, I had the idea to build a picture frame for a few paintings I had that were unframed. I purchased some 4 side-dressed Black Limba, and it was sitting in my garage up until we bought this new house and moved in. Since the move, it's now migrated to sitting in my basement. My wife and I had the idea to incorporate accents of it into the house, since we were lucky enough to grab some pieces that had beautiful graining. We've decided on using it as front entrance hooks, the chandelier, and as the railing for the staircases. I might also add it as an accent strip at the top of a breakfast nook that I built last summer (I have a ton of videos that I took of building this, so lmk if you'd like to see the process 😄)
Mine (prior to 900 gloss oil-based clear coat):
Front entrance hooks:

Custom breakfast nook w. integrated storage: (Slow motion close. Ooooof):
https://i.redd.it/srie3084ag1h1.gif
So back to the chandelier, It's Black Limba, which is this beautiful African hardwood. Looks like a 2x4 but it's actually 6 mitred pieces glued up around a hollow core so all the wiring hides inside. The dumb part was I decided the stainless suspension cables had to carry the power too, since I was fastidious and didn't want any visible power cord. Stainless has like 40x the resistance of copper so when I first powered it up, the LED wasn't lighting up, though the power light for the controller was illuminated. Ended up swapping from a 5V transformer to 24V and stepping it back down to 5V right before the controller. Worked in the end 😄
Hooks: some runs, but I didn't spray these, I just dipped them into the gallon pale and called it a day. Thicccck coat with 4 c's.
https://i.redd.it/6ys0r4r4ag1h1.gif
Then the clear coat almost killed me. So much orange peel. So much sanding. I kept chasing this finish I remembered from a boat ride in Dubrovnik on my honeymoon — the wood on the boat had this amber glow in the sun, almost like a "cat's eye". That was the target. Took about 6 weeks start to finish.
Cat's eye effect: just minus the gloss in this. Imagine the glossy coat acting like a magnifying glass.
Build time: ~6 weeks
Short vid here in case anyone wants to see a bit more of the process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k2LyGY48DI
I also have an in-depth lighting video that I posted on my YT channel as well that goes into how I did the wiring for my brand new custom kitchen that I built. You can watch that long-form vid here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STcg591RZUE
https://i.redd.it/2f0nwak6ag1h1.gif
If you don't laugh as you watch that video, I'll actually buy you a coffee 😂
Happy to answer any questions about the wiring, the mitre joints, or the finishing process.