The finished light after installation. Follow along to see the build.Before - This track light has been in the kitchen since the home was built in 1999. It was time for a change!It started as this Douglas Fir 4x6 from Home DepotFirst step, cut the 4x6 to length. I cut it at 7'2\".I wanted to mill out the interior of the beam for two reasons. 1) Lighten it up 2) provide a place for the wiring to go unseen I used a table saw fit with two 10\" blades for a 1/4\" kerf.Here's the first couple passes milling out the inside.After 30 minutes of milling on the table saw I got the inside removed how I wanted it.Shown here with the mounting blocks test fit in place. Those blocks are where I will lag bolt hanging hooks. Don't mind the messy shop!Next step was to join and plane a board that will mount to the ceiling and the light will hang from. I used a scrap of 2x6 for this.planing the mounting board.Cutting a chamfer on the mounting board. There's a few ways to do this. This is NOT the safest, but it was the quickest at that moment. Watch those saw blades!I wanted the beam to look old, used, and distressed. I used these tools to beat it up and give it an aged look. The acme threads of the C clamp worked great for indenting little threaded marks. The pipe wrench and claw end of the hammer took out nice chunks. I used a 40 grit flapper disc on the grinder to sand out long rand streaks with the grain to provide a hand planed, sand blasted look.A propane torch worked great to darken up some areas and provide an aged lookShe's looking good and aged!Mounting plate was distressed in the same manner. The table saw made very sharp chamfered edges that were too perfect. I used the flapper disc on grinder to shape them out to look hand chiseled.I glued in the mounting blocks with T-88 structural adhesive. I'll lag bolt the hanging hooks to these blocks.Made the hanging struts from steel tube and turnbuckles. A bit of cutting and welding. This allows for easy leveling after hanging.Fitting the lights. Each light is wrapped twice around the beam. Clockwise and counter-clockwise wraps alternate one light from another.FINSIHED!This took 3 days from start to finish working on it a couple hours a day. Very happy with the results! via /r/DIY https://ift.tt/2A45YZk
