Chain Pulls or Light Pulls

Martin Pidgen is a production turner in England who markets his work through more than 40 galleries. Perhaps, Martin is best known for his Light Pulls. It seems, that in England, the household current is 220 volts. The electrical code says that every light in a bathroom must have a pull cord on it to help prevent electrical shocks. Martin sort of cornered the market on these items. He says that he has made about 175,000 of his plain pulls and about 75,000 of his acorn pulls, which are made of boxwood and oak. He actually makes pulls out of 100 different woods.

Martin began his light pull demonstration by mounting a dowel chuck in the headstock end and fitting a 3/8” dowel to the chuck. This became the drive tool for his light pull. The wood had been predrilled with a 9/64” hole all of the way through and then a 5/16” hole about 1/2” deep in what will become the bottom end of the pull. The 3/8” dowel was fitted to the 5/16” hole to become a jam fit chuck. The tailstock with a live center supports the other end and applies pressure to the drive end.

He then took a gouge, turned it round, then to shape. Martin says that he can turn about six per hour. He noted that he prepares the wood, cut to size and predrilled and places it on the shelf. When he gets an order, he turns the pieces. This way he always has dry wood to work with, which is very important with an item like this.

This picture shows how Martin mounts his Light Pulls for turning. This piece is ready to remove from the lathe.

Here are two of Martin Pidgen’s light pulls that he gave to More Woodturning when he was visiting the United States in November 1999.

Martin made this Lamp Pull during his demonstration at the First Northwest Washington Woodturners Symposium in Everett, Washington the first weekend of May 2000. I believe that Martin said this was made of Tulip Wood.

This is one of Martin’s Acorn Light Pulls. He also demonstrated the turning of this one during his demonstration at the Northwest Washington Woodturning Symposium.