That $3 brass lamp from an estate sale in Ohio taught me a lesson about wiring

I picked up this old brass lamp at an estate sale near Dayton for $3 and could not figure out why the switch kept sparking. Finally, I took it apart and saw the wiring was totally frayed and wrapped the wrong way around the screw... an old electrician at the shop told me I had been stripping too much insulation off for years. He showed me the right way to hook it up and now the lamp works like a dream. Has anyone else had a simple fix change how they see old hardware?

2 comments

2 Comments

sean_perry6d ago

Nah that's not charm, that's a fire waiting to happen. Leaving frayed cloth wiring in a lamp you actually use is like keeping a loaded gun in a closet full of toddlers.

black.patricia6d ago

So why mess with old wiring at all? I've seen so many people ruin perfectly good vintage lamps by "fixing" them. The wiring was probably original from the 1950s or something and that's part of the charm. If it sparks a little, that's just character. You know how many old lamps in my house still have cloth wrapped wiring? They work fine as long as you don't touch the switch too much. I say leave the old stuff alone unless it's actively on fire. That electrician just wanted to sell you a new lamp.