- 7 weeks ago
A short length of black pipe can become a handsome porch light that glows all night for almost nothing. Elias shows how people are turning simple pipe, a drill, paint, and a small solar light into a soft, scattered path light that looks like ironwork and costs no electricity to run.
He explains the Amish view of off-grid solar, then walks through the build step by step: cut the pipe, smooth the edges, drill random holes in three sizes, paint it in thin coats, and fit a solar light inside with a simple cord collar. He also shows how to mount it on a board or set it along a front walk, while making sure the panel gets enough sun to charge properly.
Along the way, he shares the deeper idea behind the project: a lit porch or path is a quiet kindness for family, guests, and anyone arriving in the dark. It is a practical DIY porch light, a budget-friendly solar lighting project, and a satisfying home improvement idea for anyone who likes simple country craftsmanship.
Created for viewers searching for DIY solar porch light, black pipe light project, Amish home improvement, off-grid lighting ideas, and front walk path lighting. It also fits searches for practical DIY tutorials, budget outdoor lighting, and simple homestead projects with a handmade, rustic look.
He explains the Amish view of off-grid solar, then walks through the build step by step: cut the pipe, smooth the edges, drill random holes in three sizes, paint it in thin coats, and fit a solar light inside with a simple cord collar. He also shows how to mount it on a board or set it along a front walk, while making sure the panel gets enough sun to charge properly.
Along the way, he shares the deeper idea behind the project: a lit porch or path is a quiet kindness for family, guests, and anyone arriving in the dark. It is a practical DIY porch light, a budget-friendly solar lighting project, and a satisfying home improvement idea for anyone who likes simple country craftsmanship.
Created for viewers searching for DIY solar porch light, black pipe light project, Amish home improvement, off-grid lighting ideas, and front walk path lighting. It also fits searches for practical DIY tutorials, budget outdoor lighting, and simple homestead projects with a handmade, rustic look.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00There is a thing you have started seeing on porches and along front walks, and you may not even know
00:05what you are looking at.
00:07A short length of black pipe, mounted on the wall by the door or set along the path, and at
00:13night it glows,
00:14soft lights spilling out the top and shining in little dots all down its side, lighting the way to the
00:21door.
00:22Folks are putting these up everywhere now, and there is a genuinely clever reason for it,
00:27and the best part is, it costs almost nothing and burns no electricity at all.
00:33I am going to show you how to make one today with a piece of pipe, a drill, and a
00:39little solar light,
00:40and no wire run to it, no bill for it, nothing.
00:44It catches the free light of the sun all day and gives it back to you all night,
00:50and I will show you how to do it so it looks handsome and not like a piece of plumbing
00:55somebody stuck on the wall.
00:56I am Elias.
00:59My family came over from the Palatinate in 1838, and we have worked this Lancaster County ground ever since.
01:06Now you might wonder at an Amish man making a solar light, so let me be plain about that right
01:13at the start,
01:13because it matters and I would not have you confused.
01:17My people do not tie into the public electric grid.
01:21That is true, and that is firm.
01:23We do not take a wire from the power company.
01:27But catching a bit of the sun's own light on a small panel and storing it to use after dark
01:34on our own buildings by our own hand with no wire to any outside company,
01:40that is a different thing entirely, and many of us allow it.
01:44It is the same to me as catching the rain off the roof instead of buying water.
01:49The sun gives its light free, and a little solar light catches and keeps it,
01:56and you owe no man and no company a thing for it.
02:00Now I will say plain, practices differ from one community to the next.
02:06The stricter orders allow less than we do, and I will get into all of that in another video.
02:12But for this, a small solar light on the path, that is well within what we keep.
02:18So let me show you.
02:20Let me tell you why a light on the path means something to me, beyond it being handy,
02:26because it goes back to my grandmother and a habit she kept all her life.
02:31Every evening, no matter the weather, she set a lit lamp in the kitchen window that faced the road,
02:38and she never failed it.
02:41As a boy, I asked her once why, when no one of ours was out, and she said,
02:47Elias, you never know who is on the road in the dark and cold, lost or weary or afraid,
02:54and a light in a window tells a soul that someone is near and the way is found.
03:01She kept that lamp for strangers she would never meet.
03:04It cost her oil every night to do it, and she counted it cheap for the comfort it might give
03:11some traveler.
03:12I have never forgotten it.
03:14So when I show you how to light a path or a porch for free,
03:19understand I am not just showing you a clever trick with a pipe.
03:23I am showing you how to keep my grandmother's lamp burning in the window,
03:28only now the sun pays for the oil.
03:32There is a kindness in a light left burning in the dark that is older than any of us,
03:37and this little thing lets you keep it for nothing.
03:42It starts at the hardware store with one simple thing, a length of pipe.
03:47The black kind is what folks favor for this, for it looks well,
03:51but the thing itself matters more than the color.
03:55You want a piece about three inches across, and you can buy it in a longer length and cut it
04:00down.
04:01Say you buy a two-foot length.
04:03You will cut it in half and have two of these, which is fine,
04:07for you will likely want more than one anyway.
04:11Mark your halfway point and cut it through with whatever saw you have.
04:16A hand saw does it. Any saw will cut through this material easy.
04:21Mind, the cutting of pipe with a powered saw is the kind of work that,
04:26were it a big job, I would let the English contractor handle.
04:30But a single cut on a light pipe, a man can do with a hand saw across his knee in
04:36a minute.
04:37Now the cut end will be a little rough and ragged.
04:40Take a bit of coarse sandpaper, the 80 grit is right,
04:44and run it around the cut edge until it is smooth,
04:48both the inside and the outside of the rim.
04:51A minute's work, and it is clean and finished, and will not catch or look raw.
04:57Quick word before I go further.
04:59The old methods my family uses, there is more of it than fits in any one video.
05:04I gathered the whole of it into a book at EliasYoder.com.
05:09The book is the long version.
05:11If you want it, it is there.
05:13I will not mention it again.
05:15Now here is the heart of the thing,
05:17the part that makes it glow so pretty,
05:20and it is the drilling of the holes.
05:22You are going to drill a mess of holes all up and down the pipe,
05:26and when the light sits inside at night,
05:28it shines out through every one of those holes in little points of light,
05:32like stars down the side of it.
05:35And the secret to making it look right,
05:37the one thing to get hold of is this.
05:40The pattern is no pattern.
05:42You want the holes random, scattered, here and there,
05:46all up and down and around,
05:47with no neat rows and no even spacing.
05:50A man's eye wants to line things up in tidy rows,
05:54and you must fight that urge,
05:56because tidy rows look like a machine made it,
05:59and random scattered holes look like something natural and handsome,
06:04like light through leaves.
06:06So random is good,
06:08and any pattern at all is bad.
06:10Scatter them.
06:11And you do it in three sizes,
06:13with three sizes of drill bit,
06:15small and medium and large,
06:18and this is what gives it depth and interest,
06:20instead of being all the same.
06:22You start with your smallest bit,
06:24and you go all over the pipe,
06:26up and down,
06:27around and around,
06:28drilling a good many small holes,
06:31scattered random.
06:32But here is one rule on placement.
06:35Do not drill past the halfway point.
06:37Keep your holes to the upper part,
06:39and one face of the pipe,
06:41the part that will show and throw light outward,
06:44for you do not need holes on the back against the wall,
06:47nor down low.
06:49Once you have a good scattering of small holes,
06:52you switch to your medium bit,
06:54and you go back and open up some of those small holes a little larger,
06:57here and there,
06:58not all of them,
06:59just some,
07:00chosen random again.
07:02And then your largest bit,
07:04and you open just a few of them larger still,
07:06mostly down toward the bottom.
07:08Now you have small,
07:10medium,
07:10and large holes scattered all over,
07:13and that mix of sizes
07:15is what makes the light come out rich and varied at night,
07:18instead of flat.
07:20Three sizes,
07:21scattered with no pattern.
07:23That is the whole craft of it.
07:25Now you paint it.
07:26Even if you bought black pipe,
07:28a coat of paint finishes it and protects it,
07:30and you can make it any color you like to suit your house,
07:34though black or a dark bronze looks most like fine iron work.
07:38Use a spray,
07:39and here is the trick to a good paint job.
07:42Go light.
07:43Little short bursts,
07:45a thin coat,
07:46and let it dry,
07:47and then a second thin coat,
07:49and a third if it needs it.
07:51Two or three thin coats lay down far nicer than one heavy one,
07:55for a heavy coat runs and drips and pools in your holes.
07:59Thin and patient,
08:00and mind you get the inside of the rim and down in a ways too,
08:04and around the edges of your holes,
08:06so there is no bare material showing when the light catches it.
08:10Let it dry good and hard.
08:12Now the light itself,
08:14the part that costs you nothing to run.
08:16You want a small solar light,
08:18the kind with a little panel on its top
08:20that drinks the sun all day,
08:22and a light that comes on by itself when it goes dark.
08:25These are common and cheap now.
08:27The light drops down into the top of your pipe
08:30so the panel sits up at the top catching the sun,
08:33and the light shines down inside the pipe
08:35and out through all your holes.
08:38Now here is a small trouble you may meet,
08:40and the simple fix.
08:41Often the little solar light is a touch narrower than the pipe,
08:45and it would just fall straight through.
08:47So you make a little collar inside the top of the pipe
08:50for it to rest on.
08:51Take a bit of cord or rope,
08:53run a line of glue around the inside of the pipe near the top,
08:57and wrap the cord around inside,
08:59round and round,
09:01glued in place,
09:02building up a little ridge.
09:04That ridge catches the light
09:06and holds it up at the top,
09:07flush and neat,
09:09panel to the sky.
09:11Drop the light in,
09:12and it sits perfect.
09:14Last, you mount it.
09:16If it is going on a wall,
09:18you want a base to hang it from,
09:19and here is a tidy way.
09:22Take a scrap board,
09:23a bit longer than your pipe
09:25so it stands a little proud at top and bottom,
09:28and onto that board,
09:29you fix two small blocks of wood,
09:32a little spacer,
09:33that the bottom of the pipe will glue down onto,
09:36and the top will rest against.
09:39Glue your pipe to those blocks.
09:41Paint the board too, if you like,
09:43a dark color,
09:44and if you want the grain of the wood
09:46to show through pretty,
09:47give it just one thin coat
09:49so it does not hide the wood entirely.
09:52Put a simple hanging hook
09:54on the back of the board.
09:56The light is so light in weight
09:58that one small hook holds it fine,
10:00and your sconce is done,
10:03ready to hang by the door.
10:05Or, simpler still,
10:06you can set these along a path
10:08mounted to short posts
10:10or stakes driven in the ground,
10:12a row of them lighting the walk.
10:14Either way.
10:16Let me give you a few practical words
10:18on placing these
10:20so yours work their best,
10:22for a solar light is only as good
10:24as the sun it gets.
10:26The whole thing lives or dies
10:29on that little panel at the top
10:30drinking enough daylight,
10:32so you want to mount these
10:34where the sun actually reaches them
10:36for a good part of the day,
10:37not tucked under a deep porch roof
10:40or back in a shadow
10:42where the panel never sees the sky.
10:45If your porch is shaded,
10:47set the light on a post
10:48out where the sun falls
10:50and let it light the steps from there.
10:52Or, choose a light
10:54whose little panel sits on a separate cord
10:56you can run out to the sun,
10:58for some are made that way.
11:01A panel starved of sun
11:03gives you a weak, short light
11:05that quits by midnight,
11:07while one set in good daylight
11:09glows bright clear through till dawn.
11:12So mind the sun first of all.
11:15As for how many and how big,
11:18that is yours to suit.
11:20One by the door is a fine start.
11:23But these look their handsomest in a row,
11:26three or four of them
11:27marching down a front walk
11:29or a garden path,
11:30each lighting its own stretch,
11:32leading the eye and the foot
11:34to the door.
11:35That is why I told you
11:37to buy the longer pipe and cut it.
11:39You will want more than one.
11:41You can make them all of a height,
11:44or vary them,
11:45taller and shorter,
11:46for a pleasing look.
11:48And the three-inch pipe
11:50is a good size for most,
11:52big enough to hold
11:53the common solar lights
11:54and to throw good light.
11:56But there is no rule in it.
11:58A wider pipe makes a bolder light,
12:00and a narrow one,
12:02a slimmer accent.
12:03So make them to suit your place.
12:06And then you wait for dark.
12:09And that is when you see
12:10why folks are doing this.
12:13By day it is a handsome,
12:15dark sconce on the wall.
12:17Nothing remarkable.
12:18But when night comes,
12:20and the little light wakes by itself,
12:22the top glows,
12:24and the whole side of it
12:25lights up with those
12:27scattered points of light
12:28shining through every hole,
12:30throwing a soft pattern
12:32down the wall,
12:33lighting the path to your door,
12:35welcoming anyone
12:36who comes up the walk
12:38in the dark.
12:39Esther has a cozy little spot
12:41on the porch
12:42where she likes to sit
12:43of an evening
12:44with a glass of her lemonade.
12:46And a couple of these
12:47along there
12:48have made it a fine place
12:50to sit after the sun is down,
12:51soft and pretty
12:53and lit for free.
12:56It is one of the nicest
12:57small things you can make
12:59in an afternoon.
13:01Now let me tell you
13:02the genuine sense in this,
13:04the real reason it is clever,
13:06beyond it being pretty.
13:09Think on what a lit path
13:11or porch usually costs a body.
13:13You run a wire out from the house,
13:16which is work and expense
13:17and often an electrician,
13:19and then the light
13:21burns power
13:22every night of its life,
13:23a little turn of the meter,
13:25a few cents,
13:26every single night,
13:28year upon year,
13:30a bill that never ends
13:32as long as the light shines.
13:34This little pipe light
13:36costs you the one small price
13:38of the pipe and the solar light,
13:40once,
13:41and then it shines
13:43every night for free,
13:45forever,
13:46burning not one cent of power,
13:48wanting no wire,
13:50no switch,
13:52no bill.
13:53It catches the free sun by day
13:56and spends it by night
13:57and asks nothing of you
14:00ever again.
14:01That is the whole genius of it,
14:03and it is the same plain wisdom
14:05my people have always lived by.
14:08Take what is given free,
14:10store it by your own hand,
14:12and owe no one.
14:13Let me sit on that idea
14:15a moment longer,
14:17because it is the true heart
14:19of why this little thing
14:20pleases me so.
14:22There is a whole way of living
14:24tucked inside this small pipe light,
14:26and it is the way my people
14:28have always tried to live.
14:30The world will sell you everything
14:33if you let it.
14:34Your light,
14:35your water,
14:36your heat,
14:37your food,
14:38all of it metered out
14:39and build to you forever,
14:41so that you wake each day
14:43owing a dozen companies
14:45for the very basics of living,
14:47and the meter's turn
14:48whether you are home or away,
14:51awake or asleep.
14:53And the old way,
14:54the better way,
14:55is to look at each of those things
14:57and ask,
14:58Can I not catch this myself,
15:01free,
15:01and keep it by my own hand?
15:04The rain that falls on your roof
15:06is water you need not buy.
15:08The sun that falls on your yard
15:10is light and warmth
15:12you need not buy.
15:14The wood from your own lot
15:16is heat you need not buy.
15:18None of it is beyond
15:20an ordinary person,
15:21and every bit of it
15:22you catch for yourself
15:24is a bit you no longer
15:26owe anyone for.
15:27This pipe light
15:28is one small square
15:30of that freedom,
15:32a light that is yours outright,
15:34caught free
15:35and kept free,
15:37owing nothing onward.
15:38Make one,
15:39and you will understand
15:40the feeling,
15:41and you may find yourself
15:43looking around your place
15:44asking what else
15:46you have been paying for
15:47that the good Lord
15:48was offering free
15:50all along.
15:51And a word on keeping it going,
15:53for it is little enough.
15:55Wipe the dust
15:56off the little solar panel
15:58atop it now and again,
16:00for a panel grimed over
16:01with dust and pollen
16:03cannot drink the sun well,
16:05and the light goes dim.
16:07A swipe with a damp cloth
16:09every month or so
16:10keeps it bright.
16:11The small battery
16:12inside the solar light
16:14will,
16:15after some years,
16:16wear out
16:17and hold less charge,
16:19as all such do,
16:20and when that day comes,
16:22you can often open the light
16:24and put in a fresh one
16:26for a few cents
16:27and it is good as new again,
16:29the pipe
16:30and all your work
16:31serving on unchanged.
16:34Tend it that little
16:35and it will light your path
16:37for many a long year.
16:39And there is a real use in it
16:41past the prettiness.
16:42A dark path
16:44is a place a body
16:45turns an ankle
16:46or takes a fall,
16:48the steps to the porch,
16:49the walk to the barn,
16:51the way to the shed
16:52in the black
16:53of a winter evening.
16:54A soft light
16:56marking that path
16:57is a kindness
16:58and a safety,
16:59to your own family
17:01coming home late
17:02and to any guest
17:03finding your door
17:04in the dark.
17:05The old people
17:07always kept a lamp
17:08in the window
17:08for the one still out
17:10on the road.
17:11This is that same
17:12old kindness,
17:14a light left burning
17:15to welcome
17:16and to guide,
17:18only now
17:18the sun pays for it
17:20instead of the lamp oil.
17:22Now let me say
17:23the small, honest word
17:25about who profits
17:26from your not knowing
17:27how simple this is.
17:29Not to rile you up,
17:31just so you see
17:32the shape of it.
17:33A fine,
17:34cast-metal solar sconce
17:36sells at the garden store
17:37for a good many dollars.
17:39The very same thing
17:41in the end,
17:42a pipe with holes
17:43and a solar light.
17:45And the wired lighting,
17:47the path lights
17:48run off your house current,
17:49those are sold to you
17:51with the wire
17:52and the work
17:53and the never-ending
17:54little cost
17:55of the power they burn.
17:57And here you can make
17:58the same thing
17:59that shines just as well
18:01for a few dollars
18:02and an afternoon
18:04owing nothing further
18:05to anyone.
18:07I am not telling you
18:08a man schemed this.
18:10No one had to.
18:12It is worse
18:13than a conspiracy
18:13because it is a system
18:15nobody had to coordinate.
18:17It simply pays better
18:19to sell a finished sconce
18:21or to sell a man power
18:23by the month forever
18:24than to teach him
18:26he can drill a pipe
18:27and catch the sun
18:28for free.
18:29The old people
18:30made their own light
18:31where they could
18:32because nobody
18:34was selling them anything.
18:36So there is the hole of it.
18:37A length of pipe
18:39cut to size
18:40and the edges
18:41sanded smooth.
18:42Holes drilled all over
18:44in three sizes,
18:46small and medium
18:47and large,
18:49scattered random
18:50with no pattern at all,
18:52kept to the showing side.
18:54Painted in thin,
18:56patient coats.
18:57A little cord collar
18:59glued inside the top
19:00to hold a small solar light,
19:02mounted to a scrap board
19:04with a hook
19:04or set on a post
19:06along the path.
19:07And then free,
19:09soft,
19:09pretty light
19:10every night
19:11for the rest of its days,
19:13catching the sun by day
19:14and giving it back by dark,
19:16owing no man a thing.
19:19Now I want to hear from you
19:20and I ask honest
19:22because I learned
19:23the whole country
19:23from these comments.
19:25Tell me in the comments below
19:26where about your place
19:28could use a soft light
19:29at night?
19:30The porch steps,
19:31the front walk,
19:33the path to the barn
19:34or the shed.
19:35And tell me your county
19:36and how dark it gets
19:38out your way at night,
19:39for a body off in the country
19:40with no street light
19:41has more need of this
19:43than one in a bright town.
19:45I read every one.
19:47Next time,
19:48I want to talk plainly
19:49about how my people
19:50use the sun,
19:51off-grid solar,
19:52what we allow
19:53and what we do not
19:54and why,
19:55because there is a great deal
19:56of confusion about it
19:58and a great many wrong notions
20:00and the truth of it
20:01is more sensible
20:02and more interesting
20:03than folks suppose.
20:05If you have ever wondered
20:06how the Amish square electricity
20:08with the old ways,
20:09that one will lay it out for you.
20:11A light left burning
20:13in the dark
20:13is one of the oldest
20:14kindnesses there is,
20:16a small mercy
20:17to whoever is still out
20:18on the road
20:19trying to find their way home.
20:21The old people
20:22kept that light
20:23at whatever cost
20:24they could manage
20:24because welcoming a soul
20:26in from the dark
20:27mattered to them.
20:29Now the sun itself
20:30will keep it for you,
20:31for nothing,
20:32if you only make
20:33the simple thing to hold it.
20:34The home that lights
20:36the way for others
20:36is the home that remembers
20:38what a light in the window
20:39was always for.
20:41The people who built
20:42this country
20:42with their hands
20:43knew that
20:44and we are only
20:45just starting
20:45to remember it.