"Joe Mastroianni" wrote in message
...
I have a desk lamp of the "brave little toaster" style which says to use
a 60W bulb.

Inside the light, it 'says' 60 watts.
http://www1.picturepush.com/photo/a/...g/12036539.jpg

My wife insists on a 75 Watt flood, which gives the right amount of
light, but it gets hot as blazes.

How much do you think 125% over the maximum matters?

If the desk lamp also has a UL or CSA sticker, then a 60 watt bulb was used
to test and approve the fixture for electrical and fire safety. Using a 75
watt bulb voids that listing. If you were to have a fire that was traced to
the desk lamp and if the fire inspector determined that you had
over-wattaged the lamp, then your fire insurance could be disallowed.
That's not very likely, of course, but it has happened. As others have
mentioned, using a 50 watt halogen PAR 20 might work for you as will using a
CFL or LED bulb, but compare the light output values (lumens). Don't go
just by the "wattage equivalent" charts.

Tomsic