I have been very busy for the past month, and will be still for the next few weeks. Then I should have a window before August where I can begin my next project. I am still considering the projects mentioned previously and have recently added two more. Earlier this month we replaced guest bedroom furniture with a nice natural alder [wood] set. I had two wall shelves on the wall but they were dark. I want to replace them with natural alder shelves. The company that made the bedroom set does not make alder wall shelves. However, I wish to use the existing wall shelves as templates and make my own out of alder wood lumber. The old wall shelves have considerable scrollwork side pieces. I decided that these can best be cut-out with my router table. I will need to buy alder lumber which is somewhat of a pain as it grows only on the west coast. Not available in your local Lowe's in PA. Another project I am considering is to make a cane out of some of my remaining walnut. That should be fun and there is a story in my family's ancestry of an old cane that had been passed down generations. That cane was destroyed in a fire. I'm sure I will need a cane one day! Enjoy the photo below showing my clock provenance and thanks for visiting my blog.
I finally crafted and placed my clock's provenance on the inside of the waist door. Wherever the clock ends up, its history will follow. I also want to make-up and post an instruction sheet as these old clock movements have their own set of rules. "Helping hands" can inadvertently get the movement out-of-sync or damage it. So making the instructions is on my to-do list. BTW, my clock continues to keep accurate time and strike. Here's hoping that continues!
I have been very busy for the past month, and will be still for the next few weeks. Then I should have a window before August where I can begin my next project. I am still considering the projects mentioned previously and have recently added two more. Earlier this month we replaced guest bedroom furniture with a nice natural alder [wood] set. I had two wall shelves on the wall but they were dark. I want to replace them with natural alder shelves. The company that made the bedroom set does not make alder wall shelves. However, I wish to use the existing wall shelves as templates and make my own out of alder wood lumber. The old wall shelves have considerable scrollwork side pieces. I decided that these can best be cut-out with my router table. I will need to buy alder lumber which is somewhat of a pain as it grows only on the west coast. Not available in your local Lowe's in PA. Another project I am considering is to make a cane out of some of my remaining walnut. That should be fun and there is a story in my family's ancestry of an old cane that had been passed down generations. That cane was destroyed in a fire. I'm sure I will need a cane one day! Enjoy the photo below showing my clock provenance and thanks for visiting my blog.
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Just picked up some NOS recessed brass handles that might work nicely if I proceed to build a small trunk. See photo below. Meanwhile, I'm still painting the inside of my house. Enjoy!
![]() Firstly, I intend to keep this site up and active. It doesn't cost me anything, so why not? I still need to craft a provenance to place on the inside of the waist door. Maybe I'll get to that this coming week in between painting the inside of my house. I am looking forward to showing my clock to my two brothers whenever they come out from IL. My older brother had given me the seasoned IL walnut from which the clock was made. I still have about 1/3rd of the walnut left. And so, I do expect to make some more items out of that. I have provided a photo below of the remaining wood inventory. I'm very grateful for this wood from him. Wood project ideas are a dime a dozen on the internet. I want to make something that is worthy of the walnut wood. I have a few ideas that I will share below. I would very much like to hear your thoughts on these ideas and my preferred choice. Whichever one I build, I will likely create a web blog on its construction as it doesn't cost me anything to do so. Purple Martin house This was my first project idea, although it would not be made of the walnut simply because it could just as easily be made of pine. My design is to mimic an old house I saw in Salem CT. Here are two photos of it. I was going to give it to my older brother as a thank you for the wood. but it turns out, he already has a purple martin house. I thought of making one for myself, but we already have many smaller birds that would not hang around with purple martins or starlings. Click on photos to enlarge. Walnut wall cabinet shelf While this would look nice in walnut, I'm not sure how practical it is. So this one is out. Wooden tray Another idea. On hold for now. I do have a plan for this. Steamer Trunk This idea has merit, especially made out of walnut. The problem is, it will take nearly all of the remaining walnut lumber to build this. I did order plans from Rockler and have them. I also ordered and have the hardware. My thinking is that I would first like to make a down-sized version of the trunk sans the bumpers, and to replace the typical steamer trunk latch with an antique keyed lock. I found just the lock I was looking for on eBay and have that. This proposed lock requires some detailed mortise cuts but I believe I could do it. This down-sized version would be great for storing important papers and valuables. I have provided photos below of both a full-size steamer trunk in walnut, as well as the lock I just received. I'm hoping that I can make both the full-size and the smaller version with my remaining stock. My artist son arrived late on the 22nd and by the evening of the 23rd, my name and town were penned to the clock dial. First, we had to remove the movement and dial from the case and place them in a sturdy box. Then, my son scribed my name and town on paper and, placing carbon paper underneath, traced the image to the clock dial. Then, he penned over the resulting carbon image leaving an inked rendition of my name and town. It came out exactly as I had hoped. I'm very pleased with it. Once my name and town were penned to the dial, we then re-mounted the dial and movement onto the case. You can follow the steps and evolution in the slideshow below. My remaining step is to craft a provenance which will be placed onto the inside of the waist door. Also, check back for details on my upcoming projects. Thanks for following along on my web blog! I have performed some additional research on my clock dial and movement. The English movement dates to c1740-c1800 based upon the style of the movement pillars. The dial was made by William Francis of Birmingham, UK, who manufactured clock dials from c1810-c1840. His name is stamped onto the "false plate" which resides directly behind the dial and, along with the dial, contains the calendar wheel. The name previously on the clock dial was Henry Botly [1798-1876] of Salisbury, UK, who was a cutler and jeweler in Salisbury. Arabic numbers were used on clock dials between 1800-1825. Both before and after that period, Roman numerals were used. Based upon the above, I date the clock dial to c1825. The movement was repurposed at that time by William Francis for a dial for Henry Botly. A clock case was likely made at the same time. I have never seen a picture of that case. OK, the workshop is all cleaned up and ready for my next project. I actually do have a few project ideas in mind but am keeping them to myself for now. Having spent a year, and about 400 hours, building this clock case, it was important to me to get the garage back to where it had been before all the walnut dust starting flying. The shelves, walls, ceiling, and floor are all clean. I even mopped the floor. All done! By now, my son is on his way down from Boston to pen my name on the clock. The workshop looks like an operating room as there is a lonely table sitting in the middle of the room awaiting an artist to finish the clock tomorrow. I have included some pics. Enjoy and click to enlarge!
I've titled this blog "multi-day" as I spent all day yesterday cleaning my workshop and I'm not done yet. I'm pretty sure I will have it cleaned-up by tomorrow evening when my artist son arrives to pen my name on the clock dial. Here are some pics from my clean-up activities. Click to enlarge.
No, really! Not an April Fool's joke! Today, we put the movement, pendulum and weights back on the clock case. All that's left is to have my name penned on the dial and perhaps a provenance added to the inside of the waist door. I was thinking that I would need to add a catch or fastener to the dial door, but it closes perfectly as it is. So, the clock is running while I await my name being added on April 23rd. In the meantime, I may have a few blogs to add. Please enjoy today's pics below. Click to enlarge. And thanks for visiting my blog and joining my journey of building a true longcase clock!
Woo-hoo! I drilled the hole for the dial door knob and installed the knob. There are actually 2 knobs and they are interchangeable. The one I put on is the one I like. My wife likes the other one. Maybe I'll try that one later. Then I set the glass into the door frame and fastened with 3 screws. Then I puttied the glass to the door frame [messy work]. Then, I installed the 2 dial door hinges. And all fits perfectly. You may recall that I had already performed a run-through earlier this month. It tuns out, the glass is quite wavy. Perhaps it just doesn't look that way when it's close to the dial. Then, I put the hood assembly back on the case. I had planned to put the movement back on the seatboard today, however, that will wait until tomorrow, April 1st. I started the clock project back in April 2015 when I bought the clock movement. So it is fitting that I will be wrapping up the project in April 2016. It's been fun all the way through except for my whacking my thumb on the router [still hurts!]. Enjoy the slideshow below! Thanks for visiting! Last night, my wife took a look at my clock case progress and declared that my case was way too glossy. So I investigated my options and, today, applied a final coat of wax with my #0000 steel wool and immediately wiped it off. I had to be sure I was applying the wax uniformly. The result was a more satin sheen that I'm happy with - and my wife is too! The waxing is now complete. I also put the waist door back on and installed the key escutcheon on the waist door with my wife's help. Next up tomorrow, is putting the knob on the dial door, installing the glass in the dial door and, finally, adding the dial door hinges. I'm hoping to have the clock dial door installed into the hood, and may even have the clock movement back on the seatboards by tomorrow night! That will only leave the penning of my name to the dial, a task now scheduled for April 23rd. Enjoy the slideshow below! Hello! Welcome back to all my blog followers! I have been away in CT for almost a week. While at a church on Easter Sunday, I noticed that both the windows and wall clock on this old CT church had wavier glass than my clock will have. In doing some research, it tuns out there is the old glass-making process and there is the old, old glass-making process. The glass I have is not as old as it probably should be [200 years], and after thinking about going through the effort to find old, old glass and have it cut, I decided what I have is just fine.
Today, I continued my quest to find paint that properly matched my dial face and, after several more trips to the store and test painting, my wife revealed that she thought it looked best before I started messing with any touch-ups. So, I went back to the store, bought some mild paint remover, and removed the touch-ups. I then needed to use polishing compound to bring back the sheen and I'm now where I was following the removal of Henry Botley's name and town. And that means that I'm all set for whenever my artist son can come here to pen my name and town. Tentatively, we had scheduled that for this coming weekend. Following getting the dial ready, I proceeded to put on another coat of wax on the dial door, hood and the entire clock case. I will put yet another coat on tomorrow. Shortly, I should have enough shine on the dial door to go ahead and add the knob and install the hinges and the glass. The case will need several more coats of wax. Please enjoy today's pics below! click to enlarge. |
AuthorI hope that you enjoy keeping up with my clock's progress! Archives
June 2016
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