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The wood for this clock was from a salvaged pallet runner. I believe it is a mahogany. I just cut a hole in it using a large diameter Forstner bit. The clock mechanism was a tight fit in the hole and, eventually, the wood above the dial showed a slight crack. |
| I decided on a tambour style for my first clock project. I made up a full size sketch of what I wanted then drew up a pattern using a drawing software package(Smartdraw). |  |
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The resulting pattern was cut out and pasted to a piece of 1/4" Baltic birch. The center of the clock face was determined and a small hole drilled there. The hole would make it easy to locate the drilling location using the Forstner bit. |
| Panels two boards wide(premavera) were edge glued. Then three of these panels were laminated together for a thickness of about 2.5 inches. The pattern is then transferred. |  |
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The mechanism holes are first cut with a large Forstner bit and then the case is cut with a bandsaw. The oscillating sander is used to smooth things out. |
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The clock bases are half inch thick and the edges are rounded. The bases will be finished separated from the upper portion then glued to the upper portion. |
| One of the clocks has square pegs of salvaged walnut(from some old plaques) added to below the clock face. Also, note the walnut legs. A dark brown-red dye is used along with a dark brown glaze. Satin poly is the topcoat. |  |
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The other two clock cases were finished lighter than the one above. Each clock is fitted with a round door to cover the hole in the back. |
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Upcoming Clock Projects The clock case on the left is a mock up. The grill below the clock face is glued on. I plan to cut the grill in the front of the final clock. The clock case will be made of salvaged oak(from a school remodel). The gear shape on the right will be used as a pattern for a thick piece of wood and will be a wall clock using the same mechanism as the clock on the left. |
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A neighbor gave me a pickup load of oak window trim salvaged from a school remodel. The picture shows a small portion of that wood. Nails had to be removed, boards planed and edges prepared. Some planed boards and glued up panel are shown on the bottom. Just about every board was unique in color and grain pattern making a difficult matching process for panels. |
| Several panels of the oak were made up and cut using the above mockup as a pattern. Nail holes were plugged on the front. Difficulty in grain and color pattern matching is evident in the contrast of the plugs and the surrounding wood. Nail holes on the side and top will not be plugged. The clockcase here is held together by the weight of the top. . |  |
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The clocks are just dry fitted and still need some shaping and sanding before beginning the finishing process. Before I started building I Googled the web for arts and crafts style clocks and incorporated some features I liked. As you might see, I'm experimenting with some style features, size, shape and proportion. When I get a clock case I really like, I'll build some clocks with mechanical movements. |
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This clock is stained with a dark mission water-based dye. The topcoat is satin polyurethane. Personally, I think the deep brown is just too dark. |
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A reddish-brown dye was used with this clock and has a topcoat of satin poly. If you look closely at the front of the case you can see that I didn't get a good match with the nail-hole plugs. The nail holes were left as-is on the top, back and sides. |
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The finish on this clock is the same as the above. Again, a plug is evident just below the grill. I really like the style of this clock and I'm going to make a few more like it. |
