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Mantle Clock Project

11K views 5 replies 3 participants last post by  DrJosh 
#1 ·
The lumber

Well, it has been quite a while since I've posted anything here on Lumberjocks and, sadly, that is because I haven't been in my shop. But now the semester is over and I just about have my student's grades completed and ready to post, so I can now get back in the shop and make some sawdust. My parent's 50th anniversary is coming up and my sister is planning a big celebration back home. My wife suggested that I make them something nice for an anniversary gift. She suggested that I make a nice mantle clock and I thought that was a pretty good thought, so I did my research…online, in books, and here on LJs…and I came up with my own simple design and I sketched it out with sketchup (I'll post a picture of my sketchup model soon).

Now on to the subject of this blog post. I was searching through the lumber racks at my local Woodcraft store looking for inspiration. I went in thinking that I wanted mahogany, but I was unimpressed with the mahogany boards that they had. Then I found a stack of sipo utile boards. I was told that they were in the mahogany family and these particular boards had more consistent color and grain than any of the "real" mahogany boards that they had….beautiful red-brown hues. I saw my mantle clock when I loked at this wood, so a purcahsed a few boards. Did I mention that sipo utile is cheaper than mahogany?

I milled and started rough cutting the lumber this afternoon and boy, does it machine nicely. Its stacked and stickered in the shop to aclimate a little. Tomorrow we'll get out the cut list and start cutting the parts to size. More to come.
 
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#3 ·
Getting Started...

In my last post on this mantle clock project, I mentioned a new wood that I discovered at my local Woodcraft store…sipo utile. Here is how it looked when I started:
Sipo Utile
This wood mills and works like a dream. Last weekend, I spent the afternoon milling the rough stock down to 5/8" thickness. I left it stacked and stickered in my garage shop for a week to aclimate.
milled sipo
I was finally able to get out to the shop to start cutting the parts for my clock. After an enjoyable afternoon in the shop, I have all my major parts cut and the rabbets for the joinery done.
clock parts
Tomorrow afternoon I'll be doing some initial scraping and sanding the parts and hopefully some assembly of the clock case. Stay tuned…more to come.
 
#5 ·
Carcase completed

After an enjoyable weekend of work, I was able to get the basic carcase of my mantle clock. I did all the joinery (rabbit joints) with my router table. Simple chamfers decorate the edges of the top and bottom caps as well as provide a shadow line (to hide any slight imperfections) at the top and bottom of the carcase where it is joined to the top and bottom caps. I used a card scraper for the first time on this project for surface prep and I love it. After a good scraping, I was able to start sanding at 220 grit and then 320 grit.
clock carcase
The project is currently in the finishing process…more pics of the finished project with the clock works installed to come soon.
 
#6 ·
Finished!

I have now completed my first clock project and applied the finish to it. It's ready to present to my parents for the 50th wedding anniversary!
completed mantle clock 1
I used a very non-traditional way to attach the back to the clock case…magnets! Since I'm still not very good with hinge morticing, especially with tiny brass hinges for projects like this, and I didn't want to risk screwing anything up, I opted for someting that was easier for me to do and was a little unique. I bought a package of quarter inch diameter rare earth magnets. I recessed in the plywood back and mated them with steel screws that they were attracted to. The back stays in place and it's easy to remove/replace when the battery needs replacing or the time reset.
I had some nice prefinished maple plywood in the shop that seemed to have some figure to it so I used that as my back material and it provides a nice contrast to the rest of the case….and if they don't like it, it will be against a wall anyway.
mantle clock back view
For a finish, I used Watco Danish oil. This was the first time I've used danish oil and I really like it. It's easy to apply, cures relatively fast and it really brings the wood to life. This is a finish I'll use again. I also applied one coat of minwax finishing wax .
There are some things that I would do differently if/when I make another mantle clock. I will use a clock movement with a second hand. I will use a lighter contrasting wood to set the face areaapart from the rest of the clock. I would use a darker tinted paste wax to finish a project like this to accentuate the grain. The lighter wax that I used does not do much for the overall finish.
This was an enjoyable project to build. I hope mom and dad like it. I contemplating making another one of these for my own home using some of the copius amount of red oak I have in the shop.
 
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