| Blog series by kenn | updated 664 days ago | 11 parts | 12801 reads | 45 comments total |
Part 1: Milling Stock
This should actually be Part 2 of the series, sorry. After that swich, I’ll have the rest of them correct. I have to start milling my stock. Here’s the stile and rails for the front and back of the clock. The sides are solid pieces that I’ll glue up later from 2 boards. For now, I’ve got work to do. I’m starting on a rail to get warmed up. Here I am checking to see where I am off. Now I’ll get it flat on one side. Next up is flattening one side ...
Part 2: Wedding Clock, The Start & Story
Sorry Lumberjocks, this was intended to be part one. I’ve got it straight from here on. My eldest daughter is getting married! They got engaged Summer, 2010 and the wedding is planned for Sept. 17, 2011. I told them I’d like to make them something special as a wedding from my wife and me. This is what we all agreed would be a great gift. Never mind that I haven’t done anything in Arts & Crafts Style and that this is my reference, Bruce Johnson’s book on The ...
Part 3: Making Panels
It’s time to glue up the panels that are needed. I’m making a frame and panel as the back of the clock that will consist of 2 panels stacked on top of each other, held in place by the 3 horizontal rails and 2 vertical stiles. So I’ll need 2 panels for the back. Here’s one of those. Note the carpenter’s triangle that I use to keep the parts aligned. I have already glued the bottom two pieces together but we’ll walk through the rest of making this one. ...
Part 4: Hired an Apprentice
I am still milling lumber, trying to get everything ready for some joinery. Once I get one side flat, I mark it “Flat”. That just helps me keep track of who’s where as I work the pieces and parts. Here is one of the birdseye maple shelves that I glued up then hand planed one side flat, mostly, and is now ready to be taken down to its final thickness. Sorry this picture is a little blurry but you can see how flat the wood is. Just so you can see the results of my swea...
Part 5: Don't Get Mad at Me, The Back
As a reminder, I am making an Art and Craft style clock based on one at The Grove Park Inn for my eldest daughter’s upcoming wedding. See post #2 for the goal. I’ve decided to make the back frame and panel assembly first. A little sharpening is order before I get started. Next I planed the stiles flat and square with my Lie-Nielsen #7. Then I just couldn’t handle the suspense anymore and had to lay out the panels and rails to see how it was going to look. This allowed ...
Part 6: DISASTER STRIKES!
I was making great progress on the clock. The wedding is 17 weeks away. My wife commented that she thought it would be done in time today. I headed done to my shop. I’ve been working on the front frame and thought I might be gluing it up today. Here’s a look at the lower rail, nice tight joint. I needed to put the profile on the bottom of that rail. As you may remember from my last post, I am using a huge fortsner bit to establish the curve and then bandsawing out the waste...
Part 7: Three "F's" or Disaster Recovery
The Front Frame is Finished (ala 3 “F’s). Here’s how I made the front frame and recovered from my disaster. I started by jointing the inside edges of the stiles flat and square with my #7 plane. The a little layout and I was off and running …no, I meant mortising. Chopping down and levering up the waste, I made a mortise. Checking to make sure I made a square mortise as I went along. As you know, the ends of the mortise are saved for last. Once the center is exc...
Part 8: Tapers & Out of the Shop
This feels like real progress! By the end of this blog, you’ll be able to see that this clock is actually coming together. When I stopped last time, I was waiting for the BLO to dry on the front frame. It dried. Now I need to apply shellac. I decided on clear to let the cherry darken and age on it own. Maybe on their 50th wedding anniversary the couple will pull out some old pictures and see how the tone has mellowed, just like them. Here’s a shot of the shellac being appli...
Part 9: Sides
Now that the front and back have been assembled, I’m on to making the sides and the shelves that will sit in dados cut into the sides. Today’s blog is getting thoses sides made and ready for the dado process. That means basic milling. So I start with rough lumber, layed out for the best match I think. I check the direction the grain is running by planing a bit on each piece. This will allow the grain to be running the same when the whole piece is glued up and, hopefully, make...
Part 10: Like Frankenstein, It Stands Up
I am up to the nerve wracking part of this build. I need to put some dados into the sides of the clock, but since both the sides and front/back are angled, the dados need to be angled. I’ve been thinking about how to do this since I started this project. Use a stack dado set and the table saw? Yeah, that would work, but I don’t think the cut will be as precise as I need it to be and the cut would register on the front edge of one side and the back edge of the other side. That...
Part 11: Tick-tock, Ding-dong
I have officially made a clock! It ticks, it tocks, it dings and dongs. I can hear the chimes ringing as I write this update for you. Here’s what I’ve done to be able to call this an actual clock. I’ve added a support to the dado I cut in the sides. This one is for the dial door. You can see the dado for the mechanism support behind it. Here’s a head on shot of the mechanism support too. That all looked fine but I thought that adding a cross piece at the top ...
