Project by Mike Auclair | posted 04-16-2009 03:53 PM | 1723 views | 2 times favorited | 5 comments | ![]() |
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This Tall Case Clock was designed and built as a Christmas gift for my wife for our 37th Christmas together. The clock case is built primarily out of Mahogany. The accent pieces, located just below the pediment molding and in the inset panel in the door of the bottom section, are made from 50,000 year old Kauri. (Yes, 50,000 years old. For the full story go to ancientwood.com.) This wood has been harvested from under the farmlands in the Northern islands of New Zealand.
Altogether, it took 10 months to design and build the clock, 2 1/2 months alone to design and create the routing templates and make the top molding for the pediment. The clock was designed as a 3:1 scale model. The clock is actual only 27 inches tall. The clock face was taken from the 3 inch diameter Dial with Glass and Hinged Bezel from Klockit, I simply removed the bezel and glass and used just the dial face. The Floral face surrounding the dial was a photo composite of a number of Victorian Era paintings glued behind the dial.
The weights are made from brass tubes used in pen making, with turned wooden ends and an old chain donated by my wife from her jewelry box (OOPS. Well now she knows, I guess.) I used the Electronic Dual-Chime Movement with a Pendulum and added the appropriate Lyre. Using the Klockit parts and supplies greatly simplified the construction and assured the accuracy of scale I wanted to achieve in this very special gift.
-- Measure it with a micrometer - Mark it with a piece of chalk - Cut it with an Axe
5 comments so far
CharlieM1958
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16274 posts in 4184 days
#1 posted 04-16-2009 04:05 PM
That’s really a beautiful clock. It looks full sized until you see it next to other objects.
-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"
Mike Auclair
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20 posts in 3403 days
#2 posted 04-16-2009 04:37 PM
Thanx Charlie. I guess that means I succeeded in scaling it down correctly.
One thing that I forgot to mention was that if you look closely at the grain pattern in the door inerts of the bottom section you can see that when I bookmatched the cathedral grain it formed heart shape. My wife really loved it but I didn’t actually notice it until she pointed it out when I gave her the clock.
-- Measure it with a micrometer - Mark it with a piece of chalk - Cut it with an Axe
Chris
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339 posts in 3323 days
#3 posted 04-16-2009 09:15 PM
It is very well done, and well scaled. I didn’t realize it wasn’t full size until I saw Charlie’s comment (ok, so I look at the pictures first and don’t always read the description. I’m sorry, I’m visually oriented).
-- Chris
johnpoolesc
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246 posts in 3326 days
#4 posted 04-17-2009 03:17 AM
perfect gift.. great project.. your time line sounds like one of mine.. i never have started a project, stopped for a commerical and finished it in 30 minutes..
-- It's not a sickness, i can stop buying tools anytime.
Skylark53
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2661 posts in 3026 days
#5 posted 01-19-2010 11:10 AM
WOW! Beautiful work on this gorgeous clock and a great story to go with it. Thanks for posting.
-- Rick, Tennessee, John 3:16
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