Clock For The Wife

This is my first project posting. I’ve been lurking for a while, enjoying seeing everyone’s projects, and figured I’d start contributing.

My wife was out shopping shortly before Christmas and came home with a banged up clock she had bought for $15 on sale. Of course it was on sale, because somebody had dropped it and broken the mounting tabs off. Besides, that, it was kinda ugly. It was mounted in some kind of metal bell and spring contraption. I should have taken a picture of it as it was when she bought it. IMHO it was barely worth $15 and only because the clockwork still worked. When I pointed out to her that it had obviously been dropped and broken, she said “well, yeah, but you can fix it.”

So I fixed it. I threw away everything but the movement and dial and made a wooden mounting for it. I don’t quite know how to describe it, except to call it some kind of mantle clock. My only real criteria for the design was that I make it completely out of scrap because my scrap bin is overflowing. I had plenty of red oak and maple in the scrap bin, so that’s what I used. I sketched out a few ideas on a scratch pad and picked this one as the most interesting. I did a quick and dirty model in SketchUp to get some overall dimensions and then spent about 5 days making it. Overall, it is about 19” tall and 14” wide.

Right now it only has Watco Danish Oil for a finish. After the Danish Oil has cured for a few days, I’ll probably follow it up with a few coats of lacquer.

Funny thing is, I’m not sure if I like it or not. That often happens when I build an original design. I guess I get so involved in the details, its hard to take a critical overview. It usually takes a few days or weeks after finishing it before I can decide whether I like it or not. My wife hasn’t seen it yet. She’s been visiting family for a couple of weeks and is getting home this evening, so it will be a surprise for her. Hopefully she’ll like it.

-- Patrick, Mobile, AL