# Wedding Clock



## kenn (Mar 19, 2008)

*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 Grove Park Inn's furniture. I'm going to build it in Cherry (that's what she wants, and after making that bed for my son out of tiger maple, cherry sounds great). First up is to study the plans. I had some blank spots and some questions so I sent an email to Bob Lang, Popular Woodworking's expert on Arts & Crafts furniture. Within 12 hours, he answered my questions and had me on the right track! Here's the details I worked out. 
Next, I wrote up a procedure list. I find that this really helps to mentally build a big project first. 
Next, I acquired the necessary parts like a hand hammered dial, the mechanism and the hardware I planned on using. 

That's my cherry in the background. Now that I have my plan, next up is the woodworking part of this project! Thanks for following along with me.


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## kenn (Mar 19, 2008)

kenn said:


> *Wedding Clock, The Start & Story*
> 
> Sorry Lumberjocks, this was intended to be part one. I've got it straight from here on.
> 
> ...


Maybe one of you more experienced bloggers could help me figure out how to turn this into a series. Thanks!


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## Pawky (Sep 22, 2010)

kenn said:


> *Wedding Clock, The Start & Story*
> 
> Sorry Lumberjocks, this was intended to be part one. I've got it straight from here on.
> 
> ...


Hey Kenn. I'm definitely interested to see more of this.

To do a series, I believe you must do it before you 'post this entry.' Above the subject text box is a drop down list titled 'Series.' By default it is selected as none. Click on the down arrow and select '-start new series-' a popup will come up for you to enter the title of the series. The rest is as you did for this blog entry. For future additions to the series, I believe you'll just select the title of the series instead of '-start new series-' I hope that helps


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## wseand (Jan 27, 2010)

kenn said:


> *Wedding Clock, The Start & Story*
> 
> Sorry Lumberjocks, this was intended to be part one. I've got it straight from here on.
> 
> ...


Well she will be thrilled with it. I can't wait to see the journey of the build. And, nice stool it looks well used.


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## Karson (May 9, 2006)

kenn said:


> *Wedding Clock, The Start & Story*
> 
> Sorry Lumberjocks, this was intended to be part one. I've got it straight from here on.
> 
> ...


A great project. Good luck. At least they didn't request a crib!


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## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

kenn said:


> *Wedding Clock, The Start & Story*
> 
> Sorry Lumberjocks, this was intended to be part one. I've got it straight from here on.
> 
> ...


This s going to make a beautiful gift. Ken!!

It probably not too soon to start looking for cradle plans, either. That way you'll have a jump on the project when the time comes.

Lew


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## Bluepine38 (Dec 14, 2009)

kenn said:


> *Wedding Clock, The Start & Story*
> 
> Sorry Lumberjocks, this was intended to be part one. I've got it straight from here on.
> 
> ...


Good idea for a wedding present, now if you want to be a glutton for punishment, just add an 
elaborate weight and pendulum clock movement with chimes. (I have been successfully putting that
one off for a few years). That clock will be an everyday reminder of you and your love. Thank you
for sharing.


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## kenn (Mar 19, 2008)

*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 of the stiles. Here is a progress shot.  
Confession time … I use a planer to bring the other side into flat and then skim the original hand planed side to take some off both sides to keep anything from twisting. Boy was my son pleased to get his picture taken for this blog … NOT!  
Here they are all lined up, looking pretty. 
I will hand plane each surface again, later, after the joinery. Then you and I will be only ones who know I used some electricity. I think of that planer as my 18th century apprentice who works hard for little pay.

That's all for this time, thanks for following.


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## wseand (Jan 27, 2010)

kenn said:


> *Milling Stock*
> 
> This should actually be Part 2 of the series, sorry. After that swich, I'll have the rest of them correct.
> 
> ...


Nice start, you certainly didn't waste any time getting going.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

kenn said:


> *Milling Stock*
> 
> This should actually be Part 2 of the series, sorry. After that swich, I'll have the rest of them correct.
> 
> ...


Great start this should be cool. Looking at photo #4 it looks like your ready for lots of chairs too.


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## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

kenn said:


> *Milling Stock*
> 
> This should actually be Part 2 of the series, sorry. After that swich, I'll have the rest of them correct.
> 
> ...


Nice set of photos, Ken!

I can relate to the picture taking thing.

Lew


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## superdav721 (Aug 16, 2010)

kenn said:


> *Milling Stock*
> 
> This should actually be Part 2 of the series, sorry. After that swich, I'll have the rest of them correct.
> 
> ...


Waiting for the outcome. Great start.


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## kenn (Mar 19, 2008)

*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. Next, I'll need to prepare the edge for glueing by jointing it flat with my Lie-Nielsen #7 plane. 
Once it's flat and straight, I test its fit with its mate. I look closely for any gaps at the joint and through trial and error, sometimes lots of error, I get them to mate tightly.
Now I align the pieces in the clamps and get ready to glue up. Unfortunately, I am about to make a mistake … I can hear you yelling at me but I am not paying attention to you. 
Let's slather glue on this baby and plow ahead!  
We'll get back to that later. I have three interior shelves to make and have bought some great looking birdseye maple from our own http://lumberjocks.com/barlow and here is a shelf layed out. 
Here's the other two shelves. 
Now we go back to edge jointing the mating surfaces. 
I'll use my straight edge and square to check my progress while the board is still in the vise, it just saves time by not pulling a piece in and out that has a noticable flaw in it. 

Alright, this shelf looks good. Please note that I have learned my lesson and that triangle is correct on this one. 
You know the glue and clamps are next. 

Here is my walk of shame. I've cut that back panel apart and re - jointed the edge. Since I hand plane my surfaces, I check the grain direction and glue up panels with the face grain all running the same direction whenever possible. It makes things go easier later on. 
Here I am completing the correction of my mistake. I wish you guys would have said someting when you saw me glueing it up wrong, come on, help a fellow out! That triangle is in place now. 
Since you've stuck with me so far, I thought you deserved a little woodworkers porn. Here are the planes I'm using for edge jointing, a Lie Nielsen #7, #5 and Low Angle #5 or #62. And some shavings they made. 
Back to business. I've glued up the 8 panels I need so far. I have 2 sides that I'll glue up later but since it'll be awhile until I need them, They will wait until then. Here the panels are, all stacked nice neat by the router table. 
Now I will start to flatten one side of each of those panels. This one will be the top of the clock. I use a scrub plane to hog off most of the waste before switching up to the #5. First I scrub plane down a bit and check where I am on the path to flat with the winding sticks. If you haven't done this before, you lay two flat straight edges at opposite ends of a board and site across the surface. Any twist shows up easily and then you can remove material from the offending corners until you get to flat. Here's a glance at this, but this panel is close already. 
Then by planing diagonially, I keep taking material off. The lumber crayon or pencil lines tell me where I have yet to plane. 
Then I switch diagonials and plane some more. 
Now you can see I am down to where there is almost no "valley" running down the middle of this panel. 
Let's check to make sure there is no wind in this one. 
I then plane a bit with the #5 to give a smoother surface but I don't have any pictures of that, you'll have to imagine those pretty curly shavings coming out of the plane. Look back at the previous pictures if you need to. Since I know you are checking out all the stuff in the backgroud, those cherry boards stacked over that left edge of the sticks are the sides awaiting their turn.

That's where I am at as of now. There are 21 weeks until the wedding and still alot to do on this clock. Next up will be the apprentice I will bring in to help out some. Thanks for following along.


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## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

kenn said:


> *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. Next, I'll need to prepare the edge for glueing by jointing it flat with my Lie-Nielsen #7 plane.
> ...


Man, you really worked up a sweat, Ken!!

Great set of photos. Hope you put them in an album to go along with the clock. This much effort should not go unnoticed!

Lew


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## superdav721 (Aug 16, 2010)

kenn said:


> *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. Next, I'll need to prepare the edge for glueing by jointing it flat with my Lie-Nielsen #7 plane.
> ...


Wow each entry gets better than the last. The plow plains under your bench have caught my eye.


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## kenn (Mar 19, 2008)

kenn said:


> *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. Next, I'll need to prepare the edge for glueing by jointing it flat with my Lie-Nielsen #7 plane.
> ...


I'll be using those plow planes in this project, patience grasshopper.


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## kenn (Mar 19, 2008)

*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 sweat, here's a 30 gallon trash can ready to go to the recycling center. 
Once I got these pieces flat on one side, I packed them up. 
I took them out to my Dad's who has a thickness sander. My plan was to cheat a bit and run my glued up pieces through the sander. Here's Dad helping to get things set up. 
We tried running the birdseye shelves through, but the sandpaper kept tearing. 
We did successfully run the birdsye that I am going to use to frame the copper dial. I hope you can see that figure. Thanks to Barlow for sending me the wood, it's amazing. 
Well, I had to regroup and decide how I wanted to get may panels down to thickness. I don't mind handplaning them but it is a lot of work and it will take some time. Although this clock isn't ticking, my time to get it done is ticking away. I have a friend with a wide planer that I thought was 20", turns out it is 15" and not much help since my planer is 13" and the widest panel is 20". I finally decided to call a local cabinet shop and the shop manager, Jim, said I could come by Sat morning. 
Here we are getting started. I made the bride come along and take pictures, hey, she might as well see what all goes into making this clock, right? Here's a back panel coming out of the sander. 
I spent most of the time "catching" as the wood came through. Jim was the brains. 
When we were running the last of the birdseye shelves through, Jim switched to 120 grit to help me out with the sanding. Then he let me on the smart side of the machine. 
I have got to get one of these! That is the easy way to prep stock, it comes out nice and smooth. Of course it is hooked up to a massive dust collector, needs a huge electical supply and takes up a bit of floor space. Father's Day is coming so maybe I should pick one out for the kids to chip in on. 
I better just plan on being nice to Jim. One board looked like it was moving a bit, we saw a little cupping at the cabinet shop. When I got them home I clamped the stack to my workbench. 
That's the story of my appentice, the sander. I guess I'll call him "Sandy". He did nice work and I'll use him again when I need to. Next up is some actual joinery as I am going to make the back of the clock. Thanks for following along.


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## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

kenn said:


> *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.
> ...


Great photos Ken!

I think you are right about the photographer. Most folks don't have a true idea of what it takes to create an project like this.

Lew


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## alba (Jul 31, 2010)

kenn said:


> *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.
> ...


Great having Dad on hand.

jamie


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## Karson (May 9, 2006)

kenn said:


> *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.
> ...


Great job. The Door and window lace that donates Sapele to our toy workshop has a 37" sander. I watched them use it a lot, It does a great job.

Our woodworking club is taking a tour of there Door and Window business this week. I've been in the shop a lot, but it will be great for the other members of the club.

I used their resaw and sander to do some Tiger/Ambrosia maple. I still haven't figured out what I'm going to do with it.

That is some great looking Birds Eye Maple.


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## kenn (Mar 19, 2008)

*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 me to select which panel was the upper and which was the lower. 
I set my mortise guage directly from the mortise chisel and then layed out the mortises. 
Since I am going to use a plow plane to make the grooves in the stiles, I need a mortise for the plane to start and stop. Here is one of those mortises. 
Now I can run those grooves. Look at those purty shavings. 
OK, that's not fair. I know you want to see my plow plane in action, not just a picture of what it does. By popular demand … drum roll, please …   
I ran the grooves in the rails while I was set up. The middle rail gets grooves in the top and bottom, the others only get one edge grooved. 
Now I am going to use those grooves to help line up my mortise chisels while I chop out the other two mortises in each stile. Oops, I pulled the chisel out but it was stuck and I sliced a bit of a cut on my figer. I "signed" the piece with a little DNA, see it there on the left. 
Here is pair of matching mortises. 
What do we do once we made mortises? That's right, make the tenons. I'm going to use the table saw to define the shoulders. I could use the saw and do it by hand, but time is slipping away on me and I've got to get this done before the wedding actually occurs, right? 
Then I removed the waste with a dado blade set up, just to speed up production a bit. For those of you following along, I am down to 18 weeks until the wedding. 
They still need fitted with a plane and some hand work so don't try to throw me out of the club just because I cheated a bit and used the table saw back there. 
Look, I can use a saw to trim the tenons to length. 
I want to make sure these stay square while I am working on them. 
Once again, my impatience is showing. I have enough of the joinery done that I can get a sneak peak at how this is going to look. Those are the front stiles sitting off to the side, their grain match is fabulous while the back is … well, it's the back. 
Well, now those panels need a rabbet cut on one side so they will fit into those neato plow plane grooves. Back to the table saw for speed versus the rabbet plane, sorry … again. 
I did clean them up and do the final fitting with my skew plane, still ok? Not too mad about the table saw now, are you? 
This stile fits good, that's progress. 
My plan was to hand plane all final surfaces so I took my #4 1/2 to the panels. 
Unfortunately, I feel the time pressure closing in on me. I switched to the air sander. 
I made the switch mostly because I had some tear out and knew there would be more. Plus, there is no way I am not using sandpaper on those birdseye shelves that are coming up. Here's another look at where I am headed. 
I needed to put some finish on those panels. I am going to put a coat of BLO (Boiled Linseed Oil) followed by clear shellac. Now you can start with the "oooh, ahhh, that looks great!" 
Confession time, using the plow plane dinged up the end of the starting/stopping mortises. It seems the skate hit the stile where it would show. My solution, add a shoulder to the bottom edge of the tenon. Can you see the ding and the layout for the shoulder? 
Let's clamp this together and sand it all flush and smooth. 
The bottom rail gets a radius profiled onto it. I am going to use a huge [email protected]# forstner bit that I bought for just this job. It's 3 3/8" and I ran the drill press at about 300 rpm to accomadate the bit size. 
That worked great, well worth the expense since I am going to put the same profile on the bottom of each side. 
A little trim, connect the holes at the bandsaw and … 
Here's what we've got. 
Then I cleaned that up with a block plane and some rasps. You'll have to trust me that on because those pics came out blurry. I put some BLO on the stiles and rails. I couldn't take the suspense, here it is, no glue yet. 
That's it for now. Next, I'll be making the frame. It should go easier since there are no panels to make and fit. It'll be hard enough when I have to fit doors to those frame opening. Thanks for following along with me, leave me a note of encouragement since I have 17 weeks and 3 days to get this done.


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## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

kenn said:


> *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.
> ...


What a work out, Ken! I'll bet a Yuengling (Pennsylvania's best beer!) tasted pretty good ;^)

Nice set of photos!

Lew


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## interpim (Dec 6, 2008)

kenn said:


> *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.
> ...


nice set of photos… i like the look of that plane your using to plow the grooves too.

I noticed you weren't wearing any eye protection in any of the photos though. I wear glasses too, and know what a pain it is, but regular glasses won't give the protection you need.


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## derosa (Aug 21, 2010)

kenn said:


> *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.
> ...


very cool looking, I've been getting into the hand tools and can appreciate the switching between power and hand.


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## kenn (Mar 19, 2008)

kenn said:


> *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.
> ...


Lew, yes I enjoy a Yuengling every now and then, prefer the Black & tan but you can't beat a Lager … not in the shop, tho'.

Dahlgren, I've been close to buying a pair of prescription safety glasses for the shop, you just put me over the hump since I think it's bad mojo to ignore that type of advice … that's also why I switched out the washer hoses to stainless steel once my Mom said something, better to fix it when it's easy than after the diasater occurs.

Derosa, got to work on being more efficient with the hand tools & power tools and not try to devolop hand skills since I really want to done by the big day. Usually I stay away from hard deadlines since they seem to cause me rush/safety issues, but this one is a set in stone date. The world won't stop, the wedding will still happen, I'd just like to give it to the couple then.


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## interpim (Dec 6, 2008)

kenn said:


> *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.
> ...


I understand… I wear goggles over my glasses for cuts on the TS, router etc… but use a face shield when turning. Prescription safety glasses would be nice to have too… probably a lot easier to keep clean than goggles.

My nickname is Interpim, my real name is Robert, the city I live in is Dahlgren… at least until October and I get stationed in San Diego


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## kenn (Mar 19, 2008)

*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 between the holes. So I set up to drill the first hole. 
Just as I was about to break through the rail, DISASTER! 
Here's a look at the pieces moved to the workbench for analysis. 
This can't be fixed. What happened? Why did it happened? What am I going to do?

I think that when I set up the bit, I moved the bit into the wood so the center spur would track better than it did on my back frame. That put too much pressure on the wood as the bit exited the wood and was cutting the end grain with virtually no back up strength. I have to make a new rail. 
I jointed a new piece of wood flat, ran it through he planer to get it to thickness. It's a pretty good match as far as the other rails go, not as good as my broken one that I cut from the same board. I'll have to live with it. Plus I am going to profile the bottom of this one before I cut it to length and put the tenons on it. Here's new clamping set up to drill the hole. 
Let's hope this works. 
It started making noise as the spur exited the rail so I stopped drilling. I'm going to drill the other side now. 
Now I flipped the rail over and started drilling from the other side. 
I chickened out and stopped drilling once I had cut a small profile in the backside. I am going to clean this up with my cute little bow saw. 
That's better. Now I'll use a chisel and some rasps to finish this up. Then it is over to the bandsaw to remove the center section, then the table saw to cut this to length. 
A bit of careful layout and measurement, and I removed most of the waste from the tenons at the table saw. Here's where I am at now. 
I now need to clean up the tenons and fit them to the mortises. No more predictions on when I'll be done, no more over confidence causing bad mojo. Let's hope this is the worst problem I have to deal with. Next post, I hope, will show the front assembled. Thanks for following along.


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## tierraverde (Dec 1, 2009)

kenn said:


> *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 between the holes. So I set up to drill the first hole.
> ...


I think I would have squeezed a sacrificial board to the front of the rail so there was support and also to avoid an interrupted cut. The partial cut on the rail, especially with a large forstner can create vibrations. You don't want that. Setups need to be very stabile with large bits.


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## rance (Sep 30, 2009)

kenn said:


> *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 between the holes. So I set up to drill the first hole.
> ...


I agree with jim, a backer board would have prevented the problem.


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## ropedog (Mar 26, 2008)

kenn said:


> *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 between the holes. So I set up to drill the first hole.
> ...


I would also try a hole hog bit instead of a fortsner, the forstner has a lot of force behind it where as the hole hog has smaller teeth and has less torque.


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## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

kenn said:


> *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 between the holes. So I set up to drill the first hole.
> ...


Man, Ken, I feel your pain.

Lew


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## kenn (Mar 19, 2008)

kenn said:


> *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 between the holes. So I set up to drill the first hole.
> ...


I'm back on track now, got those tenons fitted tonight and I'll be ready for glue up tomorrow if all goes well. Hopefully I'll be posting the front a completed soon.


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## tierraverde (Dec 1, 2009)

kenn said:


> *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 between the holes. So I set up to drill the first hole.
> ...


kenn
Ain't it amazing how much faster you can make the "replacement" piece?
When I was in Tool & Die, and screwed up a part, it took me half the time to make the replacement. (The bosses never caught on) HA!
Nothing like a little panic to move your butt along.


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## kenn (Mar 19, 2008)

*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 excavated, place the chisel in the scribe line and chop, like this-- 
I did need to clean up the sides on some (ok, truth be told , it was on all ) of the mortises. It is best to use a wide chisel for this job. 
All I needed to do was to make six of these babies. Here's the hard one since it was 1" deep and only about a inch wide. 
Here's proof that I did all six of them, since the semi-official Lumberjock slogan is "If there are no pictures, it didn't happen!" 
Then I went to the table saw and ripped both stiles to the same width. I want to able to use the flat sides to put my clamps on during glue up. 
Now I have made the 2 stiles (vertical pieces). What's next? That's right, make the rails (horizontal pieces). Same process, just shorter. First up is plane them flat and square. 
Then I carefully cut them to length, adding the tenon length to the distance between the stiles. Then I layed out the tenons. Here they are all lined up and layed out, notice how I just marked all of my tenon details right on the rail to help keep things straight. 
I made a test piece from part of a rail that I saved from when I cut the rails to width. This allowed me to check the table saw setup. I wanted to be close to my tenon width but also wanted to leave a bit to trim with my skew block plane. This way I could be sure of getting a tight fit. 
I know alot of people use a tenoning jig and the table saw to cut tenons, and I have used that technique in the past. This is what I like doing now and it seems to give me the results I am looking for. I leave a little waste from the shoulder. Then I use a chisel to rest in the scribe line and chop the tenon shoulder, undercutting it a little. 
Most of them fit perfectly straight off the bench. 
I did have one that needed a trim on one side to get the great fit I was wanting. 
I made sure that I was square, especially since I was going to be fitting doors into these openings later. 
Here's a look at the bottom rail before I screwed it up (see previous blog "Disaster Strikes"). 
Once I recovered from my disaster, I was ready to glue up the front frame. 
Some clamps and a little time, I've made a face frame. 
I sanded everything flush then put a coat of BLO on and let it dry. 

That's where I am now. As a reminder, this is my goal - except in cherry. 

Let's keep going, the wedding is 16 weeks and 2 days.


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## chrisstef (Mar 3, 2010)

kenn said:


> *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.
> ...


You can always buy another week or 2 while they are on their honeymoon lol. Thats one heck of a project you are embarking on there, and from the looks of it you are well on your way. Things look nice and tight, youve all ready got your first disaster recovery out of the way, onward i say! The lucky couple will be super happy with this masterpiece in sure.


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## kenn (Mar 19, 2008)

*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 applied. 
I also shellaced the back frame at the same time. The table saw had to double up as a finishing table. Maybe someday my shop will be enlarged but I think I would have to make some more stuff for my wife to get that approved. 
When it came time to assemble the back frame & panel, I slipped some space balls into the grooves to help keep things centered and prevent excess rattling when the chimes strick. I don't know if any of that will be an issue but now is the only chance to do it. 
Then I layed all of the back out and got ready to glue up. 
Guess what I did next? Duh, glued it up. 
I read a thing about Bob Lang and Glen Huey, editors at Popular Woodworking, arguing over whether you really needed to put glue on both the mortise and the tenon. I forget who was right but the answer was that you get a better joint if you put glue on both, so That's what I did. Glue on the tenons will be my MO. 
Then it was just a matter of slipping the panels into place. 
Then I glued the other stile and slipped in into place. That sounds easy but I struggled getting all three tenons lined up. They finally went where they belonged. 
A few clamps and we can wait for the glue to dry. 
I know the top and bottom are not going to sit flat. The clock tapers on all four sides but I was not sure how much off square I was going to be so I layed out the side taper onto the bench. 
That let me see how much I need to bevel the top and bottom. It was 3 degrees, if that's vital info to anybody. I set up the table saw to make those cuts. I took the back fence off my crosscut sled (I've been wanting to make a new one and destoying this one is a good first step) and made my cuts, double checking that I had the bevels going the right direction. 
Then I layed out the tapers onto the front and back. There is a pencil line there, look extra close. 
I debated all sorts of ways to make this cut. I finally settled on the bandsaw. I put a sacraficial table on it to raise it up to the same height as my table saw. They have a space conflict on long outfeed projects like this one. I guess that's back to the "make more stuff for the wife" issue. Here's the cut. 
Then I clamped the two together and planed the tapers smooth. 
What's that saying … easy, peasy, lemon squeezy. Time to come out of the shop and into the light. 

That deserved two pictures, don't you think. Real progress, as promised. They look good. They'll rest upstairs while I make the side panels. That way they'll stay clean and the sunshine can hit them to start that 50 year mellowing project. Thanks for following along. I'm back to surfacing lumber so I'll wait to update you once that's done and there something exciting to report.


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## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

kenn said:


> *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 applied.
> I also shellaced the back frame at the same time. The table saw had to double up as a finishing table. Maybe someday my shop will be enlarged but I think I would have to make some more stuff for my wife to get that approved.
> ...


That grain is beautiful! Unless you would have told us, no one would ever have know you had to recut one of the pieces!

Lew


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## kenn (Mar 19, 2008)

kenn said:


> *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 applied.
> I also shellaced the back frame at the same time. The table saw had to double up as a finishing table. Maybe someday my shop will be enlarged but I think I would have to make some more stuff for my wife to get that approved.
> ...


Thanks Lew, I cherry picked -pun intended- the exact grain out of a 4' long board. Wasted that one due to my mistake but I had to have the match.


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## dub560 (Jun 4, 2010)

kenn said:


> *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 applied.
> I also shellaced the back frame at the same time. The table saw had to double up as a finishing table. Maybe someday my shop will be enlarged but I think I would have to make some more stuff for my wife to get that approved.
> ...


looks great keep posting


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## kenn (Mar 19, 2008)

*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 planing easier later. See my little arrows, that means plane from this end. 
Then it's a matter of jointing the edge and glueing up the side. Easy to write, tough to do since you want the finished piece to be as flat as you can make it. If your joint has a slant to it, the finished piece will be thin once it's flat. Some people clamp both boards togther to solve this, I just work one at a time and adjust one board until they both are where I want them. Here one side is glued up.  
Then it's on to flattening one side. I use winding sticks and a #5 plane for this job. 
These sides glued up at about 15" and I want them to be about 14" at the wide end when done. I have a Dewalt 735 planer, which goes up to 13" wide. My neighbor, Russ, has a 15" planer so it's off to Russ' to run these sides through his planer. Thanks, Russ! 
Then they go back to the shop after the field trip. Now the sides are flat and parrallel and resting. 
Now I use my #5 1/2 plane to remove the planer marks. You can see the cross hatch lines that I use to tell where the side has been planed and what still needs done. The areas with the hatch marks remaining are slight valleys. To get them, I'll have to keep planing the mountains, areas without hatch marks, until they are all the same depth. just alittle explanation for the non woodworking family & friends that are following this project. 
Here's a shot of a shaving, just to show off a bit. Look how long, wide and thin that baby is. It is great when those kinds of shavings are pouring out of the mouth of a plane. 
Then I laid out and cut the taper on the front of the side. I am going to keep the back square for now, it will provide a refence face for me when I cut the daos into the sides. 
A plane cleans up the edge. I actually had to go back again and redo this. After I got both sides ready, I clamped then together and planed them togther. That way, my clock will be square (hopefully) when I glue it up. 
Then I laid the front frame right where it belongs and used it to mark the finished length. This should keep things correct and level. 
Now that's progress. I put some BLO on the inside. It looks great, I'm feeling good. 
However, I accidently got mixed up and put BLO on the outside of one side. I had planned on waiting and doing this after the clock was assembled. I've been trying to finish only the inside, thinking that it will be very difficult to get the finish to be perfect with all of those shelves and inside corners. Now I'll have to be careful that I don't confuse the inside and outside of that one side that's finished on both sides. No, I didn't mess it up and I don't want to.

I drilled the holes for the bottom profiles, no issues with that since they were full holes and no short grain to deal with. 
Then I got down my "cute little bowsaw" as the bride to be a calls it, and cut out the waste. 
A little rasp work and I had the side ready. This picture is of the side with BLO on both sides, that's why I confessed earlier. 
There they are, vertical, in front of their mates. 
Then I thought I'd get the shelves ready. I think I already showed you their glue ups. I finish sanded them and lined them up for some BLO. 
I also did the pieces that will form the frame around the dial. These are my best looking pieces of birdseye, I can't believe the figure in them. 
Don't they look amazing with the BLO bringing the eyes to life? 
Here I am wiping down the BLO on one of the shelves. I just love to see the wood start to come together. 
Alright, that's where I am as of tonight. When I was inspecting the finish, I discovered that I have a few tracks from by Dad's thichness sander that remain in the birdseye dial frame pieces. Bummer. I am going to have to go back and resand the dial frame. I was working ahead on those so it shouldn't be an issue. I am ready to put the shelf dados in the sides. That will be the next installment. Thanks for following along with me. It's 13 weeks and 2 days until the wedding.


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## jeffbranch (Feb 20, 2011)

kenn said:


> *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 planing easier later. See my little arrows, that means plane from this end.
> ...


Nice work. Looking forward to your next post.

Jeff
http://www.woodfever.net


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## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

kenn said:


> *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 planing easier later. See my little arrows, that means plane from this end.
> ...


Ken,

This is really coming along! I see your neighbor, Russ, bought his stuff from Wilke Machinery. I do miss going there!

Lew


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## WayneC (Mar 8, 2007)

kenn said:


> *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 planing easier later. See my little arrows, that means plane from this end.
> ...


Very nice Ken. Is the bow saw made using the Gramacy Kit?


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## dub560 (Jun 4, 2010)

kenn said:


> *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 planing easier later. See my little arrows, that means plane from this end.
> ...


too much work for me but it looks good for sure


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## kenn (Mar 19, 2008)

kenn said:


> *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 planing easier later. See my little arrows, that means plane from this end.
> ...


Wayne: It is the Gramacy kit, I really like it. I also have a large bowsaw to make that I got the parts from Woodjoy Tools. http://www.woodjoytools.com/

Dub: It is alot of work, I wouldn't be doing it if it wasn't for my own family.

Thanks for looking.


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## WayneC (Mar 8, 2007)

kenn said:


> *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 planing easier later. See my little arrows, that means plane from this end.
> ...


Thanks Ken. I've been thinking about making one of the Gramacy kits. It is a wonderful execution of the saw.

Also, thanks for the woodjoy link. I was not aware of them.


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## kenn (Mar 19, 2008)

*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 seems like a mistake waiting to happen.

I think I am going to go the router path. Here's what I decided, first, I wanted to locate the top and bottom shelves from the rails on the front. I just lined it all up and made a mark. 
I had kept the back of both sides straight so that I could reference off of it to this mark. That let me scribe a line across the side at the proposed top of the shelf. Then, with Father's Day coming up, I requested a new tool. I figured a trim router would be better for this job. Plus Fine Woodworking had just published a review of trim routers. Lucky me, I got a DeWalt 661 trim router package for Father's Day. So I made a little jig that shows right where the bit will cut, nothing hard, just a fence glued to a piece of plywood that I then routed away the excess leaving me what the bit will leave. Let's make those dados! 
This was the most nerve wracking thing, I had put a ton of work into getting these sides to look good and I did not want any screw ups at this stage. So guess what happened? When I was routing the grooves that will hold the clock's mechanism, I had clamped my jig partially off the the side…it moved. Here's what I did to fix that and a view of the dados. 
If you look closely, you'll see the left side has a groove that is wider than the others. I made a plug to go into that groove and rerouted, a little less deep. Plus the second dado down on the left has little "wander" where I didn't hold to the jig well enough. It's the underside of a shelf and I can't think of how that can be fixed, so it'll stay. If somebody sees it, I'll yell at them "Get your head out of that clock!!"

I don't need that square reference surface on the back of the sides anymore. Off to the bandsaw to cut that to its intended slant. 
I cleaned those sides up while clamped together with my handplanes. Now they are both the same shape. After much thought, I realized that the easiest thing would be to set up a bevel square with the angle I needed the dados to be and chisel the bottom edge to that angle. Plus, I could then trim that as needed with a block plane to get each shelf married to its dado. Here we go. 

That went great. I was a little surprised but pleased. I just worked my way through them, pausing every once in a while to look at them standing there. As you can see, they are not cut to width yet. 
Then I wanted to remove the finish from my upcoming joint for the glue and create a rabbet for the side to register into. I used a skew block plane with the fence set the width of the side. The front and back got rabbets on their insides. 
Now I actually need to glue this thing together. A drop of Titebond III in each shelf's dado at the front, place the selves in, run hide glue down the rabbet (I didn't have total confidence in the glue up being right so the reversibility of hide glue appealed to me and I wanted the quick tack that hide glue gives you) and place the side onto the front, clamp and wait. Here's one side in the clamps. 
No problems, my glue team came together for me. We glued the sides to the front, no problem. I wanted to add some corner blocks at the legs for extra strength. I used a chisel to peal away the finish, and glued some blocks in there. 
Next, I layed the clock body onto the back and scribed a line where the rabbet needed adjusted. I increased the depth of the rabbet and made it to fit the width that the clock body now required. Once that fit well dry, I assembled my team and we glued. Hide glue on the rabbets with the body then lifted into place and apply clamps (FYI, got some new clamps out of this project, too). I had left the sides inset a bit so they could be trimmed flush. Who's best for that job? I think it's the block plane to start and the Low Angle #4 to finish. Here's some plane pictures. 

After that, it's time to stand up and start looking like a clock. 



Looks good, huh? Within 3 minutes of setting it upright for the first time, my daughter's cat climbed onto one of the shelves and laid down like it was made for her. I've got BLO on the sides in these pics but will be putting shellac onto them tommorow. Once that's all satisfactory, it's onto the "guts" of the clock. It is now 10 weeks and 5 days until the wedding. I think I'll lose 2 weeks of work on this project for vacation and the week of wedding prep. Still seems tight on whether it'll be done. At least it's upright. Thanks for following.


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## kneiswender (Jul 4, 2011)

kenn said:


> *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 seems like a mistake waiting to happen.
> 
> ...


This clock is going to be awesome! We are so excited for it to be done! Thank you so much for making it for us!

-Katie and Willie (aka the glue team)


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## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

kenn said:


> *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 seems like a mistake waiting to happen.
> 
> ...


Ditto what your "Glue Team" said- This clock is going to be awesome!!!


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## kenn (Mar 19, 2008)

*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 would be a good idea. It'll lock everything in place and add some additional strength. So I mortised the vertical supports after clamping them together so I didn't blow anything out. 
Since the sides of this clock slant, a traditional mortise and tenon joint won't work. There's no way to get it into the clock carcass. I left the top of the mortise open (is that a bridle joint? I'm not sure) and that way I'll slip the tenons into position. Everything went well and the supports are glued and locked into place.

Now it's onto the door. I'll need a door to hold the copper dial that I had made. I'm using some popping birdseye maple and chopped the mortises. 
Then it's time to cut and fit the tenons. 
Now it's nerve wracking time! I've got to cut that expensive, fancy, impossible to replace, hand hammered copper dial. I used a marking guage and triple checked my calculations as to how much need removed. Tin snips did the work and it was fine. Whew! 
A dry fit, then some glue and clamps, here it is. 
That went well. Now I got my hardware organized. That door will need hinges and a pull. The pull needed a stepped hole. This is the first set of hinges that I've installed. 
I did most of the work with a chisel but got my little router plane into the game for the final finish. This was the first time it saw action and she did a great job. 
Here's a look at what I've done. The clock is upright and the dial door is in place. 
I laid it back down on the bench and put the mechanism in place. As you can see, I've got to get the optimal postion for the center and the three winding posts. A bit of fussing and I'm happy with it.  
I made riser block that I could screw to the shelf and put the chimes in the right position. I had a lot of taking the mechanism in and out so there's a clamp holding one corner while I adjust things. 
Since #4, 1/2" screws hold the mechanism in place, I used an eggbeater drill to make some pilot holes. 
Here we are, chimes in place, mechanism screwed in place, ready for a test run. 
Here's look at what I've done! It's a clock! 
Just as a reminder, this is my goal. A clock from the Grove Park Inn except I am using cherry and birdseye maple. 

I think I am doing well. It looks great, sounds great and the bride to be seems excited about it. The groom is sitting for the bar and hasn't seen it lately. I am cautiously optimistic that I'll have it done by the wedding, now 7 weeks, 4 days away. We're heading out to the beach so progress will be halted for the next week or two.

I need to make the upper door (mitered, splined and with a round, centered window) and the lower door. Plus I want to go over the finish and clean up any imperfections (and gouges, like the one the bride helped put in it while we were moving it). All things considered, I'll be able to relax on the beach, enjoy my adult beverages and not stress over my clock project. Thanks for following, one more entry and this will be done!

Here's two final pictures of my progress, enjoy.


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## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

kenn said:


> *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.
> 
> ...


Really enjoyed this, Ken!

Everyone should be very proud of what you have done.

Lew


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## Karson (May 9, 2006)

kenn said:


> *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.
> 
> ...


Beautiful job. (now don't screw it up)

Just kidding Screw it up all you want.

I'm very sure they will be very proud of their wedding gift.


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## dub560 (Jun 4, 2010)

kenn said:


> *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.
> 
> ...


Enjoyed your blog


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## MikeGo (Jul 19, 2011)

kenn said:


> *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.
> 
> ...


Where did you find the clock works?. I have been looking. Nice clock!


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## kenn (Mar 19, 2008)

kenn said:


> *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.
> 
> ...


Thanks everybody. I might screw it up, Karson, I just hope I don't. I had some little pieces I had to add to the supports I showed being installed above, still can't figure out how I calculated things wrong.

Mike: My mechanism was specified by the guy who made the copper dial. I ordered from http://www.merritts.com/clock_parts/public/default.aspx Call them, they are helpful.

Thanks for the encouragement.


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## ttomg (Mar 6, 2011)

kenn said:


> *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.
> 
> ...


great clock, very impressive.


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