Tire clock for a garage

[lawrence]

Here's a clock I just made for a member of another forum- This was fun to carve and finish

For the carving I used some very dry douglas fir (from a 2 x 8 I ripped the pieces to 6 1/8 to fit on my jointer, face jointed and planed down to just over 1 inch thick, then glued up the 2 6 1/8 pieces. I then planed the glueup down to exactly 1 inch and had a VERY straight 12x1 board with VERY tight grain.

This is a great example that you can successfully use softwoods like DF in your cw, but it really does need to be very dry and prepared properly to carve nicely. I have not had tons of luck in the past with conifers, but this wood is so dense that it almost carved like a hardwood (dense but DRY) and required zero sanding (approx 2 hour carve on best)




I then used white paint for the letters and onyx stain (so the grain would show) and silver/gold rub-n-buff for the accents.

I'm really happy with the way this turned out... now just 3 more (different) clocks to make this weekend...

Lawrence

[badbert]

That looks great Lawrence! If my eyes don't fail me... That is a Ford Explorer wheel?

[easybuilt]

Nice job Lawrence, Thanks for all your examples and youtube videos!

[dehrlich]

You get results like that on best? I almost always use optimal and still have lots of clean up. Is it because of the QC? Gonna get a Rock as soon as he has adapters back in stock.

[Oak Tech]

Lawrence,

As usual you did a great job on this project. You are the master.

Bob

[Bigtyme]

Super job, Lawrence. It is a very good design and as usual your painting and finishing are A-1.

[lawrence]

Thanks you everyone-as always, I really appreciate your feedback.

Bert, I'm not sure what kind of tire/wheel it is, I just found one here, imported it with the STL importer from sketchup, and used the designer software to move the hub "up" so that it wouldn't interfere with the clock mechanism (let me know if y'all want me to show you how I did this)
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehou...=t&btnG=Search

Darren, I think I've only used optimal on one or two carves that I've ever done... I don't often have to sand (sometimes pick off some burrs etc) much if at all... I really (REALLY) love my rock chuck and those with the carvetight seem to rave about it for low runout as well. I highly recommend you upgrade if/when you can to one or the other.

Not sure about any titles (other than "soon to be retired!") but I will say that I feel like my carvings have really improved and I have to thank those here on the site (and on other sites) for helping me along this learning process. None of us are born with the knowledge of how to face joint a board or feather a pattern... we learn it from trial and error and (much easier) folks like those here sharing their experiences. When I see the "out of the box" thinking and amazing finishing that folks post here and on other sites, it drives me to reach a higher level. I hope that I might help someone else out in a similar way.

Thanks again- I don't know about you all, but I think this carving thing just may get to be a habit for me
Lawrence

ps- here's a related MPC in case anyone wants it

Lawrence

[brdad]

Nice job, I have been thinking about a tire clock for a while. Thanks for the project file.

[badbert]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing!!

[dehrlich]

That would be really cool if you could make up a blank of say walnut with a center of maple in the right place for the wheel. Or i suppose you could carve them seperately and then glue together. If you want a natural look that is. Thanks for sharing the pattern. Any yes, like you said I do need to upgrade my chuck. Waiting for him to get more 1/2 to 1/4 adapters in stock before I order.