first furniture project

[SteveNelson46]

The wood looks like Purple Heart. It produces a great finished product but, very difficult to work with. Hard on the tools also.

[oscarl48]

You have a good eye. It is purple heart. And you are so right about it being hard on the tools. Its also really brittle so you need shallow cuts which for some reason I always forget. My favorite is padouk but purple heart is my next favorite. Both are really tough on tools but when the poly is applied they really shine. I am lucky to have a local shop that can order the lumber for me. It usually takes a few weeks but well worth the wait. I was originally going to make a another grandfather clock but changed my mind so have enough for another project. Still haven't decided what that will be but I am sure the wife will let me know.

[SteveNelson46]

You have a good eye. It is purple heart. And you are so right about it being hard on the tools. Its also really brittle so you need shallow cuts which for some reason I always forget. My favorite is padouk but purple heart is my next favorite. Both are really tough on tools but when the poly is applied they really shine. I am lucky to have a local shop that can order the lumber for me. It usually takes a few weeks but well worth the wait. I was originally going to make a another grandfather clock but changed my mind so have enough for another project. Still haven't decided what that will be but I am sure the wife will let me know.

I have also had trouble with the brass roller when carving Purple Heart. It is so hard the teeth wouldn't "dig in" so I had a few tracking errors before discovering that masking tape along the edge was really necessary. At least it was for me.

[oscarl48]

Again a big thanks to whoever created the chaos symbol. It became the center piece of my steam punk inspired mantel clock. I am incredibly happy with the results. Not perfect but definitely one of a kind. As you can tell I messed up the circular cut in the front. I did not use a sled and I didn't keep it under the rollers which due to the density of the wood the piece moved while cutting. At some point in the future I will fix that but I don't think it will be anytime soon. Also when I turned the front columns I failed to measure twice and cut once. As a result I had to cut a quarter inch off all the other pieces. So overall not as tall as originally planned. As my wife likes to yell at me I like to measure by eye and don't use a tape measure as often as I should. I could have turned two other columns but I took the easy way out. I believe it adds character to the piece. I am using a Hermle 1050-020 mechanical movement and I will add some stained glass on either end on the back to further add interest and make it more steam punk'ish in some far future (my other hobby and it will only be a single strip for accent). You can really see the color pop from the purple heart lumber. It has two coats of poly and that is it. Another project mostly complete...did I mention I ordered the wrong hands.

[blhutchens]

great job!! I have made my own hands out of maple. I am sure purple heart would work nicely too.

[mtylerfl]

That's really cool!

[oscarl48]

blhutchens,

Impressive. I am pretty much sucky at small delicate things. If its big and bulky or really sturdy I'm okay with it. My rule is what ever I build has to support my weight. I literally stand on everything I build to prove that it was built by me. lol. I think that may be a sign of crazy or stupid. I broke a plant holder I built once that way but I still am convinced the wood had a flaw that you couldn't see. The first wife was a little miffed until I built her another one. The second wife was really unhappy when she saw me standing inside the little chest I built her (project before this one) but it didn't even cry a little bit. She won't let me near it anymore. She didn't see me stand on this one but its mine so its okay. I called dibs first before she did.

Maybe she'll let me buy another clock.

Regards,
Oscar

[oscarl48]

mtylerfl,

Thanks. I am very pleased how it turned out. My planning is not great (though I design my plans) but I improvise a lot so a lot of times its a surprise to me what finally turns up. I agree with you though. This is one of the coolest things that I have turned out. I wanted to build a somewhat of a resonance chamber and it turned out well. You can hear the chimes to the other side of the house. The kids are complaining about it but it makes me sleep better. With enough clocks going it may force them to move out.

I have two cuckoo clock (didn't build those but where my inspiration), a grandfather clock (solid black walnut I did build), and now this mantel clock.
Regards,
Oscar

[oscarl48]

Earlier in the post I mentioned I wanted to do another grandfather clock. Well I am finally on the last steps to finish my first grandfather clock. Done in solid black walnut and highlighted in purple heart and stained glass panes. Started with a rough plan and messed up the chime/hammer placement. I ended up making a makeshift shelf which really reduced the resonance potential of the chimes. In other words its not very loud. You can hear it clearly in a quite house or in the same room but nowhere near where I am happy with it. At some point I will make another one but for now I will make do. Otherwise, I am pleased with the over all look of the piece. My second one will have some CW carving integral to the design. In the near future I will add some applique figures to the piece. I want to add a dragon or mythical animal to the inside of the case so when you open it you will get wow'ed again. Have a four day weekend so will have something to show for it by the Sunday. Hope you like the piece. Grandfather clocks are not as hard as I thought they would be to build but definitely some points to know/consider when building one.

P.S. The flowers are the spousal contributions and I had no say in the matter.

[CW-HAL9000]

really nice project, did you make the stained glass? Where did you get the clock parts?