Pendulum wall clock project (Intermediate level)

[oscarl48]

Nice. I forgot to even consider a double sided carve. It would be a lot easier to glue up the pieces beforehand and then doing the carve. Another idea to ponder. Thank you for setting up the mpc. It was very instructive on how you arranged and aligned everything.

My one attempt at a double sided carve was a failure but when I have your jig built I think I'll have more confidence in attempting again in the future.

[oscarl48]

Enclosed is the top finial pattern in two parts (front, back). They are slightly different but you can use either or both as your front or back whether you like the button or not.

The other finials are all 3 inches tall, this one is 4.25 tall for emphasis.

[oscarl48]

Experiment completed and I think I will go with the lathe. The CW does a decent job but the finials are so small that there just isn't a lot to work with. This still needs a little bit more sanding but this is what I got from the top finial pattern. I believe if it was a little bigger it would be better. I am going to use this one for the top but the detail leads me to believe the other pattern will not be as clean as working on the lathe because of the size. This pattern would probably look great with the 1/32 carving bit but I am perfectly happy with designer 2.

[RogerB]

This would work if you added a center piece. It would make it a little bigger. Thanks for sharing your idea's and patterns.

[oscarl48]

RogerB thanks. I agree it needs a little bit more beefing up. It came down that it took about the same time to use the CW or lathe and I enjoy turning. Not good at it but I enjoy the zen aspect of turning.

[oscarl48]

Some progress. I got all the finials turned as well as the two columns that go in the front. I had a thought, if you didn't want to turn the columns or didn't have a lathe a fancy stair baluster could be cut down to size as long as the design was close to the dimensions and the end wood blocks could be resized to make up for any difference in height. Quick search in Lowes website shows some carved balusters starting at 5 dollars.

[oscarl48]

Two more carvings to go. I will be going with the bird head for the bottom portion and the inside back panel will be white lilly bunch. The white lilly 3d model is not mine but licensed under creative commons with full credit to nmn9 at http://www.blendswap.com/blends/view/74582. I did remove the vase the flowers were in to make it fit the clock theme of wilderness. A beautiful vase just didn't scream primitive wilderness.

All hardware purchased today so I will be putting the clock together this weekend. Things left to do:

1. Route a profile on the shelf panels.
2. Finish the two carvings.
3. Make some molding to cover the back panel joints and create some additional shadow lines.
4. Drill the square blocks to accept the finials and dowels.
5. Drill pocket holes and countersinks for the screws.
6. And finally put it all together.

I'll take plenty of pictures of the process and if it looks good I'll work on making a good cut list and document steps to assemble.

[oscarl48]

Lost some time with adjusting the design and trying to document the assembly process. I am attempting to build some instructions to build this monster. In the end its going to be over 3 feet long, 16 in wide and 7 in deep. The design is highly adaptable if someone wants to change something in particular.

I still have to drill the holes for the finials and attach them. I need to make some molding to cover some of the seams that didn't quite line up. I was also a little off on the column height so will be covering the gap as well. I didn't want to shave the door down so gave the case a 1/4 in increased but failed to compensate on the column. Easy fix with the cover up. It'll look like I meant to add the additional shadow line. That will be for tomorrow. Ran out of steam.

Again no advanced joinery so a very simple build. I'll try to post the instructions in the next few days.

[oscarl48]

The final steps are more aesthetics and cleaning up some of my mess ups with the build and don't affect the instructions so going ahead and posting what I have so far.

So disclaimer up front. These are not very good instructions. My hat goes off to Suzanne and Dan and all the wonderful project creators on here. It was a learning tool like most of my patterns for myself. Its been over 15 years since I attempted to create any type of instructional materials. And I am really really rusty. The instructions make several assumptions, the biggest of which is the reader has several years of wood working under their belts. The instructions tell you what step to do and not necessarily how to do it. Please let me know if I missed the mark on that.

Having said that, this is not a hard build. Basic wood working skills and a few tools are all you need. The idea is to create layers of wood that cover the previous mechanical fasteners (screws) so that in the end you don't see any. People may think that real craftsman level wood working was done instead of basic wood joinery. When I was younger I did beautiful pieces without a single nail or screw. Now I just want to enjoy the piece and don't really care if its not passed down three generations from now. This is for me.

All critics are welcome. If there are any errors please let me know.

I'll post a picture of the clock when completely complete. Still need to attach the finials and make a stained glass window for the door.

[oscarl48]

Completed the clock finally. Turned a new top finial and installed all the finials plus added some clear stained glass. Four coats of laquor, then installed the clock mechanism and added a store bought face. Realized as I was installing it that was another carving opportunity. You can carve the clock face as well if you want. This is good enough for me. Now have to figure out where I can hang it. It is about 20lbs so not super light.

If anyone attempts this best of luck in a good way. It was a fun little project and if planned correctly can be done in just a few days. Simple butt joint and screws.

The picture were taken under different light to show some of the detail of the clock. It looks very different

Regards,
Oscar