Kevx Posted February 11, 2015 Report Posted February 11, 2015 (edited) I've been wanting for a long time to build a fretwork grandfather clock, and after much debate, I settled on the country cottage grandfather clock from theartfactory.com. It is a design by the late Dirk Boelman, whose work I have always liked. I received the plans the other day and must say that it is quite a project. The plans are very detailed and complete, so I'm happy with them. The fretwork is rather think, so I don't see it being so difficult, there's just a lot of it! I've created this post to hopefully keep a work-in-progress for everyone. Now on to choosing the woods. This requires a lot! All of it will be 3/4 inch thick. I need at least 134 feet of 5 1/2 inch wide wood, 26 feet of 8 1/2 inch wide, 5 feet of 10 inch wide, and 3 feet of 12 inch wide. I'm looking for a wood that will be affordable, while still be beautiful and not too difficult to work with. I love the idea of using mostly western red cedar, but I've heard that it can chip a lot, and be hard to sand. Will this be a problem? The fretwork isn't very small and detailed, so I'm hoping it will work. The red cedar is beautiful, so I wouldn't have to do any staining, and I think it will fit with the country cottage look. What do you guys think? I'll keep you updated on decisions and progress! Thanks Here's a few of these clocks that others have made Edited February 11, 2015 by Kevx Bishop, LarB, new2woodwrk and 5 others 8 Quote
Scrolling Steve Posted February 11, 2015 Report Posted February 11, 2015 Kevin you are a brave man to tackle a project like this......I look forward to seeing your progress!.......I could not get the attachments to open but it sounds like a beauty! Quote
Fish Posted February 11, 2015 Report Posted February 11, 2015 I say red cedar, and I can't wait to see it. Quote
amazingkevin Posted February 12, 2015 Report Posted February 12, 2015 Clock makers are on my list of 10 ! You guys do it all and right on the money.Very handsome work of art .Truely a treasure for anyone.Keep them coning you have me sitting on the seat of my pants waiting for these gems!!! W :smitten:W :thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs: Quote
Bendita Posted February 12, 2015 Report Posted February 12, 2015 I'd say western red cedar as the chip out rarely occurs on both sides and you rarely get to see both sides anyway. Sure everyone will admire and check your piece of art out but remember the eyes are drawn mostly to the top end of the clock. So I vote Cedar and hope you enjoy the project it looks like a beauty. .../Hans Wilson's Woodworking and pete44 2 Quote
terrylee Posted February 12, 2015 Report Posted February 12, 2015 BOY ! that is nice work on those clock ! I like to try to do one of those "Grandfather " clock one of this days.Red cedar nice color wood ,but it breaks so easily.I use lot of it in my intarsia project Quote
Scrappile Posted February 12, 2015 Report Posted February 12, 2015 I vote Cherry! Going to be a great project. Too much for me! Quote
LarryEA Posted February 12, 2015 Report Posted February 12, 2015 I'll cheer you on. That is call ambitious. LOL, do that clock or +- 500 less meaniful projects... Wilson's Woodworking 1 Quote
Birchbark Posted February 12, 2015 Report Posted February 12, 2015 That is an awesome project, i am going to be following this thread. I much prefer the solid one color clock in the above photos, and cedar seems like a good choice, but any wood will look good with all this scroll work. Best of luck on this project. Can't wait to see it started. Russell Quote
edward Posted February 12, 2015 Report Posted February 12, 2015 Kevin that is really a fantastic job on the clock, and the choice of wood is geat, you really had the courage to tackle a project like that. great job. edward Quote
Kevx Posted February 12, 2015 Author Report Posted February 12, 2015 Kevin that is really a fantastic job on the clock, and the choice of wood is geat, you really had the courage to tackle a project like that. great job. edward Thanks but I haven't built it yet. Those are pictures of ones that other people have built Quote
Smudger Posted February 12, 2015 Report Posted February 12, 2015 Wow! What a project, great looking clock thou, I wish you all the luck with it and look forwRd to seeing your progress Quote
heppnerguy Posted February 12, 2015 Report Posted February 12, 2015 I would go for cherry too as WRC is really easy to break. I would never use it if it were me. If I was going to use a solid wood rather than BB ply I would use a hard wood. WRC is a soft wood and easy to sand but way too brakeable in my opinion Dick heppnerguy Quote
Kevx Posted February 12, 2015 Author Report Posted February 12, 2015 Can't do cherry. It would be about $600 Quote
Kevx Posted February 13, 2015 Author Report Posted February 13, 2015 I think going to find a test piece of western cedar and try it out. I think it will probably do well since it will be thick at 3/4 inch, and the frets aren't very thin. But I might be wrong Quote
bobscroll Posted February 14, 2015 Report Posted February 14, 2015 Can't wait to see your project Kevin, Thanks for showing photo's Bob Quote
ike Posted February 16, 2015 Report Posted February 16, 2015 I agree that cherry would be a good choice but that is more than this poor boy could afford. The cedar would look beautiful also. Quote
Kevx Posted February 17, 2015 Author Report Posted February 17, 2015 (edited) The test piece of cedar cut nicely and finished beautifully. I went today and picked out a first batch of cedar, and starting cutting the first piece. I'm so excited! Edited February 17, 2015 by Kevx Quote
heppnerguy Posted February 18, 2015 Report Posted February 18, 2015 With a 3/4 inch thickness. I think it will be fine.. i was thinking 1/4 inch and I still think that would have been a problem.. Dick heppnerguy Quote
Kevx Posted May 2, 2015 Author Report Posted May 2, 2015 Quick update. A lot has happened since I started this project. First of all, this clock project is a lot more like a furniture build than a scroll saw job. It has forced me to seriously up my carpentry game. I did not have a table saw, and was forced to learn how to make a jig to use a circular saw to do all of the many long straight cuts, and I also had to learn how to do precision miter cuts in order to make the many divider panels. It was a good while before I could really even touch the scrollsaw. Then a family emergency stopped progress as a brother-in-law was diagnosed with incurable cancer and had less than two months to live. Afterwards, the sister-in-law was cleaning out property of theirs and asked if I wanted an old saw she needed to get rid of. I went to see it and found that it was just about the rustiest old craftsman contractors table saw I had ever seen! Fate? Well, I decided to try to save it anyway, so the clock was delayed while I tore the saw apart and repaired and restored it. Hooray! The next level of dividers on the clock went by quickly and a lot easier. Thanks brother Pete, wherever you are! Cedar has ended up being an experience too. It cuts well enough, but I have found that it darkens to colors that I never expected. Piece that I thought were fairly close in color wound up being quite different when the clear poly was applied. At first I was bothered by this, but I have grown to like it. It looks authenically like a country hand-crafted piece rather than a refined one. Cedar has been difficult to find in the quantity and quality Ive needed, without having to pay some outragiously expensive price for "premium" wood. One guy wouldn't even let me pick through boards for good ones, instead pulling the top one off the pile and asking if I wanted it or not, and it was garbage. Oh well, I wouldn't do cedar again on a large piece. This picture is of the bottom completed section that hasn't been completely polyed yet. You can see how the color varies on the base that is finished. That is also the donor clock next to it that I bought for the mechanism. It's a cheap used walmart clock, but the pieces look good. That's all the time I have right now but tell me what you think so far. Thanks! bobscroll, WayneMahler and waxman 3 Quote
Scrappile Posted May 2, 2015 Report Posted May 2, 2015 That is really looking nice. Sitting next to your "doner" clock, give an idea how big your clock will be. Bigger than I expected. Thanks for the update. Quote
waxman Posted May 3, 2015 Report Posted May 3, 2015 The progress so far is really good, the difference in color gives the clock a handmade character, you could color stain the pieces to all the same shade, but I think that would take away from the country style. I am an old french polisher, if you need any tips just give me a call. Looking forward to the next update. Waxman. Quote
mikewix Posted May 25, 2015 Report Posted May 25, 2015 I think it will be a fine looking clock. Dirk sure made some beautiful patterns. Can't wait to see it finished. Quote
WayneMahler Posted May 26, 2015 Report Posted May 26, 2015 What an amazing project to take on. I admire you for this challange and look forward to the progress reports. Wayne Quote
heppnerguy Posted May 28, 2015 Report Posted May 28, 2015 It is looking extremely beautiful. You will be getting a lot of wonderful comments from family and friends when they see this'll one completed, that is for sure. Dick heppnerguy Quote
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