Kevx

You're right. Life got in the way and the clock has been sitting 85% done for quite a while. We moved in the meantime, and I'm trying to find where I packed the plans so I can finish her.

I've been using a Hawk for several years and the only problem I ever had was that the plastic knobs on the tighteners eventually broke, but Hawk sells replacements inexpensively so i ordered a handful in case I ever needs them again. I would definitely recommend a Hawk.

Nice work. It took me a minute to see the clear sheet on top, so I was wondering how the planchette was going to move over the raised letters!

Thanks for this

I answered you over on the cafe. If you're making a clock, then ir would hang from the clock unit itself. Have fun! I'm trying records too

Thanks for the suggestions. I was wondering about what blade to use, so thanks ike. I tried a 2 but that may have been a bit small. I might try combining things and both stack and tape.Just saw your new replies, Fab4. I was just thinking about how I could get sacrificial material for stacking without costing more than the records themselves. I may have to start keeping a claw hammer in my car to pull the backs off of the entertainment centers I see people putting out on the curb for the garbage collectors all the time

Thanks, Fab4. The information from a google search is pretty much what I expected. Definitely some different opinions too. I'll just have to see what works best for me. It produced quite a few great patterns for cutting in vinyl too.

I found some really nice patterns to be cut from vinyl records. I can get nice records at thrift shops and flea markets for about $1 each. I tried experimenting with one and it will cut without too much melting on the slowest speed on my Hawk. A spiral blade cut better but I hate the rough edges. Regular small blades cut cleaner but melt a bit more and tended to catch and crack the album. I'm thinking about stacking a few and seeing if I have better luck that way. And what about applying patterns? Will mineral spirits melt the vinyl? Have any of you tried cutting albums and what did you do to make it work? Cutting an album. Lol. I'm back to my musician days!

I like the idea of contact paper but haven't found any in the stores that I thought would work. Either it seems too thick to go through the printer, it is labeled as permanent not removable, or it isn't white. Where do you buy it from and does it have a brand name on it? Thanks! About the painters tape; I like it on solid woods, but don't use it on plywoods because sometimes it actually removes little pieces of the veneer when you peel it off. I've had many hours of work ruined and had to either do much tiny repair or throw the piece out and start over.

Nah. I'd probably pretend it was my ex-wife and push it all the way into the saw! Just kidding

Yup. I recently inherited a table saw and refurbished it, and it saves me a lot of time, but it does scare me. It's the dragon that lives out on my back patio!

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!

Nice job. Remember, there are no imperfections. You are now an artist in wood, and those little marks are your individual expression! 😃

I would be tempted to make a second one of the project in that size you accidentally cut just to keep all that work from going to waste.

Look back to the Victorian golden age of scroll saw when they made many useful things for the home. Try http://www.finescrollsaw.comin their free pattern section for examples.

Great job on a very beautiful clock. Your wife will surely love that. $3.95? I will definitely check them out

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!

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

Can't do cherry. It would be about $600

Mine tried to whisper but my banjo drowned it out. And now you know my other obsession 😉

Thanks but I haven't built it yet. Those are pictures of ones that other people have built

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

It's called "casual tossed" or just "casual" without the wild slants to the letters. I tend to like thick and whimsical fonts for these.

Thanks Everyone. I don't really need the money but I figure I better accept it so I don't get taken advantage of. Besides I can put the money towards the supplies needed for my upcoming grandfather clock project.

My wife is a 2nd grade teacher, so I made her a simple word art nameplate for her desk. Some of her fellow teachers saw it and wanted one too. So I made them, and gave them to them unfinished so they could have fun painting them. One of them was so excited that she posted this photo of hers on facebook, and said she couldn't wait to paint and glitter it. Now I'm getting a bunch of inquiries and they all want to pay me for something I was just doing to be nice. Several of these are for ladies in the front office so they'll be on display and I expect to have more people asking where they got them from. Seriously, What have I done?