Shopsmith Forums

Well, I posted about this project before and I never even got started because life got in the way. What you are looking at in this first picture is my first rough attempt to draw the hood of a grandmother clock I am going to try to build, most likely very slowly, given my various time commitments.

I am going to repeat the back story on this. It's long. And it has pictures.

So, the clock I want to build is a reproduction of one my Grandfather had built for my Grandmother as a 5th anniversary present in the early 1930s. At the time, he was the owner of Old Colony Furniture Co., which made really fine reproduction furniture, so it was no big deal to have his men make anything he wanted.

I was fascinated by that clock growing up in the 60s. Unfortunately, it was stolen in the late 1970s and never recovered. Only a few black and white photos remain of the clock and the level of detail, even after playing around with them, isn't very high. These are the best of them.

About 10 years ago, on a trip to New York City, I was walking through a gallery in the Metropolitan Museum of Art containing dozens of tall case clocks (the technical term for grandfather clocks). I wasn’t there specifically to look at the clocks and I wasn’t particularly paying attention as I hurried past them to get where I was going. But I literally froze in my tracks in front of one of the clocks. It was one made by Thomas Claggett, of Newport, Rhode Island, and at only five feet tall, it was conspicuously dwarfed by the rest of the clocks in the gallery, most of which stood 8 feet tall.

But it wasn’t the lack of height alone that drew me to the clock. As I stared at it, it slowly dawned on me that I was standing in front of the very same clock that my Grandfather had chosen to copy for his anniversary-present clock to my Grandmother. And I started to shake a little.

It's pretty clear from this side by side comparison that the clocks are virtual twins. My Grandfather's copy is on the left; the antique clock form the Met is on the right.
If you study the photos, you may notice a couple of differences, most of which are to the hood. First, and quite noticeably, he added a second set of columns at the rear of the hood. The original clock only has pillars on the front of the hood. I like the change and will do the same with my copy.

Second, the hood door arch on my Grandfather’s copy is a noticeably wider than the one in the museum. I suspect his was to accommodate the clock dial he sourced for his copy. All the dials I have found today, are close to the dimensions that it appears my Grandfather used. And in my drawing, above, I have used dimensions for a modern dial I will try to use.

Another change related to the swan’s neck molding and full bonnet that completely enclosed the hood’s top. On the original, the swan’s neck molding stands slightly proud of the rosettes and the bonnet itself. On the anniversary clock my Grandfather’s men made, the swan’s neck transitioned smoothly into the rosettes right at their apex and followed the line of the bonnet perfectly. On my drawing, above, I have tried to duplicate the swan's neck from my Grandfather's clock.

Additionally, the lower case of the original had two step-backs from the base to the waist, one of which was eliminated on my Grandfather’s copy. I'm not sure if that was to increase the available room inside the waist for the pendulum. I am undecided whether to stick with the original design here, although I will probably opt to follow my Grandfather's version.

Another change isn't between my Grandfather's copy and the Museum clock, but a change that occurred to my Grandfather's copy at some point. The earliest photos of his clock show wooden finials identical to the finials on the museum version. But in the photo of his clock in the hallway, the wood finials have been replaced with brass finials. I assume one of the wood ones got broken and he just replaced them with the brass ones. I only remember seeing the clock with brass finials, so I will probably use brass finials in my copy, which will save me from trying to carve flame finials.

There's a ton of stuff on this clock that is way beyond the skill level of anything I've ever tried to build. The swan's neck, enclosed bonnet and arch moldings are three that immediately come to mind. The columns, which are tapered and fluted are another. The bracket ogee feet yet another. And there's the lip molding on the waist door, which has an odd shape that probably will require some hand carving that I will have to learn to do.

You aren't supposed to build these things without the movement and dial in your possession. But that's a lot of money to spend on something if I can't build it. So I've got the specs of the movement. I know the hood and case will need to be 1/2 deeper than the original. And I've got a full scale print out of the dial that goes with the movement. I'll transfer that to wood, and then try to build the hood around it. If I have success with the hood, I'll buy the movement. Even though my Grandfather's clock was mahogany, I'm going to use Walnut, because I've got a ton of it leftover from a different project that never got built.

Stay tuned. This is going to be a long project. That's part of the triple entendre of the title of this post. I'm building a clock, which is a time keeping machine. It's also a time machine in the sense of taking me back to my childhood. And it's going to take a very long time.

There's going to be a lot of mistakes and probably a lot of requests for advice/help along the way.

Assuming you are taking us along for the ride as you did with the slow boat, I eagerly await the departure. I never considered making a canoe, but have considered a 'tall clock'.

That's my intention, to make a series of posts as I plan, draw and, hopefully, build this.

I should add that I also have a "set" of measured drawings of the original, antique clock, which were in a book that came from my Grandfather's library. The plans are very basic. A front elevation, a side elevation, and details on the molding profiles. Mostly it's just outside dimensions and a few details of how the original was built. I've already had to depart from them to draw the hood door and its wider, taller arch, which of course changes the geometry of the rest of the hood.

To give you an idea about how far this is outside of my comfort zone, it was a challenge just trying to figure out how to draw the curve of the swan's neck molding. It isn't a typical symmetrical, Roman ogee; and while the measured drawing shows the shape, it gives none of the details to reproduce it in terms of the arcs that make it up.

Something to think about. I had a friend build a grandfather clock out of Zebra wood. He insured that the grain would line up. In the front face there were 27 pieces and if you looked it appeared the grain ran from the top to the very bottom.

I can not tell you how impressive the clock looked. It was standout in any surrounding.

I have a jig used to steam bend the curve for th top if you would like I can take a picture of it with rough layout and you an make one to fit your project, the jig I have is used fro mantel clocks.

Hobbyman- I would like to see that! I have thought about 2-3 different ways to do it and steam bending wasn’t one, so I’ll definitely want to have a look.

So I have never used this , I was supposed to aquire the entire set the fella has but it never came about, this is a clampiing jig used mny times by a clock maker , he would soak his pieces over night , most of his bending was done using 3/8 or thinner material. he would re saw his stock from solid wood, mostly cherry / walnut , if you dont have a source on the metal I cant see why the top couldnt be made from wood .

drying time varies on several things . I was planning on making a couple clocks using his technique, the fella past away a few years ago, his work was some of the best I have ever seen.

You can customize the jig to any configuration ,, he had several styles .

Thanks Hobbyman. It is a definite possibility.

I will watch this with much anticipation!

If you continue your excellent work on this as you did on your canoe, this will be a clock for the ages!

Yea he had clamping jigs for making some really large clocks,2 and 3 arches he would make 2 sides and then put them together in the middle making all sorts of designs. looks like a fun project.