Thread: where do you get it

Hi Les,

Do you have a plan in mind, or a style? eg art deco, shaker, german.....
Do you have the GF clock innards yet? eg how long will the chains be.... (apologies for the incorrect clock jargon)
Is the clock for you and your household or a gift or commission?

What are your favourite timbers? Do you have a special piece of timber stashed away that you never knew why you had to have it and what on earth you'd use it for, but it's still there patiently waiting?

Hopefully some ideas to help spark a direction towards timber.

cheers
Wendy

Hi Les,

The next door neighbour used surian cedar on a grandfathers clock came up great , but I would think just about any of the australian timbers would come up as good if not better looking.

Regards
Pal

How long is a piece of string?

Any nice timber will do, just a few for example,

ash, blackwood, cedar, redgum, jarrah, even some of the pines would look good, clear hoop pine, kauri, clear macrocarpra.
or even a mixture of contrasting timbers, depending on the style of the clock.

thanks for you tips, I will get a set of plans and see what sizes etc are needed.
les

The advice in a recent book I read was to make sure you get the mechanism BEFORE you start to cut wood so you are absolutely sure it fits. Sounds smart to me.

A good start with any Grandfather (Long Case ) clock is to decide what height you want and what will fit in your house.

There are 3 main types of long case,
Grandfather, Grandmother and of course Grand daughter,
Grandfather are the tallest- - 8 to 9 feet usually
Grandmother - - 6 to 8 feet
Grand daughter, High enough to jump over or so they say--4 to 6 feet.

I personally think they look better made from dark colored wood, but each to thier own, and what is at hand.


Cheers Andrew

I bought the plans, movement etc from Carbatec and built the clock from Oak, as I felt it had a traditional look which suited our house.
The building of the clock was the easy part ... the bit I most worried about was staining it at the end. I finally put on a coat of Wattyl pigmented stain, followed by a tung oil product over which there was one coat of orange shellac followed by a dark wax. This left the oak with a nice dark finish but one that did not hide or fill the grain which happily is what I wanted.

Rhys H.