Finished xmas presents early. 2 Clocks w/ 1st veneer attempt - Pics

[Matt Allan]

Finished 2 of my xmas presents early this year.. Built 1 for my parents and 1 for my neighbors. Hope they like them. Basically stole.. er copied.. er was motivated by ones david marks did on woodworks. :) I never saw the episode but I saw a picture of the clock on his website and just made it from the picture. Think they came out pretty well.

It was my first attempt any using any veneer. Bought commercial veneer, and since doing so I have decided to buy a good bandsaw and a drumsander. That commercial stuff was insanely thin for a glue up like that, would be have so much easier if it was just a bit thicker.

If you remember I used my cars in a ghetto clamping fashion since I don't have a vacuum press..

Pictures here:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=12735



Vacuum press is on my list with the BS and sander as well now :)

Left the hands gold for now, will let each of them deiced if they want another color when I give it to them.

Would also like to thank anyone who answered questions on a few parts of the project.

[Roger Barga]

You did youself proud, especially for your first veneering project. Figured maple is notorius for bleedthrough and staining from glue or color from an adjacent veneer. Yours, however, came out great. Say, I'll trade you a vacuum press your previous veneering setup ;-) Thanks for sharing your project with us.

cheers,
roger

[Tony Falotico]

Nice job Matt, I watch David Marks every chance I get and want to try veneering one of these days.

BTW I do like your veneering combo machine......... but LOML said no I couldn't upgrade, to make do with my F150 model!

[Karl Laustrup]

Nice job Matt. After seeing your clamping solution, I will never complain about cost of conventional clamps.:D

Karl

[Donnie Raines]

Now where have I seen those before....... :D

Looks very nice!

[Wes Newman]

Real nice looking clocks Matt. What is the darker wood?

[Jim Becker]

Wow, Matt. Those look great! That maple is outstanding and really sets the whole thing off, too. But why would you want to give up your "premium veneer presses" for a doudy vacuum system?? :D

[Mike Scoggins]

Matt,

Very nice job on the clock! The veneering is beautiful. Although I've seen the clock before, I guess I've focused on the veneer and overlooked the top, but I really like the angles of the top.

Mike

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Looks good Matt!

[Jerry Olexa]

Beautiful work!!!

[Pete Lamberty]

Very nice clocks. The veneering job looks nice and tight. Now for a bit of useless info. While taking a class, one student made a collage of clocks and watches. She took photos from numerous different magazines and newspapers. Every single photo had the time set so that one hand was on the ten and the other hand was on the two. :eek: I guess it looks better that way.

[Dan Gill]

Very pretty. I looked at your clamping system, and I liked that, too. I wonder . . . if you ran the tire pressure very low, could you clamp a curve? :rolleyes:

[Matt Allan]

Real nice looking clocks Matt. What is the darker wood?
Wes, The darker wood is some wenge veneer.

[Matt Allan]

Wow, Matt. Those look great! That maple is outstanding and really sets the whole thing off, too. But why would you want to give up your "premium veneer presses" for a doudy vacuum system?? :D

First, I would like to thank everyone on their kind words.. Appreciate the comments.

Jim, I was very impressed when I got the maple veneer. The figure was nicer than I thought it would be. I was also impressed with the color of the wenge, although the wenge was very hard to work with. It was very brittle and cracks along the grain of these thin sheets very easy. Ah well, an excuse to buy a MM16 I think.. :)

[Jack Hogoboom]

Matt,

The clocks came out great!! You really did a fantastic job. How'd you decide to cut the pyramid on the top? As I recall, there was some debate about that a while back.

Congratulations and thanks for sharing!!

Jack

[Matt Allan]

Matt,

The clocks came out great!! You really did a fantastic job. How'd you decide to cut the pyramid on the top? As I recall, there was some debate about that a while back.

Congratulations and thanks for sharing!!

JackJack,

Thanks for the kind words first..

Someone else building this exact clock had asked that question a while back on how to cut it if a bandsaw is not present.

I was able to cut the long sides with the table saw. Granted that was a little ify with the blade so high, probably wasn't the safest thing in the world even with it secured to a larger piece but it worked. For short sides that have a wider cut I ended up making a ramp/sled type deal for the router and just zipped it around a few times lower wit each pass. Was pretty quick and accurate. I do not trust myself with a plane to make it nice and to the lines so I figured that was the best method. In the end it works, so I am happy.

I am curious now if he ever finished the clock and his method.