Tall Case Clock

[Sal Morgani]

A few of the members have asked me to post pictures of my Tall Case Clock that I have completed. This clock is an adaptation of John Townsend's clock of 1780. It is made with mostly hand tools. All surfaces are hand planed or scraped, no sandpaper was used. All mouldings are either carved or made with hollows and rounds. The primary wood is mahogany, secondary woods are chestnut and poplar. The finish is Analine dye, then 4 coats of seedlac. Please note photography is not my forte :) .
Sal

[Jim Becker]

WOW! Wonderful details, Sal. I hope you'll talk more about building this beautiful piece. There is a fellow just down the road from me a few miles that specializes in "Pennsylvania" tall clocks and was on Modern Masters awhile back carving the rosettes. (Robert Johnson) While I'm not inclined to build in these styles, I'd love to learn more about the techniques, nonetheless.

[Don Baer]

Now that is simply stunning.

[Steve Schoene]

Very nice.

[Mark Stutz]

Sal,
This is absolutely stunning. The carving detail is great. One of my goals when I started woodworking was to eventually build a tall case clock. I can't even imagine how to do the reeded half rounds ar some of the molding using hand tools. Truly inspiring, though shows me how far I have to go.

Mark

[John Hart]

Just incredible work.

[Richard Wolf]

I stand and applaud you, nicely done.

Richard

[lou sansone]

hi sal

great tall case clock. It would be nice to get some better pictures of it for all of us to see. I too am working on one that is similar but more of a connecticut piece rather than the newport style ( the rosetts are different and there is no cartouch in the center ). All I have left to do is put the stupid hinges on the dial door and then final scrape and sand ( I know that some are opposed to this ) and then finish it. They are fussy things to build without any prints and only photos to work from. You might think about posting it over on the general forum for others to see. Again it is a wonderful clock and congratulations on finishing it.

lou

[Boyd Gathwright]

Hi Lou,

.... You caught my interest in what you said. “You might think about posting it over on the general forum for others to see”. I am interested in that “general forum”. Is there another wood working forum maybe we should know about ;)?

.... Thanks

Boyd


__________________________________________________ ______________________

Hello Sal,

.... Very nice workmanship indeed. You take real pride in your work. I too am interested in Grandfather clocks. Hoping to acquire my grandfather's clock some time in the near future, it's a beauty as I remember it. I would say it's every bit of 7 ½ to 8' tall and has a beautiful chime with real brass weights. It will most likely need some refurbishing by now and will consider doing the work myself.

.... Great job and look forward to seeing some more of your work :).

Boyd


hi sal


great tall case clock. It would be nice to get some better pictures of it for all of us to see. I too am working on one that is similar but more of a connecticut piece rather than the newport style ( the rosetts are different and there is no cartouch in the center ). All I have left to do is put the stupid hinges on the dial door and then final scrape and sand ( I know that some are opposed to this ) and then finish it. They are fussy things to build without any prints and only photos to work from. You might think about posting it over on the general forum for others to see. Again it is a wonderful clock and congratulations on finishing it.

lou

[Vaughn McMillan]

Sal, I only come over to Neanderland every once in awhile, but I'm sure glad I did tonight. Your clock is stunning. I wouldn't know where to start making something like that with all the tools in the world...let alone with mostly hand tools. The carving detail is wonderful. Very well done.

- Vaughn

P.S. Boyd, I think Lou is referring to the "General Woodworking and Power Tools" section of Sawmill Creek. Based on the amount of traffic it gets, it's the "Main Street" of SMC.

[Karl Laustrup]

Sal, very, very wonderful and painstaking detail and work. That is a beautiful, soon to be masterpiece, I'm sure.

As an aside about where to post, all threads no matter what forum they are posted on, show up under "New Posts" and will remain there as long as they have new replys or the Mods send them to the forum where they originated. They will however, come back to "New Posts" if someone else posts a new dialog to the thread.

At least that's what I've noticed through the time I've been a part of SMC. Hopefully that's as clear as mud. :eek:

I always go to the "New Posts" first and then at least once a week try and check the individual forums in case I've missed some along the way.

Karl

[Gail O'Rourke]

The header of this post off the main page dragged me here..yes, copy this into the main ww page.

Clocks are one of my favorite things to look at...and I could look at this one forever, it is absolutely gorgeous. I like the dye, are you pleased with the finish? I am comletely impressed that this is with mostly hand tools. That is unbelieveable. Your shop is much quieter than mine...

congratulations on an elegant execution.

[Alan Turner]

Nice clock, Sal. Were I to attempt it, I think I would make up a bunch of scrapers to bring in the moldings. I find carving to be quite a challenge, and yours is executed very well indeed.

[Sal Morgani]

This is the last of the clock pictures. The clock is my first attempt at furniture making. While building it I taught myself about sharpening, dovetails, mortice and tenons, how to thickness and joint boards and how to carve. It is held together with hide glue and that was a learning experience in itself. I really think that if you have the drive to do something, really believe you can do it, get information on how to do it and practice, practice you can do anything. Like Michael said, just break it down into smaller tasks and concentrate on them.

Mark: If you are planning to build a clock the first thing to do is get the works and dial. Set them up and take your measurements from them. They will determine the minimum size of the waist, base and bonnet.

Gail: I love the finish. The dye and seelac gave it a mellow reddish brown patina. It also brings out the figure on the blocking and the base face plate. To take some of the glare off the shellac I rubbed it down with 4/0 steelwool and wax. This gave it a nice satin finish.

Thanks people for all your kind responses.
Sal

[Jim Becker]

Dr. SMWBO just said, "If this is his first attempt at furniture making...what the heck is he going to do for an encore???" :D Beautiful, Sal!