Woodworker's Journal 1984-8-5, страница 50

Grandfather Clock Part 1

Designed by Roy B. Cook

Clocks of this style, called long case clocks, originated in England sometime before 1660. In 1876, the American Henry Clay Work wrote a song about a long case clock which began: My grandfather's clock was too big for the shelf so it stood ninety years on the floor.., The song was quite popular in the 1880's, and ever since the name grandfather has become synonymous with the long case clock.

As a general rule, grandfather clocks stand between seven and eight feet tall. A somewhat smaller version, appropriately called the grandmother clock, usually measures around six feet high.

Grandfather clocks come in a variety of shapes and styles, but we think this one is especially handsome. It has a number of interesting features, including ogee feet, a raised arch base panel, arched panels for the waist and hood doors, a broken arch pediment and a calendar moon dial. We used walnut for ours, but oak, cherry, or mahogany is also quite appropriate. In his Shoptalk column, on page 4, Jim McQuillan talks about material costs for this project.

In this issue we will cover the construction of the base and waist members. Next issue, in part II, we will detail how to make the hood and install the movement. Movements for grandfather clocks come in many shapes and styles — and price ranges. The movement we specify will cost about 5250.00, with the calendar moon dial adding another $150.00. However, some movements can run as high as $1600.00, while those on the lower end of the price range will cost not much over $125.00. More specific movement information, including part numbers and current prices, will be covered next issue.

Making a grandfather clock generally involves using a shaper — a versatile tool, but one that few woodworkers own. We feel that one of the important features of this design is the fact that a shaper is not needed. The operations normally done with the shaper have been worked out so that a table saw molding-head cutter or a router table will do the job.

A router table is easy enough to make (See Fig. 1). Cut a sheet of Vi in. thick birch plywood to a width of 24 in. and a length of 36 in. Bore a 1 in. diameter hole at the center, then make the fence from IV* in. thick solid stock as shown. The 1 in. by I'A in. notch is cut across the underside of the fence to allow clearance for the cutter. It also allows clear-

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2.A x 3£>

ROUTER

FIGURE 1

SAWHORSE.