Clock Project - Final Update

I can understand why many find the finishing process so tedious. If you don't have a dedicated finishing area that is separate from your work area, you can't really do anything else unless you have a super-duper dust collection system. Even then, I think you may have problems with dust. It really feels like so much shop time going to waste.

I've enjoyed the finishing process on this project as I was really able to watch the purpleheart come to life and the clock face's mysterious chatoyancy blogged about previously.

Yesterday afternoon, I looked over all of the various parts for the clock and judged them in no further need of finishing. 4 days with a couple of coats of wiping varnish per day. 2 sides in the morning, flip in the late afternoon and do the other 2 sides. Smooth out the dust nibs. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

I had to scuff the tenons on the slats as some wiping varnish did get onto some of them, and then I began a dry assembly. Well, I didn't think I sanded too much, but a number of my tenons had a loose fit! Sigh.

Titebond is not a gap filling adhesive, so that would really not be an acceptable adhesive considering the situation. Epoxy to the rescue! One dose with some high density filler did the trick. I clamped it up and for giggles, I attached the clock mechanism and pendulum to ensure that it swung freely.

Despite all of my careful measurements, I didn't account for the knob at the bottom of the pendulum. Argh! I watched helplessly as it bounced of each of the slats. So I sat on my greenbin/shop stool to think this one through.

A little bend to the pendulum arm solved the problem and in short order, it was swinging freely.

This morning, I unclamped everything and applied the roman numerals and the hands. The only things left to do is get some very small screws to fasten the mechanism to the  back of the face and attach the hanging hardware. Here's the finished product.

I've briefly considered keeping it for myself (briefly heh) but I think my will cousin like it.