Last Project with Contractors Saw

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43
Location
St George,Ontario,Canada
Hello Everyone

I haven't been around much lately because of everyday work and I was finishing up a couple of projects. This project was the last one I did with my Sears contractors saw. I had that saw for 8 years and I was just getting fed up with having to adjust the fence for square each time I used it. So with a little bit of extra money I scraped together and with my wife's permission I got a new saw. I will post another thread about it in new tools today.

About this project, it is a Shaker wall clock based on a project in the Canadian Woodworking magazine. The issue was #48 June/July 2007. I followed the plan fairly closely except that I used walnut and walnut plywood instead of veneering a different species of wood for the bottom door. I didn't put the Shaker peg hole on the top either. To me it just makes the clock look a bit cheesey.

The top and bottom caps are 3/4" thick as well as the doors with 1/4" plwood for the panel in the bottom door. The sides and the shelf is 5/8" thick glued together dadoes and tongues (not sure if tongue is the right word). The clock stands almost 28.5" high and the body is 9.5" wide and 4" deep. I used rare earth magnets with CA glue recessed into the body of the clock and doors to keep the doors closed. The only screws used are to attach the plywood back.

The finish was just plain satin poly cut 50/50 with minerals spirits and wiped on. There are 6 coats. The clock face and the movement come from crafttime clockery and are reall easy to set up. The only thing I change are the batteries because the ones supplied with the clock are pretty cheap.

Hope you like it. This is my third Shaker style clock. I have built 2 based on the plan in Wood magazine and the next one I hope to build will be one from Popular woodworking.

I have finished the lecturn I was building for my church as well but I don't have any pictures because I don't have a digital camera and have to borrow one. The lecturn was done before I could borrow a camera.

Stephan
 

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Stephan,

That's a great piece, really like the finish.

I know what you mean about those craftsman TS fences. Grew up using one like that and swore I'd have a better one when I bought my own.
 
Thanks, I really enjoyed making this clock. It was my first project using only walnut. I really like how it machines and finishes. The only thing I don't like about walnut is the amount of sapwood there is sometimes. At my lumber supplier I had to almost go throught the whole stash to get about 20bd ft without any sapwood.

Stephan
 
nice clock there but according to my watch it not keepin good time :) hey on the walnut you mentioned having sap wood well the gradeing is the culprit they have lessend the reguirements for walnut and cherry too get more face wood..they have cut so much old growth out that the new growth that they are takin isnt old enough to be dark and not so much sapwood..air dryun will help to bring the sap into the heart color better though.
 
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Nice job on this one. I love anything Shaker and you did good on this clock. I'm also a lover of cheese, so maybe that's why I prefer the peg hole as well :):D I've always built a small section of peg rail and hung mine on it to give it a bit more authentic look. But your's looks great as is. Thanks for sharing.
 
Shaker Clock

I am currently trying to build one of these for the first time , mine will be made of cherry and have the cheese board peg hole back, if i might ask how many hours did it take you and how much bdft of lumber, I'm trying to get by with about 6.5 bdft of left over cherry my measurements are almost exactly the same as yours a couple inches taller and glass inserts in the doors if cost allows for that as well as pendulum. But I may do it exactly like you did except it will have peg hole at at top, Can you break down cost for me if time allow and your finish of satin wipe on poly was that a minwax quart? cut 50% with mineral spirits.thanks for your thoughts I will check back to see you're response! Looks great by the way!!!:thumb:
 
Doug I really don't keep track of the hours it takes me to make the projects I do. It would be depressing. A rough estimate would be 25 hours just to build the case and the doors. I had to redo both doors because one was about 1/16" short on the width. I tried to fix it but it didn't look right for something that I hope is going to hang on our wall for 30 years. The other door wasn't very flat and it was really noticeable.

I bought 20 bdft to do this project but it only required about 8.5bdft. I always order extra because I buy the lumber rough and I can't visualize what the wood looks like just by the rough cut. I buy extra and joint and plane extra to be able to pick and choose the best boards. I figure I jointed and planed about 15 bdft. I used some of the extra to build new doors and some on another project.

The way I do the 50/50 mix with the poly is I stir up the poly in the quart container and the take some of it out. I have a small ladel which I use to take the poly out or I just pour it out of a can. I pour a specific amount depending how big the project is into a measured container through a sieve which I bought at the dollar store. I then take some mineral spirits and pour it through the same sieve to clean it up until I get a amount which doubles the amount of poly in the measured container. I usually use minwax poly satin gloss because that is what I have on hand. You could use any gloss you like. I haven't had any problems with a cloudy finish with only using the satin finish. Some people do so they use a few gloss coats then go to satin or semi-gloss. Something to note though only make enough of the mixture that you would use in a couple of days because I have found out the hard way that it will gel up after a couple of days in a covered container. If you run out its easy just to make some more.

I hope this answers your questions, anymore questions just ask and if I can't answer them someone here will be able to.

Stephan
 
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