Grandfather Greene

Rennie Heuer

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The original Greene and more Greene thread is getting a bit crowded, so I thought that I would start new, individual threads, for the last two pieces in this commission. There will be a medicine cabinet and this, a grandfather clock.

Not really Greene in nature, more in line with Stickley, it has its roots in the Ashville clock which I believe is housed at the Grove Park Inn in (where else) Ashville, NC.

GF Clock 4.PNG

I've scaled it down considerably and made a few other major changes taken from this inspiration piece.
Bungalow clock.jpg
I took the leg, stretcher, crown and tenons from the bungalow clock and combined them with the wider stance, hardware and face of the Ashville clock and then threw in a few ebony plugs for good measure. The face is hand hammered copper, 13" square. The huge strap hinges are also made by the same coppersmith, John Monk. He is a true artist and very sought after in the Arts & Crafts community.
clock face and hinges.jpg

This is the drawing we're working from.
Grandfather Clock6-24a.jpg
Yesterday I finished the 'skeleton' and test fitted all the joinery. Today I'll work on gluing up all the panels.
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I was very fortunate to have gotten my lumber from Larry for this project as he was very thoughtful in choosing boards from the same flitch. I was able to capitalize on this using two contiguous boards for the front legs. A little hard to see right now, but once the oil goes on they will appear to be book matched. Win win.
 
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A crown for grandfather.

Topping the clock is a built up molding consisting of a large cove below a deep bevel. The 30 degree bevel is the easy part, so I won't go into detail on that. The cove, being quite large, is not something you pick up at Home Depot so it had to be home made.

I started with some 1 1/2" square stock that were extra pieces I milled for the legs of the Greene table. I first knocked off one corner on the table saw. (Shortly after this pic was taken I finally got around to making myself a zero clearance 45 and 30 degree throat plates). After cutting the bevel I cleaned it up and brought it to final dimension on the jointer.

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Checking on line I found a cove calculator on the FW site and determined that, for the width and depth of my cove, the fence would need to be set at 25 degrees. I used my Incra miter gauge to position the jig. After making a couple of test cuts I was able to zero in on the placement. This time I used my box joint blades. They have flat toped teeth and, using the two blades in the set, lots of teeth. The cut was very smooth and there was no burning. There are little ridges that will need to be sanded out, but not nearly as many or as deep as when I use my crosscut blade.

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Stacked together the final crown will look like this.
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Nice job on the crown profile stack (y). The overall pictures give a good look at the scale of this beauty . . . whew! Nice choices on the side panel figure. Purposeful material selection is one of my favorite parts of the process and things are really coming together on this one.

I have enjoyed your work since way back when. The entry arch / short-fence at your old home really roped me in. I knew I had found a kindred spirit :D. One thing I love that you do; your work delivers beautiful pieces to knowledgeable clients. At the same time you allow others to contribute their abilities like the CNC work and copper details. I believe ti's Larry whose sig-line says "One hand washes the other".

Diggin' the ride and ready for more :)
 
You have to ship these to California correct? THAT is scary! Just might need to make a little trip south and see those before shipping. Really looking good Rennie 👍
 
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