Mantle Clock Project 1. Preparation

Mantle Clock Project
Author:
Alan Holtham
Rating:
Difficulty:
This elegant clock will make a very attractive addition to your mantelpiece or an equally
acceptable present for someone who needs a bit of help with their timekeeping!
Although it looks like a simple project to make, there are actually a couple of tricky bits to
overcome. The base and the stem are quite straight forward bits of turning and will not give
any real problems, but the top section is a bit different. Firstly the face has to be held without
leaving any sort of mark on the rounded back, and secondly there is some accurate drilling to
do for both the stem and the top finial. These two holes must be drilled perfectly in line and
truly at 180 degrees to each other, and both of them are drilled at a slight angle to the face,
but both are slightly different angles.
So it’s really not that straightforward. But don’t worry, I shall show you how to make a simple
jig to help with all this drilling, and also how to divide out to get the holes in the right place. You
can buy all sorts of fancy bits of kit and accessories to do all this for you, but I think that half
the fun of woodturning is to work round this sort of challenge yourself so we’ll make our own
wooden jigs.
1. Preparation
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2. Faceplate Mount
3. Trim Up The Periphery
Now mount this on the lathe, and with the speed set at about 1500 rpm, trim up the periphery.
4. Marking up the Blank
5. Mark Across the Centre
With the lathe now stopped draw a line across the face through this centre point.
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6. Mark up the Periphery
Now extend the ends of the line down the edge to cross the scribed line round the periphery.
Just use a bradawl to clearly define these intersection points.
7. Make a Simple Drilling Jig
8. Mark for Drilling Reference
Place the stem into the toolrest holder and replace the faceplate with a centre point of some
sort. It is usually better to use a sharply pointed tailstock centre, and then slide the holder
along the bed to press the block onto this protruding point, getting it on the centerline (Fig 8).
This leaves a drilling mark in the middle of the block, at exactly centre height, which is very
important if the two holes in the finished clock are to line through accurately.
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9. Using the Drill Press
Now take the jig out, and use your drill press to form a hole which is the size of the finished
stem and finial spigots. I prefer to use the drill press for this because it is essential that the
hole is dead straight in all planes. I am going to be using a 14 mm drill bit, in this case a bullet
point type, to drill the holes in the clock, so use this to drill the jig as well, just drilling through at
the centre point we have already marked.
10. Drilling Jig
11. Turn the Face
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12. The Back Profile
Next mount a piece of scrapwood on a screwchuck and turn a long spigot to be a tight fit in the
clock recess (Fig 12). Do try and make this spigot long or you will have difficulty accessing the
front face of the clock when you come to the polishing stage later.
13. Turning the Back Profile
With the clock blank now firmly mounted on this jam chuck and the faceplate removed, it is a
simple job to turn the back profile. In this case I am trying to get it as spherical as possible for
the best effect. You can see now why we drilled the holes earlier on when it was much easier
to judge relative orientation, and shaping now also means that the hole edges are really clean
and not torn.
14. Finishing the Back Profile
When you are happy with the final profile, sand and polish it to whatever finish you prefer.
Here I am using a cellulose sanding sealer and friction polish combination for a high gloss. If
you have made the jam chuck long enough, and you relieve the shape of it slightly, you should
be able to reach right round to polish the whole top section as one piece.
15. Begin the Base
The procedure for turning the base is very simple. Mount the blank on a screwchuck to turn
the underside first. Form a dovetail recess.
16. Re-Mount the Base
Reverse the wood onto the chuck, having first sanded and polished in the recess.
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17. Finish and Drill the Base
18. The Spindle & Finial
There is now only the spindle and finial to make, and I turn these in one piece to maintain the
grain continuity. Just rough the spindle blank down to a cylinder, and turn a 14 mm diameter
spigot on the left-hand end, long enough to be a good fit in the base. Decide how long you
want the top finial to be, and mark this off from the right hand end, adding a few millimetres
extra to allow for cleaning up. Using callipers, turn down a section at this point to 14 mm
diameter and extend this diameter along the spindle for about 25 mm. When you later cut
through in the middle of this parallel section it will form one end of the finial, and the other end
of the spindle. Both bits need to be a tight fit in the clock section, so work accurately.
19. Final Shaping of the Spindle & Finial
With these spigots now defined, shape the rest of the spindle and finial, trying to join the
bottom of the spindle to the base with a bead to hide the join. Finish this in the same way, and
then part through at the junction of the two spigots.
20. Assembly
Hopefully it should now all fit together, just clean up the top of the finial with a sharp chisel,
and polish out the tiny marks remaining by hand. I use cyanoacrylate glue to assemble all the
components, but take care to line up any strong grain patterns if at all possible. A good tip
when you are gluing in these situations is to put the glue in the hole, rather than on the spigot,
it just stops any oozing out onto the polished surfaces. If your jig has worked correctly
everything should line up properly, and you now have a present to be proud of.
21. Tools Used for this Project
CH100 3/4" Roughing Gouge
CH200 1/4" Spindle Gouge
CH220 1/2" Spindle Gouge
CH500 1/8" Parting And Beading
CH601 1/4" Deep Bowl Gouge
CH700 1/2" Domed Scraper
CH900 3/4" Oval Chisel
CL3 Lathe, 5 Speed With Cam Lock Toolrest And Tailstock
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CWA190 Speedaneez Friction Polish (Light)
CWA191 Speedaneez Friction Polish (Dark)
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