Gingerbread Clock Case Repairs

These are two cases that I repaired a short while ago. They are a Waterbury Niles (the lighter walnut one) bought from a yard sale several years ago, and a New Haven "Merchant Line B" (dark oak) bought locally though Kijiji (similar to Craigslist) not long ago.

Both clock cases needed work, but both were purchased quite inexpensively. The Niles was 60$, and the Merchant Line B was 40$.

Let's start with the Niles. This was the clock as-purchased:



Both top "horns" were broken off, the glass had been replaced (no transfer), the dial was awful, and the hands were incorrect. When I got it home I also discovered that it had been fitted with a New Haven movement. The clock is not valuable enough to spend 100$ to swap the movement for a correct Waterbury one, but I still want to fix it up as much as possible.

Because of the swapped movement, I had a very difficult time tracking down the model and maker. The clock has no label remaining (as is often the case with gingerbread clocks), so I had started my search with New Haven examples. I then switched to Ingraham, and I eventually stumbled on a match. This was very important because I did not know what the missing horns looked like.

Here's a good example of a Waterbury Niles (this one fitted with an alarm):



I have a number of different photos, some with close-ups, and I was able to use those as a pattern.

The New Haven had a broken latch, no glass, and the entire case was loose. In addition, both clock cases were missing their triangular glue blocks behind the crests. Here is the New Haven Merchant Line B as-purchased:



It looks almost like the case has been painted black, or been darkened with shoe polish, but I can assure you that even though it doesn't look quite right, the colour is 100% original.

You will have to excuse my slowly dying camera. It has a hard time focusing properly, and it's honestly on its last leg.









The Merchant Line B is a very interesting clock because the same pattern was cut in at least three different shapes with little regard to the actual pressed design. This particular clock has one of the cut designs that makes the most sense. I will eventually make a whole write-up about the clock and show off the variations once the clock is fully restored.

This clock needed the least amount of work. I took the case completely apart aside from the bracket base, and reassembled it with hide glue. I also cut, shaped, and antiqued a new latch for it. The commercially available latches NEVER fit correctly, and they rarely have the same shape. It's far easier and cheaper to just cut one from thin brass stock.



A new pine glue block was cut to match the existing shadow lines. Pine was used because the entire rear box of the clock is pine. If it had all been oak, then oak would have been used. This particular block is quite beefy and thick compared to others. They tend to be quite randomly sized, so try to match what was there.



I was working on both cases at the same time, so ignore the Niles case for now.



The glue block was then antiqued with acrylic paints to match the colour and patina of the case back and sides.

Here are the repairs to the Nile case.

To repair the horns, it was necessary to remove the top crest entirely. I passed the tips in the table saw (very carefully) to get nice straight and flat joints to glue new walnut blocks. In most cases (99% of the time) repairs are done with hide glue for reversibility, but in this case I believe I used carpenter's glue for a more permanent repair. It's up to you to decide what's appropriate during restoration work. This is a fragile area, so I wanted a very strong repair.



The rear glue block was cut from a walnut scrap, and you can see that this one was MUCH thinner than the one on the New Haven clock.



Using Photoshop, I took one of my source images and resized the image to "life size". I did this by cropping the image flush to the sides of the upper crest and then measuring my crest and making the image the same size. Once the photo on the computer is life size, I then overlay a custom sized grid on the image to match some graph paper. The easier way is to just print the life size photo or a cropped section of the photo to use as the pattern, but my printer isn't working. The image was just copied freehand to graph paper for my pattern. The pattern is then cut out of thin cardboard and traced onto the wood.



A quick trim on the scroll saw finishes up most of the repair. This is the part where you need skill with your tools. The cut outs should be sawn ONLY with no sanding or corrections made to them, which means that they need to be cut accurately in one shot. I've cut thousands of patterns over the past decade and a half, so I have plenty of practice at this. If you're attempting a similar repair, have a skilled cabinetmaker cut the pattern for you. It will make a big difference. Sloppy or crooked cuts are incredibly hard to hide, and if you start to sand or file the edges, it will be very apparent in the finished repair because all these clocks were quickly cut and have rough dark edges on them.



The way that the pressed pattern is applied also makes a big difference. An alarming number of people believe that these clocks were "hand carved" but that is very rarely the case. Some of the very early Eastlake period examples are, but they are the absolute minority. 99% of these are pressed the same way as "pressed-back chairs". The wood is basically fed into a press with a large metal punch that imprints the design into the wood. If you look carefully at the designs, you will see that the fibers of the wood are crushed and often splintered at the edges of hard lines.

For this reason, the best way to make these designs is by crushing the wood as opposed to carving it. Any number of household items can be used as punches. The simple lines on this design were made with a used slot screwdriver.



Note the crushed fibers all look the same across the original section and the repair:



Though additional source photos as well as faint shadow lines, I found that this model had rear braces. Apparently Waterbury must have known that these tips broke easily and these reinforcing braces were added early on.



These are just simple walnut sticks with the ends pared down slightly.





The bottom corner on this clock was also separated, so I fixed that with a bit of hide glue and some clamps. This is a tricky corner to clamp, so a wooden scrap was placed along the back.






The finished repairs were sealed with orange shellac (no stain). The final colour matched pretty well, except that the existing walnut does have a bit of sun fading. The new repairs should eventually mellow with a bit of time.

I have no final photos of the clock yet, but I have replaced and antiqued a new Roman dial, installed a glass transfer, and changed the hands. I am quite happy with the results, and I will try to post a photo soon.

Edit: Finished clock was posted here: http://jcclocks.blogspot.ca/2017/02/waterbury-niles-gingerbread-repaired.html

A Rare Find (AKA: The "Mystery" Wooden Works Clock)

I try not to overuse the term "rare" since so many people throw the term around meaninglessly, but in this case, it's not an exaggeration.

I bought this clock earlier this year (May 2014), and I meant to post it here sooner. I came across it on eBay, and since it's just barely even a case, it didn't attract too many bidders. I usually AVOID buying this kind of clock because putting it all back together will cost far more than buying a complete original clock. If you assume that a movement will cost around 80-100$ plus shipping, plus a painted dial to fit, at around 50$ plus shipping, in addition to hands, a bob, a pair of weights, recreating a backboard, fitting antique glass, and rebuilding the missing top, it hardly seems worth the trouble and expense. Especially since it's such a plain case.

HOWEVER, what attracted me to this particular clock case is it's incredible rarity. WHY is it rare? That can be a bit hard to explain, but in short, because of the way that the door is divided, and the lack of columns. More on this shortly.

As a quick side note, I just want to point out that just because an antique is rare, it doesn't necessarily make it more valuable. I would think that if this clock were complete, and placed in an auction, it would fetch about the same price as similar wooden works clocks, but I could be wrong.

The original eBay photos were quite decent, so I've included them along with some of my own.





The latch is a typical "key" shaped one from around the late 1830s, and into the 1840s. It has been damaged and bent downwards.















Here are a few of my photos. The case's main body is close to the size of a standard ogee clock, and not the normal height of a wooden works clock. The main case is 26" x 15 1/2" x 4 1/2". The upper door opening for the dial is 9 3/4" square, so the dial would likely have been around 10" x 10".









The inscription behind the central door panel (enhanced below) appears to read W. C. Kilbreath Cumberland Clock Repairer one year (Good). It would have been nice to have a date with this note. I was able to find one mention of a W. C. Kilbreath in Cumberland Ohio in an old National Tribune paper dated Jan 30th 1896, but that's all I could find.

EDIT: News! I think I found him! Unfortunately there's no mention of clock repair, but it's highly possible he worked on clocks after he retired.

Name: William Calvin KILBREATH
Birth: 18 SEP 1828 in Booths Ferry, VA. (W.Va)
Death: 30 OCT 1900
Burial: Cumberland Cem., Cumberland, OH

OBITUARY: JEFFERSONIAN Oct. 30, 1900
After an illness of but one week, with congestion of the lungs the venerable Wm. Calvin Kilbreath died at his home north of Cumberland at about 9:00 p.m., Tues. aged 72. He was born near Booth's Ferry, VA (now W.VA) sept. 18, 1828 and was married to Mary Nelson on Sept. 9, 1851. To this union eleven children were born, nine of whom survive. On the 7th of Aug., 1862 he enlisted in Co. B, 97th O.V.I and served 14 months, mostly as a hospital nurse. He was a faithful soldier, doing duty wherever assigned. Mr. Kilbreath was a member of the Presbyterian Church and was affiliated with the O.U.A.M. and G.A.R. His patriotism knew no bounds and upon every occasion he delighted to honor and display the flag for which he fought. He had been a resident of this vicinity many years and was highly esteemed by all who knew him. Beside his aged and grief stricken wife the following named children and 16 grandchildren remain: Peter N. of Cambridge; James C. of Cadiz; Margaret A. Smith of Spratt; Ella M. Moore of Zanesville; Martha E. Fox of Cumberland; U.G. of North Baltimore; C.A. and Dora O. Yerian of Cumberland and Wm. H. of Buffalo, OH. Funeral at the Pres. Church, 1:00 by Rev. H. C. Morledte. Remains laid to rest in Cumberland Cemetery.





Now, as I said, part of the reason this clock is so rare is because of the way that the door is divided into 3 sections. Very few clocks have doors with narrow panels in the centre. Several will have divisions at the bottom, like the clocks made by Silas Hoadley, which usually have a mirror below the dial, and a small painted tablet at the bottom with the "Time is Money" inscription. Almost no other clockmakers used 3 part divided doors. Many clocks have 2 doors, or built-in wooden panels that separate two doors (or a fixed panel under the door), like Putnam Bailey clocks, but none are divided like this particular clock. It's also highly unusual to see a wooden works clock case without turned columns, triangular columns, flat columns, reeded columns, or even flat/carved columns (like some rare Bishop & Bradley clocks).

I have archived (over the past decade) thousands of photos of rare and interesting clocks, both in the form of books (dozens) and from online sources (private collections, eBay listings, online auction houses, etc) and after hours of sifting through these, I found only ONE very similar clock made by Elbridge Atkins (sometimes misspelled Eldridge Atkins). The clock can be seen here:



It's not identical, only similar. It has a centre divided door, plain side pieces (no columns) and has a painted eagle tablet rather than a mahogany panel. Two other differences are the width of the side pieces flanking the door, and the use of an ivory keyhole escutcheon and "Terry" style lock instead of a simple catch. My clock has evidence that it had top chimneys, splat, and return pieces, but I can only guess what they might have looked like.

Just recently, I came across a second Elbridge Atkins clock which was sold in 2009, and that looks nearly identical to the one above. The main difference is the dial. The hands are not original.



Elbridge Atkins clocks on their own appear to be quite scarce. I have found only a few examples. This one is a typical column and splat wooden works, but it shows the label, and provides another possible splat design.





Lastly, a very unusual find was this very poor photo of an Elbridge Atkins "Bevel Case" clock, with a 3 section divided door. Bevel case clocks are early versions of Ogee clocks, and often have wooden works movements, and date to the 1830s or 1840s.



And that's all the information I've been able to gather. I'll be able to easily recreate some chimneys for the top based on the shadows, but I will have to guess the correct splat and side return designs unless I can find other similar clocks to work from. I'd appreciate any information you may have about this clock (including any other Elbridge Atkins clocks).