Mirror Clock Project Part 7 - Custom Cut Hands

In the same way that incorrect hardware can spoil the look of a cabinet or dresser, the same can apply to the hands of a clock. When it comes to clock dials and hands, many people have their own preferences, or sometimes none at all. I have often seen highly skilled clockmakers who will make their own beautiful brass movements, but then fit a cheap dial and mass produced hands onto it.

Whenever I build furniture or cabinetry, I will often agonize over the choice of hardware, since it can really make a big impact, and even change the entire style of the piece. Even something as simple as a knob can make a difference. A small wood knob looks charming, a large wood knob looks very old fashioned (1800s), while a glass knob can give a 1920s feel.

When it came to picking out the hands for my mirror clock, I had several options to choose from. Most hands in this period were fairly simple, and even crude. The main styles include shapes such as arrows or pointers, with several other variations. Below are just a few of the popular shapes that can be found on New Hampshire Mirror Clocks. Some are easily recognizable (such as the Banjo style arrows, and the Moon hands) while the others have no specific names, and were not used or seen again after the 1840s. I have given names to some of them, but they are definitely not official names.



Starting from the upper left: "Willard Swords", Half Moon, Moon. Bottom row: Banjo (Arrows), Crosses, and "Cross and Pointer" (I suspect that the minute hand on this one is a later replacement).

Within those styles are also several different proportions. The cross hands are very popular on mirror clocks, and they range from wide with 3 square tips, to narrow with pointed tips, etc.

I was originally going to choose the "Cross and Pointer" hands but I only found one or two examples of these, and I decided to go with two crosses instead. The hand shapes were hand-drawn to exact size on paper, then transferred (spray-glued) to some steel stock. The hands were cut to rough shape using a jeweler's saw, and then cleaned-up with files.

Here you can see the cut and roughly filed hands (rough edges on the top and bottom).



Smoothed out, cleaned, and ready for heat treating and finishing.



The hour hand was fitted with a pipe, the hands were heat-treated (for strength), and then a light coat of flat black paint was applied. I could have blued the hands, but I preferred a black painted finish for this clock.



Here are the completed hands fitted and mounted to the clock. I am exceptionally happy with my decision to choose the Crosses, and with how the hands turned out. All that is left now is the mirror.

Mirror Clock Project - The Completed Dial

Here is the completed dial after small touch-ups, antiquing, and a clear topcoat.

I went fairly light with the antiquing, and the main areas that were darkened were: around the edges, and around the winding hole and centre hole. Also note how far from "white" the dial was painted. The dial is photographed over a sheet of white paper for comparison. It is much closer to grey. Also visible in these photos are the 3 filed reference notches on the dial edges.

Mirror Clock Project Part 6 - Painting the Dial

Unfortunately I didn't take many photos of the dial-painting process. For the most part few clockmakers seem to have the talent nor the desire to paint their own dials, which is a shame. The process is not overly complicated. Start with a drawing (you can cheat and print a stock image to actual size), transfer the drawing (you can use carbon paper, or simply rub pencil graphite on the back of the drawing), then ink it in with your choice of drawing tools. You can use ink pens, a fine drafting set and India ink, thinned black paint, or whatever combination suits your fancy.

The dial painting process started with deciding on the size, style, and layout of the numerals. Depending on the age and style of the clock, different numerals were used. Some 1850s clock dials had incredibly thin and tall Roman numerals, while others had small thicker ones. Others used Arabic numerals.

I started with life sized drawings to get a good preview of how each dial design might look. These are two of the designs I didn't use (I used the third).





For my dial, I simply used an inking pen, and painted the numerals with gloss black enamel. It's important to use a CORK BACKED RULER.



The design is transferred to the dial surface with graphite on the back as described above.



The dial in progress above (painted at the same time) was for this Gilbert clock:



Once everything is dry (and if you're using a waterproof ink and paint) the excess pencil can be washed off. You can NOT do this with India Ink. Water instantly dissolves India Ink (which is also why it needs a topcoat).

While the dial is now painted, it's not finished yet. It needs a clear coat, and possibly some antiquing (I'll experiment and see what I can do).

Mirror Clock Project Part 5 - Weight, Pulleys, Pendulum, & Dial

With the case for the mirror clock mostly finished (Part 4) I now had the task of fitting the movement, and making/modifying all the accompanying parts to go with the clock.

Pulleys

Since this is an entirely custom made (and custom sized) creation, there are very few stock items available that would "look right". One of these parts which you might think would be easy to find are pulleys. Sadly the pulleys available from supply houses basically only cover the most basic styles, with most looking mass produced and much later than the period I'm aiming for (1900s vs 1830s). One of the only suitable pulley choices that would work fairly well without any modifications are standard Banjo clock pulleys. I found that they were a bit too large, so I opted to modify some existing "Seth Thomas Regulator" style pulleys.

First, let's have a look at some good examples of original mirror clock pulleys:







As you can see from the photos, a lot of these pulleys are very plain with flat metal saddles in either steel or brass. These are the pulleys I decided to modify. I would have preferred them without rings in them, but these were the size I wanted, and the motion works wheels on the movement also have rings, so it still matches.



Unfortunately I didn't really take any in-between photos, so I only have the finished product. All I did was remove the existing saddles, knock-out the centre pins, and broach the centre holes to remove the burred texture. Once that was done, I turned two small centres with projecting pins, and cut some brass saddles. The saddles were heated and bent, drilled, filed, hammered in place, and then the projecting pins were filed flat to the saddles. Quite a bit of work for just 2 pulleys, but I think they make a big impact on the overall project since they're very visible once the door is open.



Pendulum

The pendulum on this clock is more or less a standard Banjo pendulum, but shorter, and with a "block" top rather than a keyhole style. As-received, the pendulum top had been fabricated from round stock, so I decided to file it down into a rectangle. Once I had figured out the correct length for the pendulum, I filed a rough cast brass blank for the rating assembly and mounted it to the rod.





I wasn't happy with the threads on the rating "stem" and the brass was so soft that it twisted as I was cutting them. I decided to hack that off completely, and silver-solder a threaded steel stem to the rating assembly. The problem was that cast brass is much too soft and pliable, since it isn't work hardened. I really didn't think the threads would last long, so I opted for steel threads. Below is the completed pendulum with rating assembly. The brass bob is "new old stock".



Weight

This clock would need a custom weight to drive it. Both because it was driving a custom movement, and also because it needed to have a custom shape.

This was my very first time casting anything in lead. For years I've been saving lead scraps, fishing weights, and tire weights for use in clock weights. The large old pot below shows most of my current lead stock (about 45 Lbs). The bulk of this scrap comes from old fishing weights that I bought years ago at a yard sale.



If you are thinking about doing any lead casting yourself, please do your research on the subject, and work safely. Molten lead is VERY heavy, and in its liquid form is at least 600F. Work OUTDOORS, wear gloves, and avoid the fumes. I suggest watching several online videos, or reading about it from people who do a lot of bullet casting (there's lots of good info out there including where to look for free lead).

To cast lead weights for clocks, simple wooden boxes can be used, however they can only be used once.

For this particular movement, the driving weight needed to be just over 13Lbs.



When I was unmoulding the weight, I thought the wood had completely melted (burned) and that the weight was deformed, but the odd shape seen below is only from a thin little bit of rough projecting edges.



The top had to be chiseled free.





My original weight was done with a fancy curved top. Any rough edges can easily be shaved down with a coarse file. Note that the weight hook was set into the weight mould before pouring.





The bottom was quite rough.



I was very happy with the weight, and I even formed the hook, and antiqued the lead; not long after this, I discovered that I made a huge mistake. I forgot to allow enough space for the weight to fit around the dial.



This meant that the weight was useless as-is, and I had to re-melt it and cast it again in a new mould. The new mould was made without a fancy top, and with a simple notched corner to allow clearance for the dial. Here is the recast weight:





Note: the hook was placed in the centre, but I had to bend it back a bit so that the weight would hang down properly in the case.



The bottom of the weight turned out a lot nicer on this second casting.



Lead patina was applied and then everything was good to go!

A small side note: Most mirror clocks simply use one pulley, with the weight hanging down below the centre line of the dial (directly off the winding barrel). In those cases, the clocks are also taller than mine, so there's enough space for 8 days drop. In my clock, to get the full 8 days, I needed to have the weight travel vertically as much as possible. I had calculated that I would need about 35" of weight line, which added up to about 20" compounded with a pulley to drive the clock for 7 days. With my two pulleys and a 4 1/2" tall weight, I am able to get just over 8 days running time.



The movement is a custom creation made for me by my good clockmaker friend Jim DuBois from Texas. It is made from a standard "Howard style" Banjo clock movement, and he fabricated new custom plates for it in a "D" style. To accommodate the difference in height for my case, Jim also modified one of the wheels/pinions to give me a 20" pendulum. The movement is mounted through the backboard with two large (custom) machine screws (also made by Jim). The top weight and pulley hooks are simple eye bolts with a small section cut away. The Maltese minute hand is only temporary.







The pine panel for the back of the mirror hasn't been trimmed to size or antiqued yet.



Also, the blocks on the wall are currently keeping the clock from swinging to the right under the weight, since I haven't yet screwed it to the wall.



Dial Blocks

To mount the dial, rough wooden blocks are typically used. These are not really my preferred method for mounting a dial, but all mirror clocks used similar blocks. Original examples usually include the use of 2 or 3 wooden blocks to affix the dial. These can be at 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock, in a T formation, or 3 blocks radiating outwards (roughly equally spaced).



Because of some clearance issues with the hands, the pendulum mounting stub, and other minor annoyances, I decided to dish the dial slightly. Most dials on mirror clocks are flat, but occasionally dials from this period were dished. To dish the dial, I made two wooden forms, which were simply clamped tightly over the dial to gently curve it.

The dial is one of the only "stock items" I used for the clock. It is a regular Banjo clock dial, and I have removed the existing silk-screened numerals.







The dial was fitted with 2 cut tacks (upholstery tacks) and 1 swiveling bottom nail. The dial edge has 3 notches that reference against these 3 points.







More soon.