Rosewood Seth Thomas (Thomaston) Ogee Clock - Part 4 - The Completed Restoration

This post is long overdue, but here are some "after" photos of the Seth Thomas Rosewood ogee clock that I restored a while back. This was a garage sale basket case with a rather poor label, a horrible repainted dial, veneer chips, and a broken (likely original) mirror in the base.



BEFORE:



To see previous posts about this clock, visit these links:
Original Purchase: https://jcclocks.blogspot.ca/2014/06/clock-haul-4-new-acquisitions.html
Part 1: https://jcclocks.blogspot.ca/2016/02/rosewood-seth-thomas-thomaston-ogee.html
Part 2: https://jcclocks.blogspot.ca/2017/04/rosewood-seth-thomas-thomaston-ogee.html
Part 3: https://jcclocks.blogspot.ca/2017/06/rosewood-seth-thomas-thomaston-ogee.html

Most Seth Thomas clocks have painted glasses, even though this one had a mirror originally. I chose to go with a Fenn style stenciled glass. It's a bit earlier in style than the clock, but it looks rather nice.





The rosewood veneer on this clock is especially nice.



Pendulum bob is new, dial was repainted, hands are new.





I'm still not entirely happy with the floral dial corners, but they are not too bad. The dial was painted with an off-white (on the grey/beige side), and then antiqued. Some of the line work was rubbed away. I had wanted to fit the clock with the standard Seth Thomas style hands, but the replica hands I received had a centre hole in the minute hand that was much too large, so I couldn't use them.



Freshly cleaned and restored movement.





I hope you all enjoyed this restoration effort. It's not 100% accurate, but considering the condition it was in, and the limitations of stock parts, it turned out looking quite lovely.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year 2018!

It seems I'm starting off the new year pretty well! It's only the very first day of 2018 and I've already bought a clock!



This is a Seth Thomas (Plymouth Hollow era, pre-1865) 30 hour column clock that is generally referred to as a "Style 1". It's a clock that's been on my wish list for several years now. Seth Thomas made many different column clocks in many sizes and styles (and over many decades), but there are generally 3 main styles that use a standard ogee movement. This one is the earliest and most popular style (thousands of these were made). Bill Stoddard has compiled a lot of useful information on the production dates of Seth Thomas clocks, dials, and movements. I use his information fairly often, and you can check out here: https://clockhistory.com/sethThomas/products/30HourBrassWeight/index.html

This column clock is the smaller (and original) version of this rare 8 day column clock that I also own:
https://jcclocks.blogspot.ca/2014/01/very-rare-seth-thomas-8-day-column_26.html

The columns on these clocks came in different finishes as well (wood, gold, gold with ringed decoration, and tortoise shell). Seth Thomas was not the only maker who offered this case style, but they were the first. I have seen some by Jerome / New Haven, E.N. Welch, and a few others.

That said, this particular clock is in pretty TERRIBLE condition. BUT, pretty much all of of the parts are there, and the seller was only asking 30$ CAD for it. He even dropped it off for me! I can't ask for any better than that! I found the clock in the local online classified ads and it had only been posted for 22 minutes! I e-mailed the seller right away and he dropped it off this afternoon. I'm already itching to work on it, but I have a few other clocks to work on first.



Some of the pros:
- Original dial
- Original movement
- Original hands
- Pendulum (small but old and period - not 100% sure if it's original)
- Both weights present
- Hardly any veneer chips (only 3 small ones)
- Nice label (99% complete)
- Price!

Cons:

- The entire bottom board was (poorly) replaced
- No tablet
- The dial is quite flaky
- The finish is very lumpy, thick, alligatored, and covered in paint smears (both white and beige)
- Case parts are loose and the whole thing will need to be reglued/reassembled
- Large chip in the original dial glass
- Alarm movement is missing (?)
- Smells like an ashtray

Overall, pretty good, and I'm very happy with the purchase.

I think this dial might be a good candidate for some fairly elaborate restoration/touch-up work.



The alarm setup is confusing me a little. The bell seems quite shiny, but it seems to match others I've seen on Seth Thomas clocks, and there's a heavy layer of dust on the top part of it. The wood block(s) for the alarm are also very unusual. I haven't found any other examples of Plymouth Hollow era clocks with alarms, let alone alarms held in place with wood blocks. Most ST alarms have projecting brass feet on them for mounting. The key in the photo is not original (and it's covered in solder).
November 2019 EDIT: I have come to realize that the alarm bits are not original to the clock and don't appear to have ever been fully fitted to the movement for use.



The movement is a standard "old" but not super early ST Plymouth movement. The earliest ones have a crescent shaped hammer, while the later ones have screws for the corner posts rather than pins. The label says Steam Press of Elihu Geer 10 State Street, which dates the clock between 1850-1855 which is consistent with the movement.





The movement is ABSOLUTELY FILTHY, however, I see no botch repairs or solder, and it actually RUNS in this condition. The verge stem seems a bit loose, and there isn't much swing to the pendulum (very narrow arc), but it shouldn't need much more than a regular tune-up (cleaning and maybe a few bushings).



This shows the condition of the finish quite clearly. I am very likely going to strip this case and refinish it with shellac. It will basically be a complete top to bottom restoration. Another reason for the refinish is that matching the new bottom board would be very difficult. It's also impossible to see the beautiful mahogany under this mess. This is not at all a rare clock, so I'm not worried about losing value.





One of the small veneer chips at the door latch. It's so small that I might only do a putty repair here.



The large chip in the dial glass. I will try to rotate the glass 180 degrees, and hopefully this will be hidden a bit more by the upper door trim. I will not replace the glass even if it's damaged, since it's the original (nice and wavy). The lower glass is modern and will be removed.



The lower moulding is completely loose, and you can see the poorly rebuilt base (not thick enough, and the edge should be squared). This replacement bottom is held in place with screws underneath, so hopefully they didn't use much (or any) glue and it will be easy to remove.





This corner of the door might need attention. The other corners seem fine.

Cast Iron Weight Repair - Ogee Weights

Here is a quick and easy repair job I did on two ogee clock weights. I bought this mismatched pair of weights this past weekend from an antiques place (for the bargain price of 5$ for the pair). Unfortunately, both weights had their top loops broken, basically making them useless. Fortunately I was able to add loops back onto them.

There are several ways that broken loops or weight hooks can be repaired. Some methods are better than others. Some methods are ugly, but functional, while some are downright risky. I have used a few different methods to attach loops to cast iron weights in the past. I believe I've done one with a tapped and threaded hole, which was fine, but left a rather large eye bolt for the loop (which wasn't the nicest looking). I have seen weights with large loops of bailing wire wrapped around them, and also some hooks held with poor solder joints (risky) and adhesives like epoxy (which can work well if the holes are cleanly drilled (free of oils) and if the proper epoxy is used.

This new repair (which I decided to try) used a tight friction fit only. These are pretty light weights (under 4lbs).

The new loops were made from old rusty wire to match the old rusty cast iron, and these are dropped into a hole drilled into the top of the weights. The holes are about 1/8" diameter or less, and about 3/8" deep.

The loops are held firmly into the holes with the addition of a taper pin. The taper pin is chosen for a tight interference fit, and it is trimmed so that it won't be too long, and it can be driven down into the hole. The shiny end of the pin can then be darkened with gun blue.

Here are the results.

Note: The two mismatched weights were paired with two other matching weights in my spare parts. You can see one weight with an original loop, and the one with the repair.





Here is what the new loops look like before they are installed:

Waterbury Miniature Ogee Clock - Part 1

I have had this clock for long enough that I seem to have lost the paper work for it. I bought it as an empty case. Actually I just checked a purchase list, and I bought it in summer 2006! At the time I wanted a miniature ogee clock, and I believe I may have had a spare Waterbury shelf clock movement for it. I had only paid 34$ USD for the case, plus shipping. Not such a great bargain based on today's prices, but mini ogees back then would normally sell for 200-300$ USD.

Anyhow, the case had lots of loose or flaked-off veneer, and it needed work.

A few years ago (early 2015), while I was working on a whole bunch of different veneering repairs (http://jcclocks.blogspot.ca/2015/02/veneer-patching-extravaganza.html) I had glued down the loose sections of the veneer for this case.





Then a few weeks ago I finished the rest of the repairs. This involved gluing another big section that popped off on the door, and patching the missing sections on the veneer. Before I start showing the patches, this is how the clock looked after the 2015 repairs.



The edge uses curved veneer, so I used some of my pre-curved mahogany veneer stock for the patches. Any of the small chips, I did not use wood, I used putty. This is especially good for small chips along the bottom where the veneer is already really dark.



Putty-filled repairs:



Veneer patch on the corner, putty on the chips.



Again, a mix of veneer and putty. Keep in mind that any putty repairs must be touched-up with paint.



Top left corner:



Top right corner:



All the repairs and patches before stain, paint, and touch-ups.



Stain is applied first. Depending what stains you use, how much sanding you did, and what wood was used, the colour may be too light or too dark. It's kind of difficult to predict how certain spots will turn out. For the painted putty areas, those mainly work best on very dark finishes. This case is quite dark brown, so it's pretty forgiving to mix any "close enough" shade of blackish-brownish-reddish paint, and blend that in. I use one or two small paint brushes, but a lot of it is creative finger painting. Water is used to add transparency.



Bottom chips after painting. There are 4 decent sized chips, and a veneer patch in the left corner.



All the repairs and patches were then coated in several layers of orange shellac. The entire case was then buffed down with #0000 steel wool lubricated in dark paste wax. The wax is left to dry and go dull before polishing.

This shows the wax-buffed case just before polishing (so looking quite dull overall).



Here's just a small bit once you start buffing the wax.



Hopefully I can photograph the finished case soon.

Rosewood Seth Thomas (Thomaston) Ogee Clock - Part 3

I have yet to finish this series (as well as a few others). This is part 3, which covers some of the final details of the restoration.

Part 1: http://jcclocks.blogspot.ca/2016/02/rosewood-seth-thomas-thomaston-ogee.html
Part 2: http://jcclocks.blogspot.ca/2017/04/rosewood-seth-thomas-thomaston-ogee.html

In this part, I tacked an extremely unusual problem. For whatever reason, this ogee clock was NOT BUILT CORRECTLY. When I was finished working on the movement, I had trouble fitting it into the case properly, especially with respects to the dial. The hands would not clear the dial. This is a paper thin zinc sheet dial with a raised ring (which is standard on ALL older Seth Thomas clocks). The hands would not clear even in the centre (flat) portion of the dial.

I decided to take out the runners and set up the movement clearances correctly outside of the case.



In normal cases, the winding squares should be just a hair below the dial surface.

Playing around with tongue depressors (or popsickle sticks) I found that the movement would need to be raised at least 1/4 inch. HOWEVER, with the movement moved forward this far, the hand shaft would hit the glass, and you wouldn't be able to close the door.



Curiously, the seatboard had already been partially shimmed on the back side.



The real problem, however, was that the depth of the rails was wrong. I could see that the dial mounting tabs had actually gouged into the back of the door (the door was closing tightly onto the pins), because they were too far forward. Normally these rails are about 2 1/4" to 2 3/8" deep. These were almost 2 5/8". Nearly 3/8" too deep.





So the solution was simple. Trim the side rails (on the back) and reinstall them. I did not cut them down the full 3/8". I trimmed them only by how much I needed to shim-up the movement (the amount of popsickle sticks), so about 1/4 inch.

Once that was done, everything went back together just fine (I used old and new square nails), and the dial and movement fit perfectly, with proper clearance for the hands, and perfect clearance for the door (the door is no longer rubbing up onto the dial or pins).



I still need to post multiple photos of a half dozen restored or repainted dials. This was the fully repainted dial (before antiquing).



After antiquing:



Another case repair that I needed to do was to repair the worn out hole for the movement hold-down. The chip-out was puttied, and the area was colour-matched to hide the repair.



Hole patch from the interior. I used poplar for the plug since it will last a bit longer than pine (which is softer).





The final part will just be final photos and before and afters of the clock. Not too sure when I'll post those, but you can see most of the completed clock in Part 2.