My Dome Clock Construction

[Wood Dog]

Wow that is some serious project Ralph. Cuttings look great, and wood choices good too. How many hours do you estimate to have into it now? Do you work on another project to "rest" from that one for a while?
I'm curious to know how people go about scrolling such a massive project.
Eager to see it complete too.

[R.Edwards]

Folks thanks for looking and especially for the kind comments. In reply to specific comments:
"I have thought about doing the dome clock, but my house is not big enough for it." Pajaro, look around, I'm sure you could spot some piece of furniture or major appliance you can live without. That's my plan for space. I'm sure my wife will understand.
"Turn down the stereo..." Is that my wife on this board. No, the same person said I didn't have enough saw dust on the floor. That's DEFINATELY not my wife.
Someone ask if I work on other projects for a break from this one. Well normally I will work on several small projects at once so that while I'm in the cutting stage on one, I'll be finishing another, and selecting wood for another, etc. to break up the monotony. With the Dome clock however, I've found there are so many different aspects to deal with that I've pretty much stayed on it alone as far as actual woodworking is concerned. I have took time off to do other type shop projects. For instance I just bought and installed a Byrd Shelix cutterhead for my Jet planner. That job took a couple of evenings and left me ready to get back to the clock.
As far as how many hours spent thus far I haven't tried to put a number on it. I started Jan.17th and have spent anywhere from 0 to 9 hrs. a day on the clock. Probably not more than 6 or 7 days of no work. So let's say an average of 3.5 hours/day for the remaining say 53 days. That's about 185 hours so far. Now that's depressing!! I told you all I was slow and now you've made me prove just how slow. Sort of reminds me of my favorite commercial on TV with the Slowsky turtles. The wife turtle is talking about high speed internet conection being silly and the husband turtle say"Yeah, where's the fire?! I don't smell any smoke". I guess I cut like a weak dial up connection. Oh well I'm enjoying it so the enjoyment just lasts a long time.
Thanks,
Ralph

[bigEd_H]

The progress so far looks great! Nice choice of wood, too. I've looked at several dome clocks and yours is right up there with the best as far as quality of work.

Keep up the great work and keep posting progress pics. We love pictures.

[R.Edwards]

I finished assembly of the second floor and fitted braces and backs for each section so far. The base has had a soaking coat of Danish Oil applied. First and second floor are still raw.
I've found I can't tape up the little handles and hinges as they're just too small. Any suggestions would be appreciated. If no one has a better idea I guess I'll just try to wipe the oil off the hardware with mineral spirits and a q-tip and let the finish coats of lacquer just coat the pieces. (On larger projects I've always installed hardware after the finishing but I felt like I needed to install these pieces before the various wall pieces were assembled)
I'm not sure if I like the look better with or without the backs. The backs block the light so much that the fretwork seems to have a dark background. I've attached pictures with and without the backs. What do you folks think?
Thanks for looking,
Ralph

[Greenfield_Bob]

Ralph, looks great so far, keep the pictures coming.
I wanted to make this one time until I found out how big it was, no place to put it.

Bob

[Neal Moore]

That's wonderful work Ralph!! No sense in rushing a project of that magnitude. I got in a hurry with mine and made some mistakes that were difficult to rectify. I stained over the little brass hinges with the intention of wiping it back off but after it dried it looked like antique brass so I just left the stain on them. I also like the concealed back. I left mine open but will probably close it up later on.

[Juguar]

Ralph,
Once again you are setting the bench mark a notch higher. Beautiful work. It is good you are set in a hospital surronding for you are truly a wood surgeon.
Looking forward to the next set of pictures.
Pete

[Haggard3230]

Ralph, your clock is really looking great. I have done the Steepled Belltower, The Chimes of Normandy, which I sold, and the Shopiere, which I still have and am trying to sell. I takes up a lot of space.
Merle

[Barefoot1]

That is coming along super nice! Those cuts are clean and symetrical where they are supposed to, beautiful work!!!

[R.Edwards]

Thanks for the kind words! I've spent the past couple of days putting oil on the first and second floors. Wipeing the hardware off with mineral spirits before the oil was completely dry seems to have worked fine.
I've now started laying out some pieces for the next floor, matching patterns with the wood I've already resawed. I seem to spend a lot of time in this phase because I don't want to waste any good wood. I try and figure out what to use for the larger pattern pieces first and work down from there. I've now gotten a few pieces cut for the forth level.
I'll post more pictures as things progress.
Ralph