Grandfather Clock

[Bentrider]

I recently acquired a Long Case/Grandfather clock from a chap who was moving to a smaller house where it wouldn't fit. It used to be in his grandfather's office but hadn't been running for some years. The movement was in reasonable shape and after a good clean, de-tangling a weight cord from the barrel arbour and a bit of blacksmithing on a hand it's ticking away quite nicely. The case is a different story although, since I got it for free, I can't complain too much. Inside, it's absolutly filthy. I washed a layer of dark grime out of the top section, possibly soot from an open fire. It looks good outwardly but I get the feeling it's been put together, or repaired, on the cheap. Some of the wood seems very roughly cut and there are stray nails sticking out here and there. The roof of the top section has several cracks. I may remove it at some point for some renovation.
The dial looks, to my untrained eye, somewhat older than the rest of the clock and that pointer below centre isn't attached to any part of the movement so I'm wondering if it may be a 'Frankenclock', put together from miscellaneous stray parts.
The dial is enamel but the numbers seem to be painted on. I'm wondering about re-touching the numbers, especially the thin lines on the 'X's and 'V's but I don't know what sort of paint/ink would be used.

Any comments/advice welcome.

 

[jmclaugh]

The round painted dial indicates it is probably Scottish as they were popular there from around 1820.

 

[Bentrider]

...probably Scottish...

Seems logical. I got it here, in Edinburgh and its original home was in Dundee.

 

[Mike Phelan]

Is there a hand on the calendar dial not attached to anything on the back? Is there on the front plate suggesting it would have had a calendar, such as a pinion on the hour wheel?

 

[Bentrider]

Is there a hand on the calendar dial not attached to anything on the back?

Said pointer is attached to a spiky looking wheel on the front plate but there's nothing connecting that to the rest of the movement.

 

[JTD]

Said pointer is attached to a spiky looking wheel on the front plate but there's nothing connecting that to the rest of the movement.

There should be a pin that will engage with the 'spiky looking wheel' and move it round each day. These often didn't work very well, or got jammed, or people just didn't want a calendar, so the pins were frequently removed.

I have one such clock - got it years ago and never got round to putting in a pin.

JTD

 

[Bentrider]

Here's the wheel. It does certainly have 31 teeth but no sign of anything to engage with it.

 

[Alex KVASHIN]

There should be one more wheel inbetween.
Actually once I just printed this missing wheel in a hard plastic - like idea for fast temporary solution ...

 

[JTD]

There should be one more wheel inbetween.
Actually once I just printed this missing wheel in a hard plastic - like idea for fast temporary solution ...

View attachment 763600

Thanks for posting the picture of the missing wheel - I wanted to post it in my answer but I didn't have a photograph.

Printing one in hard plastic is a brilliant idea!

JTD

 

[JTD]

Here's the wheel. It does certainly have 31 teeth but no sign of anything to engage with it.

View attachment 763568

Alex Kvashin has kindly posted a photo of the missing wheel, the one I was talking about but didn't have a photo of.

Hope you can see what you need now.

JTD

 

[demoman3955]

One of the ones i have didnt have the other wheel in the photo, but it wasnt needed because it was driven with a gear behind the wheel that drove the month pointer. The reason i know this about mine was i had the dial off and asked the same question, and once installed did its thing.

 

[rmarkowitz1_cee4a1]

I recently acquired a Long Case/Grandfather clock from a chap who was moving to a smaller house where it wouldn't fit. It used to be in his grandfather's office but hadn't been running for some years. The movement was in reasonable shape and after a good clean, de-tangling a weight cord from the barrel arbour and a bit of blacksmithing on a hand it's ticking away quite nicely. The case is a different story although, since I got it for free, I can't complain too much. Inside, it's absolutly filthy. I washed a layer of dark grime out of the top section, possibly soot from an open fire. It looks good outwardly but I get the feeling it's been put together, or repaired, on the cheap. Some of the wood seems very roughly cut and there are stray nails sticking out here and there. The roof of the top section has several cracks. I may remove it at some point for some renovation.
The dial looks, to my untrained eye, somewhat older than the rest of the clock and that pointer below centre isn't attached to any part of the movement so I'm wondering if it may be a 'Frankenclock', put together from miscellaneous stray parts.
The dial is enamel but the numbers seem to be painted on. I'm wondering about re-touching the numbers, especially the thin lines on the 'X's and 'V's but I don't know what sort of paint/ink would be used.

Any comments/advice welcome.

View attachment 763393 View attachment 763394 View attachment 763395 View attachment 763396 View attachment 763397

We have this vision of ye olde tyme cabinet makers painstakingly pursuing their craft.

In fact, many often did a workman like job, putting most of their attention to what was seen, A busy shop was just trying to crank out the work without the benefit of modern woodworking tools. Apprentices and journeymen did most of the grunt work. One may even find old furniture with mistakes and miscalculations, sometimes remedied, sometimes just left!

For example, an 18th century Boston chest on chest may be quite impressive but with the craftsmanship of say the drawer interiors being adequate. The customer was concerned about what they were paying for, e.g., the expensive imported mahogany, the carving, etc. Even so, if it had ball and claw feet, the front ones are wonderfully done, the back of the rear ones are not even carved because, well, it was up against a wall and no one would see that side.

The dial may have been cleaned or has faded leading, to loss of the blacking, i.e., the subdials for the seconds bit and calendar, parts of the numerals, the lines for the minute ring, possibly even a maker's name and place name. Unless you're really skilled and know what you're doing, I would leave it. I would rather a dial in that condition rather than the oft seen 1/2 arsed amateur repair. Just my opinion.

RM

So, it appears that your clock's case was made using nice crotch mahogany and cross banded veneer, etc. The time was put where it would be seen. The thin top, now with shrinkage cracks, is typical, what appears to be an original cut nail to attach it sorta missed...but it did do the job so it was left, and so on.