tall case, isaac wood

[bruce linde]

just picked this one up off of craigslist... thx to novicetimekeeper for guidance behind the scenes. (""Nice bit of quarter sawn oak on the door. Cutouts in the dial plate so presumably not a Southern clock. Looks fairly late but tidy. Like the door, apart from the modern catch, not too sure about the top of the hood but the rest looks good. Pendulum is lovely, can't make the weights out but should be lead. Somebody seems to have fitted a bottom in the case. Shropshire, explains the cutouts and the overall design. Born 1735, died 1801. Son of Richard Wood.")

it had some high quality but completely wrong finials, looks way better without 'em. i will get around to cleaning case and movement one of these days... and probably try bluing the hands (or would they have just been black?). it was dusty, but looks like it's had some attention not too far back... based mostly on the weight cords and relative state of the movement.

 

[novicetimekeeper]

I missed the crossbanding on the case, that's a nice touch too.

 

[novicetimekeeper]

In Brass dial Loomes talks about the dots on the chapter ring, I guess they came in during the 1760s, ran through the 70s and 80s.

 

[jmclaugh]

That's a really nice provincial late but still square brass dial longcase. I'm not sure what you mean by cutouts in the dial plate. If you mean a cartwheel dial Loomes says these were typical of most clocks made outside the London sphere of influence which thankfully wasn't and still isn't the whole of the south of England and for a maker their merit lies in less brass and cost. Apologies if you don't mean that.

 

[bruce linde]

i'm just quoting nick....

so richard and isaac were in shropshire? do we know which town(s)?

 

[jmclaugh]

so richard and isaac were in shropshire? do we know which town(s)?

Isaac is listed for the dates you quoted and is in Shrewsbury. The father Richard is listed b.c. 1705 Knutsford, Cheshire, to Shrewsbury c. 1737 d. 1752.

 

[gleber]

Nice find! I don't even want to know what you paid for it. CL around Philly +200 miles has been a barren place lately. Not much pre-1900 and anything that is, is overpriced (which I suppose on the other hand could be a good thing for my collection's value).

Not to hijack your thread, but I have turned my attention to pump organs after finding one in the middle of the clock listings. There are quite a few of those to be had for anywhere from free to $200 or so, with an occasional hopeful listing at $500+? My loving wife gave me free reign on my son's old room and I am turning it into my man cave with clocks and antique furniture instead of beer signs and sports memorabilia. Post with pics coming soon.

Okay, tell me what you paid... NO DON'T! I don't want to know. I'm not listening - La la la la...

Tom

 

[gleber]

I'm not sure what is is about it, but I find the center engraving kind of flat looking? Like there is no depth to it. Not the depth of the engraving lines themselves, but the depth of the overall scene. I think it might be because there is not a raised subsidiary dial for the seconds hand? Overall, its still an awesome clock and I love the woodwork. Too bad the fretwork is missing in the upper left. Do you have someone who can fix that?

Tom

 

[bruce linde]

i actually just colored the red velvet behind to make that less obvious!

i don't know anyone who does that kind of detailed woodwork, but was thinking i might be able to do it myself using milliput epoxy putty.

 

[gleber]

If you take good pictures with rulers in the image for measurements and one of the other side, I could try? I made a replacement angel arm for P.Hageman from photos. What kind of wood is it?

Tom

 

[bruce linde]

wow, what a nice offer... what material did you use? the broken parts are not really connected, though... not sure how i would connect them, but i guess a small drop of crazy glue at each end if they're made to fit....

let's keep this part of the conversation going in our PM thread....

 

[bruce linde]

Isaac is listed for the dates you quoted and is in Shrewsbury. The father Richard is listed b.c. 1705 Knutsford, Cheshire, to Shrewsbury c. 1737 d. 1752.

do you have an idea of rough date in mind when you look at it?

 

[new2clocks]

just picked this one up off of craigslist... thx to novicetimekeeper for guidance behind the scenes. (""Nice bit of quarter sawn oak on the door. Cutouts in the dial plate so presumably not a Southern clock. Looks fairly late but tidy. Like the door, apart from the modern catch, not too sure about the top of the hood but the rest looks good. Pendulum is lovely, can't make the weights out but should be lead. Somebody seems to have fitted a bottom in the case. Shropshire, explains the cutouts and the overall design. Born 1735, died 1801. Son of Richard Wood.")

it had some high quality but completely wrong finials, looks way better without 'em. i will get around to cleaning case and movement one of these days... and probably try bluing the hands (or would they have just been black?). it was dusty, but looks like it's had some attention not too far back... based mostly on the weight cords and relative state of the movement.

View attachment 625376 View attachment 625304 View attachment 625377 View attachment 625305 View attachment 625306 View attachment 625307 View attachment 625308 View attachment 625310 View attachment 625311 View attachment 625312

That is a beautiful clock, Bruce! Congrats.

Regards.

 

[jmclaugh]

do you have an idea of rough date in mind when you look at it?

I'd tend to think 1775 or thereabouts.

 

[novicetimekeeper]

I'd tend to think 1775 or thereabouts.

Bruce has found a near identical cased white dial for sale from whitchurch, so I agree, it suggests more 1780 than 1770, the dots on the chapter ring gave a broad range but having the same case on a white dial suggests nearer the upper range.

 

[brian fisher]

Oh....you....! Lol. Nice acquisition bruce!

 

[bruce linde]

gang - thx for the input. i'm loving the clock.

the hands are kind of light against the dial at certain times of the day.... would they have been blued? blacked?

what do you think i should do with them? choices are:

1. nothing
2. gun blue (i.e., removable)
3. sharpie (also removable)
4. try to actually blue them

 

[new2clocks]

gang - thx for the input. i'm loving the clock.

the hands are kind of light against the dial at certain times of the day.... would they have been blued? blacked?

what do you think i should do with them? choices are:

1. nothing
2. gun blue (i.e., removable)
3. sharpie (also removable)
4. try to actually blue them

Nothing, at least for now. In a month or two (or longer), see if your eyes can adjust to the current color of the hands. You may be surprised.

Regards.

 

[novicetimekeeper]

The hands would have been blued.

 

[bruce linde]

The hands would have been blued.

does that mean hands 'un-blue' over time? i thought this was a physical change in the metal from the heat... how long does it typically last?

and... i'm reading through various threads on 'how to blue hands... do you have a preferred technique, reference video, or resource?

 

[novicetimekeeper]

My preferred technique is to pay somebody else!

 

[gleber]

Excellent results here, but more than bailing twine and duct tape is needed.



I think the secret is precisely controlling the heat. Watch how this one does nothing and then blooms almost instantly.



Tom

 

[Kevin W.]

Very nice find Bruce. Sure dont see anything this nice around here locally. Looks in really nice shape too, been taken cared of.

 

[bruce linde]

while i have not yet taken the movement apart to clean and service, i did notice that the calendar wheel and the post it rides on are missing... fairly common and something for me to work on.

also... since i had some birchwood casey super blue liquid gun blue (not sure about that naming...). the hands have been coated in oil and are supposed to cure overnight... i will post before and after pics once i re-install the hands. in the meantime, this is 4 coats.... procedure is (while wearing gloves):

1. clean and polish
2. heat hands (i used a blow dryer on high)
3. wipe on with cotton clean cotton balls, let sit 30 seconds
4. rinse with cold water
5. dry thoroughly
6. light polish with 0000 steel wool... this really smooths out the coverage and makes it shine. it does rub off a bit of the dark, which is why multiple coats
7. repeat steps 3 - 6 as many times as you like... each time gets a little darker.
8. cover in any kind of oil and let cure overnight

given that this took less than half an hour, i have to say i'm pretty satisfied with the results (and, yes, i know this treatment is not as durable as heat bluing, but if i had an appropriate torch i'd probably burn down the house)

 

[bruce linde]

p.s.: i love clickspring and am a patreon supporter... but really just watch in amazement... i don't think i could match anything he does.

 

[bruce linde]

some info about isaac wood, for the historical record:

Isaac Wood (brother of Capt Wood and uncle of the diarist JC Wood) was a prominent Shrewsbury citizen: watchmaker, editor of the “Salopian Journal”, and enthusiastic promoter of the Shrewsbury House of Industry. The building was originally Dr Coram’s foundlings’ hospital, and later housed Dutch prisoners of war, before its incarnation as the Shrewsbury House of Industry in the 1790s, a literate protagonist of which was Isaac Wood. Wood was also secretary to the Salop Fire Office, subscriber to the rebuilding of the town’s English bridge in 1765, and secretary to the Unitarian Church in Shrewsbury’s High Street. Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s letter to him of 1798, declining a preaching position at the church, has been preserved.

 

[brian fisher]

those hands look awesome bruce! really nice job. this is the same method i use for restoring screw heads.

 

[novicetimekeeper]

The hands have some nice touches of hand carving, which was very much on the way out by this time. I have not seen a subsidiary hand like that one before.

 

[bruce linde]

so... old school hands in 1780.

 

[bruce linde]

before and after hands...

 

[bruce linde]

final glam shot... until i really blue the hands.(and take up gleber on his gracious offer)..

 

[new2clocks]

before and after hands...

View attachment 625532

Excellent job!

Regards.

 

[gleber]

Nice improvement. I didn't realize the top fretwork is not symmetrical. It is repeating, but doesn't even repeat an equal number of times. Does it look original?

Tom

 

[novicetimekeeper]

Excellent, and much better without the washer. Now silver the date ring.

Nice improvement. I didn't realize the top fretwork is not symmetrical. It is repeating, but doesn't even repeat an equal number of times. Does it look original?

Tom

I've had furniture like that before. I think it's a provincial thing. (Though the other one Bruce found had a blind fret)

 

[bruce linde]

Excellent, and much better without the washer. Now silver the date ring.

so that 'washer' is the base of the minute hand.... looks a little better blued, don't it?

and i'll do the date ring when i service the movement and add back the calendar wheel.

Nice improvement. I didn't realize the top fretwork is not symmetrical. It is repeating, but doesn't even repeat an equal number of times. Does it look original?

the fret work is old, as is the way it's installed... but probably not original given the asymmetry.... here's the other case i found online that nick referred to... i think it would be good to recreate that...

 

[jmclaugh]

If it was me I'd leave the fretwork be and perhaps replace the missing bits on the left hand side..

 

[bruce linde]

If it was me I'd leave the fretwork be and perhaps replace the missing bits on the left hand side..

i agree... but i'm also looking at what's probably original fretwork over wood... just thinking out loud.

 

[G J M]

Nice!!!!!!!!

 

[novicetimekeeper]

i agree... but i'm also looking at what's probably original fretwork over wood... just thinking out loud.

Blind frets like that are not fretwork over wood, they are carvings into the wood, intaglio if you like, as in the printing process.

 

[bruce linde]

Blind frets like that are not fretwork over wood, they are carvings into the wood, intaglio if you like, as in the printing process.

wow... even cooler.

 

[novicetimekeeper]

had a quick look round the house, it is the only blind fret here.

 

[bruce linde]

I'd tend to think 1775 or thereabouts.

Bruce has found a near identical cased white dial for sale from whitchurch, so I agree, it suggests more 1780 than 1770, the dots on the chapter ring gave a broad range but having the same case on a white dial suggests nearer the upper range.

guys - i was looking at robey and similar movement pillars are marked 1760 and 1770. i know nick's comments in particular were looking at the dial... what about the movement? thx...

 

[bruce linde]

guys - i was looking at robey and similar movement pillars are marked 1760 and 1770. i know nick's comments in particular were looking at the dial... what about the movement? thx...

 

[novicetimekeeper]

Once you get this late the pillars don't help much, the movement appears to be original to the dial so the dial is the way to date the movement,

The structure under the seatboard looks later, so not sure what is going on there, but judging from the other case you found the case is both contemporary with the dial and geographically correct so I think the case is right.

Is there still a bolt/turnbuckle to catch the hook/staple that I hope is still on the door?

 

[bruce linde]

 

[bruce linde]

 

[novicetimekeeper]

saw that before and questioned the catch, glad to see the lock is there, nails look original.

Now you have the door open feel up inside the trunk to see if there is a turnbuckle or drawbolt or evidence they were there. Then on the door of the hood there should be a hook or staple or evidence it was there. The master of the house or the butler would keep the key to the trunk door, the hood latch meant you only needed one key to prevent unauthorised time changing. The longcase would have been the clock that ran the household though in these later times there may have been a hooded clock below stairs.

 

[bruce linde]

here's a photo of the latch from the inside... there are two holes in the bottom of the dial door but nothing attached. i sent an email to the shop in the u.k. selling the one i found with an identical case (but painted dial) and asked them if they would be kind enough to send photos of theirs of the dial latch, lower door latch pieces, etc.

also.... while straightening the glam shot in photoshop i screwed up the proportions slightly... i have adjusted the photo in post #31 ... check it out. looks more better (and right).

 

[novicetimekeeper]

that looks like a turnbuckle, so there would have been a hook on the door, leaving just one hole if removed. I think you can see a scar on the turnbuckle where it engaged the hook

 

[bruce linde]

almost have the replacement fretwork done, thx to the amazing gleber ... there is a backing piece that needs to be stained a little darker and then placed up against the new fretwork. looking a little better than the red velvet setup it came with, yes? i'll post a final shot when it's done. again, wouldn't have happened with the amazing tom g... thx again!!!