finishing clocks

[lilrikki2000]

How do you prefer to finish your clocks? Dipping, painting..........other ways?

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

Oh how you newcomers sneek in here and we have the band waiting at the door and all. http://www.clicksmilies.com/s0105/party/party-smiley-020.gif Anyway welcome to a friendly place. We like to formally welcome our new members so you have warned.

Anyway to your question. I make a lot of clocks thus the name. I use a few different methods depending on the look I am going for. I never paint any wood. I use all natural colored woods. I may stain a piece but not often. The first method I use and have been using this for quite some time and that is to dip in Watco Danish oil. Usually 2 coats will do the trick. Just take a big old container and I use the plastic tubs you can get at Walmarts or any Home Center. Pour some Danish oil in and dip the piece. Take out let drip off and then wipe down. Some times I may blow the frets out with compressed air but if you let drip on its side it will drain out. When using woods with open grain such as oak you have to be careful of bleeding and this occurs as it is drying. The oil seeps out of the pores and must be wiped down till it starts to dry or it will leave a sticky blob. This will usually occur alot more the second coat. After the first coat I let dry for 3 days then dip again and follow the same procedure. This time paying more attention to seeps and oils laying in the frets so I usually blow these out with air. Wipe down and let dry for 4 to 5 days. Then buff lightly with a clean cloth to give a nice hand rubbed finished and it is done.

The second method I use and usually do this with larger clocks and that is soak the pieces or whole clock in BLO/mineral spirits mixture. 50/50. After 2 days spray a waterbased lacquer as a top coat, semi-gloss.

Either method will bring the grain out better but will add a amber color to the woods. So if using white colored wood and you want to keep that skip anything oilbased. Hope this helps and others will add to it.

[pops-shop]

IMHO - My preferred method is Deft Laquere (bad spelling). Easy on, quick dry, great hard finish.

[OPA1]

I usually do the same method an JT does. It also depends on the look I'm going for. The ONLY time I paint :eek: . the finish on is if the customer wants it that way. I'll even try to talk then out of it. Just my 2c


ED :cool:









SAW DUST:THE ONLY BIODEGRADEABLE WASTE PRODUCT!!!!!!

[steveh]

I am not trying to hijack this thread, the question is one I have had for a long time and am enjoying the replies.

I am a beginner scroller and would like to know how you would finish a large project in baltic birch, e.g. Chimes of Normandy clock. Do you stain first and then assemble or assemble and then stain? If you stain first, what glue do you use?

[pops-shop]

Stain first - if you assemble then stain you will never get it right - also if you have a little glue slop, it won't be covered.

Standard gluing. (I am assuming you do NOT use stain that has a finish built into it.)

[steveh]

Thanks Fred,

Can you suggest a commercial stain that would be suitable? I have been using Min Wax oil based and water based stains. I prefer the results of the oil based stains. The most common brands available here are Varathane and Min Wax. I seem to be able to cut and fit projects quite well, but then things don't go so well when I try to finish them. Any help I can get would be most appreciated.

Steve

[GrayBeard Phil]

1st--
Lilrikki2000:
I also welcome you to our small corner of the Internet. On occasions the traffic may be few, but that means we are in the shop woodworking. I hope you enjoy your visits here.

Now, Steve:

If I may add a reply, the best place to go to learn stains and dyes plus get the best products at the best prices is Homestead Finishing:
http://www.homesteadfinishing.com/
(They sell their products other places like Woodcraft; there may be a retail store near you.)

Lots of reading at that site.

Dying wood is a MAJOR mess. And then you have the problem of the wood end-grain absorbing more of the dye due to the capillary action of the pores. Trust me, in a lot of fretwork and plywood, the pores of the wood are all over the place. Making one small place darker than another. (some of it has to do with how they peel off the lumber veneer to make plywood.)

It takes practice to get the technique of stains and dyes correct. Don't expect results that are any good the first time, or even the second or third time. But you can get up the learning curve; that is all it is, a learning curve.

Phil

[pops-shop]

MinWax oil stain works just fine for me. As far as a final finish is concerned, I use Deft Lacquer. In my shop I have an air compressor and therefore spray it on. Works good for me. That being said, I did have a learning curve on the proper thinning of the lacquer (about 10% worked). Deft also comes in a spray can. For me, I have stayed away from polys because of the drying time and the way it may run.

There ya go Steve - my 2% of a buck. :D

[William Young]

Steve;
I made some Baltic Birch clocks after solid woods got very expensive and I had a market for big clocks as long as the price was reasonable enough .
In my photo albums site here
http://www.picturetrail.com/willyswoodcrafting
You will see a small sampling of some of the Baltic birch clocks I made. They are in the Album named Baltic Birch Clocks . A few of the bigger ones shown there were made in multiples of more than a dozen . All other clocks in other albums in that site are made of solid woods.

I used oil stains and it didn't matter what brands they were. I mixed and matched different colors because some wanted cherry to match their furniture while some wanted them to look like oak or walnut . I practiced the color on scraps of wood before dipping all the pieces in the desired shade.
When dry I glued the clocks together I used the best glue for clock making which is Aleene's Tacky glue. It is used by 99% of clock makers for various reasons. Do NOT use carpenters glue for fretwork clocks and especially the ones that have been oiled or stained before assembly.

With all my solid wood clocks I assembled first and then finished with several coats of WB laquer using a HVLP spray gun. They were just the natural color of the wood and required no staining. For the BB ones it would be hard to get a uniform staining after the clock was assembled so that is the reason I stained the pieces before assembly.
A point of interest . . . After staining you may notice a certain amount of blotchiness on individual pieces .Then when the pieces are assembled it doesn't show as much but the most rewarding part is when you spray a few coats of WB laquer on them It seems to magically camoflauge the blotchines of the staining. I have no idea why that works but it does. From a few feet away it is almost impossible to tell if my BB clocks are plywood or solid wood.
And the plywood clocks are a much stronger clock than any of the solid wood ones.
Hope all goes well with your staining and assembly and finishing.
W.Y.

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

Steve

I will throw my 2 cents worth of personel experience in here as well. I agree with most that was already said so won't go back over it. But will say all stains are about on par and with BB plywood you will get blotchiness at times. You can control this by two methods. One is to use a prestain conditioner which will prevent the stain from absorbing so deeply and can be wiped away to control the color. The second way is to use gel stains because of the heavier body they absorb slower thus allowing to control the color. Staining before assembly probably is the way to go when dealing with BBplywood. There are a few tricks that people will use to get the best bond they can when gluing. By the way I feel in my opinion and many others that yellow carpenters glue is the strongest bond you can get without going into polurethane glues. Not all clockmaker use Aleenes. That glue is a good alternative if you are gluing stained pieces but for gluing bare wood to bare wood there is no better than yellow carpenter's glue. The trick I elluded to was to tape off the areas you will be gluing before you stain. Thus leaving bare wood to be glued to bare wood. Now when glued and assembled if there is a small spot that was missed a quick wipe with a rag with stain is all that is needed.

Now as far as top coating goes I too like waterbase lacquer only for the fact that it is easier on the lungs and enviroment. But I feel lacquer is the way to go because poly leaves a piece too much like it has a plastic film on it. There is a place for poly's use but on clocks is not one in my opinion. You can use deft or other nitro lacquers if you like. I would stay away from the water based Deft that is new out there. I would assemble the piece and spray it from all angles to get a good look being careful to not put heavy coats on. The thing about lacquer that is great is that each coat melts into each other so you do not have to sand between coats. Don't worry about getting heavy coats in the fret work beccause it will never be seen. Now if doing large clocks such as the Dome clock you do this in floors and the find away to connect it latter. Makes for easier carrying. Hope some of this helped and if you have more question please feel free to ask. good luck.

[steveh]

Thank you all for your very informative views. The great thing about getting information here is that you are passing along your personal experience and success. You just can't get that from book learnin' or manufacturers lables. I will be reading the posts you have made many times to make sure I get the most from what you have said. I can see already, that I have been doing some things right and others, well.......didn't work out. It certainly gives me confidence to go ahead with large projects. My next one is the York Minster Cathedral clock from Wildwood.

[William Young]

You are welcome Steve.
Glad to help you with my personal experience and also from help I have gained from others over the years on many sites ..
You are taking on some very nice big fretwork clock projects there.
Best of luck to you and be sure to post pictures of them when they are finished.
W.Y.