Hello and happy Saturday to everyone. Hope you all had a great day and a wonderful week. Is this really late AUGUST? We have been enjoying late September conditions here with some nights that were very cool….50’s! The shop was extremely comfortable today. Usually in July and August I spend a few warm Saturdays in the shop but this year there has maybe been one that was uncomfortable.
Our day started with the boys playing a concert at an event for a Loan company celebrating their 25th anniversary…food, fun, music, local radio station…the works! So this is the fun get to know WWW segment of the Update…we want you to get to know us! Stephen and Kyle are both in a rock band and very talented…I’m so proud of them. Stephen started with piano and wrote his own music early on. His main song (keep in mind he was mid grade school at the time) was Rubber Band Cowboy and he made it all the way to a regional competition with it. But soon enough the piano didn’t get loud enough for him so he moved to drums. He spent many evenings in our basement with his headphones on just playing along to his favorite tunes (thank goodness mine too). Then when he was roughly 16 years old range he hooked up with Justin….the guitar player in the photo. J is like Tam and my other son by different parents. Stephen and J played for quite some time together with several others. Then Kyle got a keyboard for Christmas one year and he just took off with it. He took piano lessons and his first teacher and he clicked. They practiced with the stuff Kyle liked….current music. That guy moved on and the next guy insisted Kyle play Mary had a little Lamb and the likes….well that lasted about 3 weeks! After that he got into working with music on the computer and soon joined in with Stephen and Justin. They had a nice run of things…did several local shows and even went into the studio and cut a CD. Things were moving along nicely and then things got derailed as they often do with rock bands. Now 3 kids and a few years later they are all hooked up and jamming together again. But Stephen has moved on to play the bass and Kyle has moved over to the drums. They have written a lot of new music but are looking for a good singer. Justin did the singing for years but just wants to show off his guitar work now. Also instead of using the studio, now they record and mix all their own music….my talented boys! So that is how the Saturday started off.
After enjoying a nice little concert (at 10 AM) I headed over to the shop after we loaded everything up. I was able to get all my homework cut out for the week which was the top piece on the faces and the front panel for the Pyle Clock. This weeks focus was to prep all the primary wood (Quarter Sawn Sycamore) (which cuts amazing…if you haven’t tried it, you should…but remember to save me some!) and secondary wood (Walnut) pieces. These will be homework over the next 3 weeks. Next week is the company picnic for where I work (www.fike.com) and the following Saturday we will be going out of town to visit friends. I prepped plenty to keep me busy over this period. All that will be left after these pieces will be the vine overlays….which I plan to do in Purpleheart.
The roof panels on this clock have a piece that hangs down off the edge and are a bit trick to cut. I cut these 2 pieces out about a 1/2″ long to be safe. I set my tablesaw and cut the first angle. I then flipped the pieces over and around and cut the opposing angle on the opposite end. I snuck up on this until I achieved the correct length. Cutting angles on your tablesaw can be tricky to do so take your time and be careful. Wood is replaceable….fingers aren’t.
I then sanded and assembled the front board onto the clock assembly. Make sure to get everything lined up and square to minimize any mismatch sanding. I used small clamps and clamped across the cutouts. I then sanded my mismatch flush on both sides. Check with a square periodically to insure squareness. This week I was ask how I did the top angle on the sides. How I do it is to leave the sides slightly long and sand them in on the belt sander. Be careful doing this though because it can get away from you quickly. I have found that doing it this way you get a perfect angle that mates up with the roof panels and that will make the roof assembly process much more enjoyable. You can do it on your tablesaw when you originally prep your side panels but getting them exact is a little tougher. I checked mine across the assembly in several places and it was good and close. For the guys that poly their pieces prior to assembly, you can still do it this way. This will be covered by the roof panels but you can always do some poly touch-up on it.
After sanding the bottom of the clock assembly flush and square, I attached the floor by using standard clamping practices. I then started in on the pieces I had prepped up. I love cutting squares because you can get into a nice rhythm and just fly along. I cut out the lower back. Since I was going to have to do a glue-up anyway I just stack cut these two out and glued them together. I clamped the 2 pieces to a piece of plywood to assemble it. I then filled and sanded the seam on both sides and sanded the top flush. The seam will be covered by the center lower bracket. I then cut out the 2 outer lower brackets and sanded them. In the picture these are all just sitting together to give you and idea of how it will look. I plan on assembling the bottom last so that as I am working on the roof pieces I can sit it upright.
Remember this pattern is currently available on our website.
I finished out the day by sanding the face components and assembling them. I’m planning on cutting the numbers out in Purpleheart. Typically the numbers would be cut directly into the top piece. If you haven’t checked out our face patterns, we have 4 different face sizes and 10 different face designs in each size. A fretwork face finishes out your project nicely. Check them out on our website. They are all fun to cut out!
Over the next couple of weeks I still plan on putting out an update (you may not have it first thing on Sundays though) and have a couple of ideas to share. The bandsaw tune-up from a couple weeks ago seemed to be a hit so I will do a couple other machines over the next two updates….if I can find good links. If you have any ideas or questions let me know and I will do my best to address them.
That about does it for another week. Hope everyone has a good Sunday and your upcoming week is spectacular. Again this week please keep all of our woodworking brothers and sisters who are struggling or hurting in your prayers. Also be sure to check out our approved vendors and catch us at www.wilckenswoodworking.net and on facebook. Look for our ads in S.A.W. and Creative Woodworks & Crafts. We have several new things available right now along with ALL the old stuff. If we’ve had it…we still do. Don’t be a stranger….drop us a line to say hey….we love talking to ya. Send us pictures of what you have going so we can share those and if you’ve cut out the free Web Clock…send us pictures of that. I know several of you that have been working on it but we have received only a few pictures. Remember that the best one (voted by your peers) will receive a premium pattern. Have a great finish to your weekend and a good week next week….and as always…
Until Next Time, Keep the Saw Dust Flyin’…..
