Wooden Clockmaking––

A Hobby Where Timing Is Everything

By Jan Howard

Timing is everything for many things, and especially so for clocks. But this was only one of the topics in a program about wooden clockworks April 14 sponsored by the Newtown Historical Society at the C.H. Booth Library on Main Street.

An electrical engineer, Tim Bruce retired three years ago and began pursuing his long interest in clocks. He discussed his early attempts, his mistakes, and how he corrected them. He also explained different characteristics of wood used in making the clockworks, how clocks function, how to care for clocks, and how to repair those that do not work.

He started making wooden clocks about 15 years ago.

“I am not a professional,” Mr Bruce told program attendees. “I dabble in it and learn from my mistakes.”

His first effort was an hour clock, he noted, explaining that hundreds of years ago minutes and seconds did not mean anything to people. With a minimum of tools and very little knowledge about gears, he admitted, he set out to make his first clock.

“The thing wouldn’t run,” he noted.

He invested in better tools, and, he said, “I was able to do better in my woodworking capabilities.”

The major problem with his early endeavor, which was made out of pine, was that the wooden gear was warped. That was the first problem Mr Bruce had to solve.

“I started playing around with cherry and mahogany,” he said, and eventually solved the problem of warping.

The clock would stop when it rained, however. “In dry weather, it ran well,” he said. The problem was shrinking or expansion based on the humidity. He had to find out how to stop that. Using a sealer on the wood did not work, he noted.

He explained that he took two pieces of wood, cherry and walnut, and put them in the microwave for two minutes, then took measurements of the wood. “I measured the distance against and with the grain,” he said. “In the first reading, the cherry moved.” He cooled it down, and then heated it again until the wood was stable and did not move.

“Wood is like a sponge,” he explained. “It has pores.” When it dries out, the resin dries and the wood shrinks; when there is moisture, it expands.

“These are some of the pitfalls I had,” Mr Bruce said.

He explained how he makes the gears for the clocks, using a computer-aided design. “I get an exact printout from the computer.” He then cuts the gears with a band saw.

He also purchased a book about gears. “It is not a simple subject. After seeing what is required to make a gear, I could fix the gears so they would more adequately work.”

It took Mr Bruce 700 to 800 hours to make one of his larger clocks.

Mr Bruce said he makes presentations about his hobby to historical societies and other groups and has sought coverage in newspapers in order to find other people who make wooden clocks. “Only a handful of people are doing this,” he noted.

 He said that while he has not found many people who make wooden clocks, he has, however, found a lot of people with clocks that do not work and will attempt to fix them at an hourly rate.

He has found that the major problem with brass gears is that people oil them. “Clock gears go slowly. There is no need to put oil on them.” Oil accumulates on them, then dust settles, and the oil hardens.

“I take the clock and put it in hot water with dishwashing liquid for 20 minutes,” he said. This removes all the hardened oil that has kept the gears from working.

“Oil and clocks don’t work,” he emphasized.

In addition to explaining how he creates his clocks, Mr Bruce also discussed how clocks keep time. “The timing is in the pendulum where the weight is,” he noted.

Winding a clock too tight is not bad for the clock, he noted. If it does not run as a result, it is because oil has hardened on its gears.

Mr Bruce also explained the proper way to move a clock with a pendulum.

The Newtown Historical Society’s May 12 program will feature a history of Weir Farm and its buildings by Greg Waters, staff horticulturist. The program will be held at 7:30 pm at The Meeting House.