The Creation of a Turret Clock

Being period sucks!

  Well, circumstances made me decide to take a vacation day today.  I decided that I needed to get on the forge so went out to make slide #3 (#1 and #2 having problems).  I started around 10 am.  By 1pm I had the new slide done including the holes for the key and wards.  I next decided to anneal a tool I had made some time ago.  The tool is a top fuller and would have been very useful for this project but I forgot about it.  Anyway, annealing involves heating the steel to a red-orange heat and then cooling it very slowly.  After heating it, I put it some wood ash.  I needed some extra wood ash so gave me an excuse to clean out the fireplace.  After getting the fuller in the ash, took a lunch break.

  After lunch I did a little more work on the slide, fitting it with the wards.  Once I was sure the wards would fit, I moved onto the key.  The key gave me a little more problem then the first key did.  It developed a stress fracture.  I think the key will be okay but just to be safe, I brazed the crack with some brass to try and keep it from getting worse.  I created the pin for the key(the pin fits into the slide) and I marked the key for where the wards will hit the key.  I then put the key aside and moved back to the wards.

  The wards are VERY small parts.  around 3/16" square and a little over 1/2" long(I reduced the size from previous photos), they are the smallest pieces I've ever worked with.  They are actually quite a bit smaller than the first set I created.  Well, I was paranoid about the wards but I managed to get them onto the slide without a problem.

  Finally I moved inside with the key and slide.  I spent some time this evening working on filing the key to fit the wards and slide.  I have many hours of filing to go.  The problem is that the filing requires that I use very small files.  When you use small files, it takes a long time to remove any metal...  Well, fingers are cramped and its been a long (but productive day).  Time for bed.