The Creation of a Turret Clock

Good weekend.

  I went to an SCA event this weekend and things went very well.  I got on site later than I had planned but the coleman lanterns give me more than enough light to work by.  It was also the first time (and probably last time) that I brought my wooden clock out for display since the time I entered it in a competition.  I fired up the forge for a light night smithing session and it was fun to see a crowd gather around and get social.  A friend even took the opportunity to forge a prize for a tourney.

  Started smithing the next day at sunrise and had a lot of really nice people come around and talk with me throughout the day.  It slows me down a bit while working but it is really fun to talk about the craft.  I don't mind the interruptions at all.

  I finished the cutting of the final post of the strip of metal down the side.  This is for purely decorative reasons.  Next, I started working on the punch I need for the posts.  The posts need a mortise (a hole for those non-construction types out there) that is 3/8" x 3/4" rectangle.  I used a piece of large coil spring to make the punch.  I accidentally burned the tip a bit on the first one so I discarded it.  This is because it puts some imperfections in the surface that could develop into cracks.  The second punch came out very nice.

  I then cleaned up two of the posts a bit.  Chiseling is an effective way to split the metal but it leaves a bit of a ragged edge.  I file most of it down while still hot but I still needed a bit of cleanup.  I then decided to move on to punching the holes for the bottom of the posts.  This line drawing shows what the final post will look like.



  The post is about 26" tall.  The mortises are at the top and bottom.  I used the new punch to punch the bottoms of two of the posts.  I wanted to do more but I had to get cleaned up for evening activities.  I was very happy with how the mortises came out.  They are exactly matched up with each other.  One of the areas I've been working on this year is trying to become more precise in my work.

  I also received an award.  It was the Order of the Silver Trident.  For those not in the SCA or not in Trimaris, it is a fairly high level award given for accomplishments in the arts.  Had a lot of people congratulate me.  Its nice to know that people are getting enjoyment out of something I love to do.

  I will post pictures from this weekends work when I unpack the camera from the weekend.