Finally

Well work has finally slowed down that I can start looking at putting some serious work in on the clock.  Also it is starting to be blacksmithing season.  During the months of May-September, things get very uncomfortable in Florida.  Between daily rain storms and 90+ temperatures, it is a steam bath.  Well things are starting to cool off.

I was going to do some work today but I noticed that my tools needed some attention.  Because of the demos I do on the road and my erratic work schedule, they needed some attention.  So I decided rather than jumping right back into it to take the time and do some basic maintenance and repair.

The bad:
  About 1/3 of my files were exposed to too much moisture at some point.  They will be recycled into some other project, perhaps knives or fire starters.

  The tool boxes I made about 2 years ago for demos just are not cutting it.  I made them quickly (3 of them in 2 hours) and because of a simple mistake, they always left the tools slight exposed to the elements.  Also, they are not specific to the tools they are carrying.  I hope to remake them to have boxes specific to the drifts, chisels, punches, hammers, files, tongs, etc...

  Several of the chisels, punches, etc... need some attention.  I may do some work on those yet this afternoon.

The good:
  I had a lot more punches, chisels and drifts then I thought and in a lot more variety.

  I was able to clean up a lot of my files and get them wrapped up in an oil cloth so that will hopefully stop any rusting.

  I put new handles on two of my hammers and have them soaking in a linseed oil bath.  I've talked to a few smiths online and they recommended soaking any hammers in linseed oil after putting a new hammer handle on them.  The linseed oil fills the voids, swells the wood (tight fit to the hammer head) and prevents them from drying out.  I have them in a mixture of 75% linseed and 25% mineral spirits.  The mineral spirits thins the linseed and helps it to penetrate the wood.

  I was able to clean up my work setup to make things quicker and nicer.  Hopefully during this week I will get some work in.

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  Finally a note on the actual clock!!!  When I last left the clock, I had done a fair amount of work on the crown wheel.



  Although it may look okay, there are some balance, symmetry issues.  I think I will try to make this in a different way.

  In the first technique, I took a straight piece of metal and cut the teeth.  I then wrapped that into a circle.  Next, I made the spokes and hub to insert into the crown wheel.  This was very difficult to get inserted properly.  Part of the problem is that in the process the wheel got a little out of whack.  It is difficult to get it back into shape without damaging the teeth.

  I think this time I will start with just a straight piece of metal.  This will be wrapped around the spokes and hub then welded closed.  After that, I will true up the circle on the axle.  Once I have that trued up, i will then cut the teeth.  In other words, I going to get the circle true before I cut the teeth.  And that really makes sense now that I think about it.  Any gear on the clock needs to be a true circle prior to the gears getting cut.  It is only common sense but that is part of the learning process.