Rick’s Grandfather Clock

This is a wooden rack and snail striking grandfather clock of my own design. The clock was inspired by Clayton Boyer, a fabulous wooden clock designer in Hawaii. After building several of his designs, I was determined to build and design my own clock. The clock uses a rack and snail chiming mechanism to count and chime the hours. Everything except the shafts and weights are made of wood. The solid wood pieces are mahogany, and the gears are aircraft-grade mahogany plywood.

I have a toddler at home, so the time I had to work on this project was rather sporadic. The rough design took about seven months, and it took another eight months to build. I went through three design iterations before I had one that worked reliably. The clock runs for about 28-hours per wind, and although it is still settling in, it keeps pretty good time.

The clock frame is finished with two coats of dewaxed shellac, followed by two coats of brushed-on General Finishes Enduro-Var Water Based Urethane. (I am extremely happy with the results of the finish!) The gear faces are finished with four coats of dewaxed shellac. The gear profiles are left unfinished.

Once the prints are refined, I’ll most likely make them available for free if anyone is interested.