39 Comments

  1. Thanks Paul, fantastic job buddy. I love working wood with hand tools, I have learnt more from two videos, than I have in a long time.

    Very Best
    Ken

  2. A fabulous, outstanding and engaging approach. I like your project based instruction as it gives immediate results. Keep it coming and thank you.

  3. Great video Paul, really looking forward to the series. Will these be downloadable or steaming with multiple times access? I find it is usefull to watch tricky steps multiple times.

    1. Hi @howard1995,

      When you sign up you get access only to the current project videos. We do plan to offer the clock videos (as well as other projects once they are past) for a one time price. However, the cheapest way to gain access to our videos is to signup and stay signed up. Past projects will be priced slightly higher than the monthly fee would have been.

      Once you have access to videos you keep access for the lifetime of you account, even if you stop the paid account. In other words, someone who has paid for the first two months would still be able to watch the clock videos even if they cancelled payments. We think it is important that once people have paid for access we give them continuing access as long as we can.

      Hope this helps.

    1. Bobby, Paul is showing that with a sharp smoothing plane, you can plane end grain without the need for a low angled block plane. A low angled block plane, would indeed do a fine also. I’m not sure it would do it better though.
      I hope this helps till Paul can reply

  4. Sure is nice not to have the bother of setting up a table saw to make a simple rip or two.
    Plus you get the joy of exercise without the noise and dust.
    Thanks, Paul you are a great teacher.

  5. I’m struggling with the aspect of picking out wood, even for the workbench.

    The local big box stores, even for a workbench, lumber seems pretty low quality.

    The local Lowe’s and Home Depot carry the 2×4 I would need for the workbench and 1x pine that is higher quality that might work for a wall clock (but not a workbench).

    I think I’m just struggling understanding how to pick out stock. I don’t think I should be looking for knot-free but I don’t want to buy something that my novice skills are going to have a horribly time planing.

    I heard you say here you’re not looking for knot-free, talking about knots going through the board or not, hard vs soft (?) knots (what’s that?) and so on.

    I’m trying to find a lumber yard besides big box store locally but not having any luck yet.

    Any pointers here?

    1. Reclaimed wood might be a good alternative. We have a quite a few lumber stores around my home. Searching ‘Lumber’ on google maps may help. I use Lowes alot too and I spend alot of time digging through the piles too. At least they dont mind me picking through it. Like Paul I try to clean up the pile after.

    2. For anyone in southern Ontario, A & M Wood Specialty in Cambridge, Ontario has a fabulous inventory – everything from Ash and Pine to Bubinga and a bunch of woods I’ve never heard of. They also sell tonewoods for instrument making, and will thickness it for you if you require it.

      1. Well all is going well so far…..apart from the raised panel…that went a tad wrong…I had to joint two boards together to get a wide enough panel and the grain was a real issue and was hard to plane but it’s ok…this was just a practice piece really, not an actual display piece so I’m not too concerned….I think I may make a planing jig to do the raised panel for a final piece.

  6. Someone please tell me that I am crazy for making this clock from rough sawn 4/4 Osage Orange.

    My first, in pine, came out nicely. The second, in Red Oak, was better. But this wood is fantastic…and troublesome. I think it’s the densest hardwood in the U.S. Dimensioning it is giving me lots of practice sharpening my plane irons. I think that I’ll be practicing sharpening scrapers very soon now.

  7. Hi Paul – great videos. Quick question – if the side cut calls for a length of 17 1/2 inches, why would you recommend measuring and cutting for 18 1/2? Not sure what exactly was meant by burning down the extra inch. Thanks again.

    -Tom

  8. Hello – I bought bandsawn eastern white pine (1x8x8). Is this suitable? I bought at Home Depot and the choices were “Select Pine” and “common board”. Select and Common seemed smoother than the EWP (I assume because they were planed.). The EWP is rough, I assume b/c of the bandsaw.

    Thanks – Seth

  9. Sort of new to woodworking with a purpose (as opposed to appropriate-tool bereft and knowledge-free random acts). Did repurpose a metal trellis into a bonsai stand towards beginning of pandemic but it would have had nicer metered edge boards with better tools.

    Is the clock recommended as the starting point (over the tray and coasters)?

    Also, adding a hygrometer and barometer below the clock seems like it would be interesting and the three points of focus aesthetically pleasing. Would that be compatible with the project?
    Thanks, Danny
    Location: Midwest, US

    1. Hi Daniel,

      Paul says:
      I would say that the clock is the best place to go early on. It is a skill-builder, that is for sure. Often small projects are more demanding because of the fineness index of the work. More challenging but can look simple when not.

      Izzy

      1. I just got the material from Home Depot for this build, I purchased a 1×8 but we don’t get actual thickness in the US, so it’s 3/4″… Paul’s board looks thicker than mine, as though it’s actual thickness is 1″… Is my pine going to be suitable?

  10. This design screams pendulum to me… Is it feasible to add a German style small clock movement with a pendulum that swings freely within the walls of the design? Therefore, not having to change very much structurally…

    As a novice, I do not understand how I would tackle revealing the pendulum… I suppose cut an opening as preferred, add a rabbet to the interior opening edge, and get a sheet of fitted glass? Or perhaps, I could go even simpler and leave it wide open. Any recommendations?

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