Tambour clock plans

[Brad Hammond]

has anyone around here made one of these clocks?
i've never seen any plans, but i'm thinking bent laminations or cut it from one whole chunk of wood.
thanx
brad

[Jim DeLaney]

Look closely at the pictures you provided. There's no end grain showing. The front (and back) are face grain, and so is the entire curvature of the top.

So, in order to achieve that, you'll have to resort to veneering. You could cut the base from one thick piece of stock, then veneer the top curve, or you could build a carcase out of some stable plywood or (if you want it heavy!) out of glued up mdf, then veneer the whole thing.

I think the originals were one large block of wood, with the top veneered, but I must admit to never having examined one closely (even though there was one on the mantle when I was growing up...

[Howard Norman]

has anyone around here made one of these clocks?
i've never seen any plans, but i'm thinking bent laminations or cut it from one whole chunk of wood.
thanx
brad

I have two clocks similiar to your photos, both made in the early part of the 20th century. One is veneered, and the other one is made of segments of wood glued together.

The segmented one was stained so dark that it was almost black. I stripped it many years ago and now you can see the segments that make up the top.

Howard

[Ken Salisbury]

has anyone around here made one of these clocks?
i've never seen any plans, but i'm thinking bent laminations or cut it from one whole chunk of wood.
thanx
brad

Brad,

It is such a simple design - plans are not required. Size of the overall clock and curvature of the top is dependent on the size of the clock face/bezel being used. I have made a number of these in the past. As a matter of fact I have a walnut block glued up in the shop right now to make another one.

I simply laminate enough stock to make a solid blank to cut the profile from. Then using a 3" dia forstner bit - drill flat bottom hole from the rear to within approx 3/8" of the front for mounting the mechanism. No big deal !!

Here is a pic of one of my previous pieces:

[Brad Hammond]

ken..........nothing like that "ButtCAD" bill mentioned in another post is there...........lol
thanx again all.
brad

[Ken Salisbury]

I went out to the shop after my first post and took several shots of the walnut block I had prepared last weekend so it would give you a better idea of how I make tambour clocks. Pictures make a lot better sense than words when trying to explain something

This block is made from 3 pieces of walnut and is 12 ½" long, 6" wide and 2" thick.

Pic #1 shows front of the blank.

Pics #2 & 3 shows back of the blank (note: I purposelly used a piece in the middle with some sap wood showing to give the clock some character when the profile is cut. This will show up on the top edge of the profile).

Pic #4 shows the hinged bezel/face I intend to use.

Click Thumbnails for fullsize pics

<A href="http://www.kenswoodcentral.com/pics/tambour02.jpg"> <A href="http://www.kenswoodcentral.com/pics/tambour03.jpg"> <A href="http://www.kenswoodcentral.com/pics/tambour04.jpg">

I will post pictures of the finished clock when and if I get it completed (have a very large segmented bowl that has to be done first)

[Brad Hammond]

that's the exact info i'm looking for! one last thing if i may, did you get the face and movements from klockit or local?
i keep trying to get to bham to stock up on some stuff, but i cant seem to get down there.
thanx ken
brad

[Ken Salisbury]

that's the exact info i'm looking for! one last thing if i may, did you get the face and movements from klockit or local?
i keep trying to get to bham to stock up on some stuff, but i cant seem to get down there.
thanx ken
brad

I get most of my clock parts from Klockit.