Jerrod & Jenny's 11th Anniversary

Last year one of Mary’s friends at work said they were going to have a garage sale and that they had two grandfather clock kits they would sell. Upon inquiring the price I found out they only wanted $20 for all of it so I drove the pickup out to their place near Perry Lake. I paid him the twenty dollars and found out his dad had purchased three clock kits in 1972 and had finished one and started another before giving up on them. He inherited them when his father passed away and did not want them.

The kit that wasn’t started was cherry wood which I like to work with. So I began a year or so process of cutting the pieces to proper length and fitting them together. I would lose interest in it and Mary would ask when I was going to finish it. I finally decided I would give it to Jerrod & Jenny for their 11th anniversary so I had a target date of September 21, 2007.

I had glass cut for the two doors, sanded everything good, wiped it down with mineral sprits and finally applied the Watco Danish oil finish and two coats of varnish. I put in the German made clock works and then realized I needed weight for inside the three cylinders. The company still exists but had moved from Alabama to Amherst, Virginia as I found out on the Internet. The clock company was Emperor Clock Company. I called a technical person there and he said they each needed 6 pounds of weight in each cylinder. I tried sand but it was not near heavy enough so I rode the motorcycle to Cabela’s and bought a 25# bag of lead shot. By filling each one full of shot they weighted 6 pounds exactly.

Now I began the effort of getting it set to the correct time and adjusting the chimes. It chimes 4 times at 15 minutes after the hour, 8 on the half hour, 12 on 45 minutes and 16 on the hour and then chimes the hour. The moon dial is set for the full moon. I checked the prices on a new clock cabinet kit and the floor model is $800 and the moon dial clock movement is $380.

In order to haul the clock to St Louis in our Honda Civic the seats had to be moved way forward, like knees in the dash close. The back seat folds down and we put the clock in through the trunk to the front seat of the car. It was a tight fit. I removed the pendulum and weights and tied the chains so they wouldn’t come loose. I had to place a towel around the chimes otherwise every bump made a chime. We arrived in St Louis with everything intact and surprised the kids who did not know anything about this. It does match their antique furniture and is much the same color. I am sure Jerrod & Jenny will get many years of enjoyment out of this clock. I had fun making it but am glad it is out of my life. I will probably sell the other clock works on E-bay.