Clock Carcass

The main carcass for the clock is made from Blackheart Sassafras. The "Blackheart' name reflects the timber's variegated colour formed from fungal spalting. Although an attractive timber it proved exceptionally difficult to work. Although the timber is soft (yet somewhat fragile) the spalted lines were considerably weak especially in the thin 9mm pieces. Several times while working the wood large pieces would split and fall apart. In the following pictures you'll see where I've epoxied and taped it back together.

Before resawing I attempted to stablise the timber by filling any voids with black epoxy. (Much like I did in the background with brown epoxy and blackbutt burl.)

The board was re-sawed into two 9mm boards. (See previous post for details.)

The corners of the carcass are dovetails. (See previous posts on how I dovetail.) The front and rear pin/tail are mitred to hide the back rabbet and match the clock moulding.

Not a very good photos but you get the idea. The bits of tape tell you there was multiple splits in the timber.

A small shelf lies halfway up the case to hold the base of the clock. The gap behind the shelf is intended for a hand to adjust the clock movement.

The inside moulding is mitred 9mm round over sassafras which will hold the clockface. The moulding was rounded by hand with a no 7 plane and sandpaper.

The glue up was messy. I used epoxy mixed with micro-fibre filler and black oxide concrete dye to produce a black gel. I opted for this method as I've run out of PVA and the black lines that remain after sanding match well with the blackheart sassafras.