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Building a Live Edge Clock

Building a Live Edge Clock

Several years ago, a cherry tree came down during a windstorm in my friend’s yard.  So we hauled as much of it as we could over to my shop, I couldn’t turn down free wood.  I have been turning it into a bowl but decided to do a little something different with this one.

Live edge clock build

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I’m short on time, so this one’s going to be a quickie.

Several years ago, a cherry tree came down during a windstorm in my friend’s yard.  So we hauled as much of it as we could over to my shop, I couldn’t turn down free wood.

Well, it was sort of free, when I  unloaded the biggest pieces I thought I would flip it out of the truck end over end,  soo it didn’t quite make it and one end came back and hit the edge of the tailgate.  The weight of the trunk put a little crease in the tailgate.

So I’ve been turning bowls with it on the lathe but decided to make this chunk into a live edge clock.

To do this, I first ripped the log diagonally on the band saw.  Have this much of the blade exposed felt a little sketchy, so I just took my time until I got through it.

To try to get a parallel cut on the other side, I jointed one end before resewing it back on the band saw.

Back at the jointer, I cleaned off the band saw marks.

I spent some time forcibly removing the bark, and then cleaned it up with a wire wheel.

I thought dang this was a quick project, but the next day it was pretty cupped, and I didn’t think it would hand on the wall very well.  So I chucked it under the workbench where it has been for over a couple of years until I found it while cleaning.

Now that it has dried out, I decided it was time to flatten it back out and continued with the project.

Once I was pretty flat, I drilled the hole for the clock mechanism.  Since this thing was not exactly round, I just made an artistic decision where it should be.

I used the hole to line up the clock part and mark its position.

I put down some blue tape so I could pull the two apart and glued down my template for routing.

With a pattern bit in the router, I routed out a mortise for the clock mechanism.

Removed the template and installed a hanger and added my maker’s mark

I sprayed some shellac on the piece and set it aside for it to dry.

The final assembly was pretty straight forward.

I double-stick taped on a piece of cork so that it would hang straight against the wall.

Popped in the clock, and secured it in place with a decorative brass nut.  The hour hand is a friction fit, and the minute hand is held in place with a knurled brass nut.

The second sweeping hand was a bit too long, so I trimmed it to a pleasing length, and installed it.

Popped a batter in and it was ready to go.  I didn’t bother setting the time since I’ve been isolating in the shop. The actual time doesn’t matter.

Stay safe

Stay home

And create something that is if you have the time.


I’m the owner of Benham Design Concepts, a mixed media art studio where I design and build custom furniture and other works of art using wood, glass, stone, and various metals.
In this blog, I talk about the art I create, my journey, and the things I learn along the way.

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