2016 Fall Clock Contest Winners
Thank you to everyone who participated in our 2016 Fall Clock Contest! As always, we are so grateful to see and read about the many wonderful creations you, our customers, create each year.
Clock Contest Winners:
Please help us in congratulating the winners in each category! Read more about their clocks below.
- Master Clock Maker - Richard Wingard
- Gift of Time - Brad Brandt and Terry Haskett
- Rewind - Jacquelene Ambrose
Master Clock Maker - Richard Wingard
"I am submitting pictures of a Columbia style Grandfather Clock that I made for my Daughter. for her 52nd birthday. I used white oak from a tree cut in 2003 on a farm in western Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh. I started the construction by planeing 6/4 slabs down to 13/16 dimensions as called for in the KLOCKIT construction drawings. Since this was the second time I have used KLOCKIT plans( previously for a cherry Brookwood gift to my Wife) I had learned the importance of strict attention to the very fine detail of the instruction and the need for complete accuracy in making the cuts. Consequently I have made an extremely handsome heritage treasure for my daughter and her family who live in Hudson Ohio.
I mentioned to my son-in-law that I wanted to make the clock and he agreed to take me up on the opportunity to learn some of the fine art of wood working . His time was limited but he did assist in the dressing up the boards from the rough and routing of some of the gable framing. When he left for home and back to work in Ohio I kept him up to dat. with pictures of the construction progress.
I consider myself a skilled wood worker and have made numerous fine furniture items of beds, dressers, tables, stands, chests. Most of the work has been for family and friends as I am retired and remind myself when the question of going pro come up. The grandfather clocks have become my favorite item because of their beauty and intricate detail and the challenge presented in crafting them. The designs and plans offered by KLOCKIT are my preferred way to build a clock from scratch. The 13088 Hermele movement and the deluxe weight and shell set complements the time and effort of building the clock case.
I am now looking for select black walnut from a local NC sawmill for my next KLOCKIT design. My son and my 20 something granddaughter are waiting patiently."
Gift of Time - Brad Brandt
Thank you Klockit for helping make a special day even more special for my family! Let me explain why.
On December 4, 2016, our family will be celebrating God’s kindness as we gather for the wedding ceremony of my daughter, Julie, and her fiancé, Blake Tucker. But I am not just Julie’s grateful father. I have also been Julie’s grateful pastor for most of her thirty years of life, and it will be my great joy to perform their wedding ceremony.
This is not the first time I’ve had such a privilege, since my wife (Sherry) and I have been blessed with two daughters. Our youngest, Katie, was married four years ago (and presented us this year with our first grandchild!). When I performed their wedding ceremony, I wanted to do something memorable so the couple would always keep in mind the biblical principles I shared to help them in their marriage. So I told them in the ceremony, “I’ve done enough weddings to know that you will probably will not remember what you are hearing me say on this special day! So to help you, I have made something for you, an oak headboard with a brass plate inscribed with the key sentence from this wedding message. Today we are leaving, cleaving, and weaving our lives together, for the glory of God and the good of others. Luke and Katie Comers. You will see that message every day you wake up.
So when Julie’s boyfriend called me earlier this year to ask permission to marry my daughter (and I gave it!), I began to think about what gift I might present to them, again, hopefully something to help them remember the truth of God’s Word that I’ll be sharing in their ceremony. So here is where Klockit comes in. The gift of a wall clock! But I need to share another piece of important background information. I am 55 years old and have been pastoring the same church, Wheelersburg Baptist Church, for 29 years. Wheelersburg is located in the Appalachian foothills of southern Ohio, right on the Kentucky border. Four years ago, with an empty nest, I approached an 83 year old man named Bill Simon and asked if he would teach me how to do work-working. I first met Bill nearly three decades ago when his mother died and the funeral director said the family needed a pastor to do the funeral service. That led to our friendship.
Bill is a retired meat cutter who has a beautiful wooded property several miles outside of town. He’s also a self-taught master craftsman who has harvested trees from his own property, used his sawmill to turn the trees into usable stock, and has built an amazing shop with all kinds of tools (some as old as he is!). Our first project in 2012 was the oak headboard I gave my daughter Katie. Since then we have made other headboards, a dining room table, an oak desk, a cherry sewing machine cabinet for my wife, an oak motorcycle-rocker for my grandson, and many other pieces of furniture. Since Bill can visualize the process in his head, we seldom use a blueprint, but only a picture, and then customize the project as we go.
And that’s where Klockit enters the story. Last month I told Bill we needed to make another wedding gift. “How about a clock?” I asked. I’d seen Klockit’s pictures of mantle clocks and showed them to Bill. We decided to take some ideas from several pictures and customized our own frame and door, using walnut from a tree Bill had cut from his property fifteen years ago. I took the rough lumber, ran it through the planer, and then used Bill’s table saw, radial arm saw, joiner, three different routers, a drill press, a floor model sander, a hand sander, and other hand tools to build the clock. We used the routers to turn the stock into the various pieces of trim and molding that were needed. For assembly we used various screws and glue.
I decided to use Klockit’s parts and ordered the following on August 24, 2016. Quartz Movement and Dial Package—stock 26228, Decorative Knob with Screw—stock 39145, Antique hinges—stock 39143.
We made our own back to stabilize the clock dial, then inserted and attached the quartz movement with the brass lyre attachment, added the clock hands, mounted the speaker, and fabricated a hanging device. For the door, instead of using glass, we cut a piece of clear plastic and attached it with tiny screws, then attached the door using the antique hinges, as well as the antique knob. Final work included sanding the walnut using 80, 120, and 160 grit paper. Then I applied four coats of polyurethane, sanding between each coat with 220 grit, to get the desired smooth surface. After final assembly we decided to add a magnetic latch.
At this point it was time for the engraved message. I went to a local business that specializes in graphics, told him what I wanted to say, and he made a three inch by three-quarter inch brass plate with a black background with this message…
Redeemed by Christ, So we may redeem the time for Christ (Eph. 5:16). -Blake & Julie Tucker- December 4, 2016
I attached the plate to the front of the clock below the door. My desire is that my daughter and son-in-law will see it daily and be reminded that time is a gift from the Creator, to be used for His honor and the good of others. I’ll be sharing these themes with them in their wedding message. And that’s when I’ll announce to them about this special gift! I will say that to date the most exciting moment came when I showed the finished clock to my wife. “This is what I’m going to give Julie and Blake for the wedding,” I said. And she immediately responded, “They will love it.” Followed by, “I’d like one too!”
Gift of Time - Terry Haskett
In 2007, I met my future wife while taking golf lessons, at the time she didn't even own a golf club. She did own a 14 year old teenage girl who was not always happy about the changes in her world. The daughter, Emily had not had any contact with her father since the age of 2 and was not overly excited about someone coming in to act as a father at this stage of her life. In October of 2008, I married Emily's mother, Kim. It was not easy coming in at this stage of Emily's life. An excellent student, Emily lived and breathed the University of Notre Dame.
And a connection was made that started slowly but grew. Emily soon began driving lesson which I dealt with better than her mom, If the two of them were in a vehicle together, I could expect a phone call from either or both of them complaining about the other. An only child, Emily talked us into hosting foreign exchange students for two years, a boy and girl. Together, she and her "brother and sister" were active in swimming, and cross county and teenagers hanging out on the patio or in the den were common place. While it was not always easy, a mutual friendship developed over the years. Camping trips, Disney World, even a cruise to Alaska all happened before her high school graduation. Eventually it was time for Emily to go off to college and she was accepted to St Mary's College at Notre Dame, IN., the sister school of Notre Dame in 2011. Em graduated in 2015, cum laude. She spent a semester in Ireland, traveling Europe, she interned in Washington DC for a state representative, and was accepted into a fellowship with the John Jay Institute in Philadelphia. The summer following graduation, Emily stayed in South Bend, In working for Congresswoman Jackie Walorski and catering on campus.
And during this time she became engaged to her college boyfriend, Andrew McNally, a graduate student at the University of Notre Dame. The summer quickly flew by and soon it was time to begin her in year in Philadelphia. Her mother, grandmother and aunt and Emily took a week's vacation and off to Philly they went, sightseeing on the way. The night before checking in, Emily asked her mom if I could adopt her, so that we could be a real family. So while Emily was in Philadelphia, her mother and I began the process of adoption.
Which is quite a feat when the child is 23 years old. and several states away, the stars and moon aligned, and everything fell into place. and while home for Thanksgiving week, the adoption took place and I became the proud father of a 23 year old bouncing baby girl who was in the midst of planning her wedding, and as her dad I was going to walk her down the aisle. The Christmas holidays came and went, Emily spent them in Minnesota with her fiancé's family. Quite a different holiday at our house, Much too quiet. Spring came and if things were not busy enough, Emily applied to graduate school .and was accepted into the MBA program at Notre Dame. She began an accelerated program in June of 2016 with the wedding scheduled for October 15, 2016. I had built bookcases and tables for Emily and even a hope chest for her high school graduation but I wanted something special for a wedding gift for the girl who was now my daughter. I talked about building a grandfather clock and was encouraged by her mother to undertake it. I had purchased plans but they were for a quartz movement and stationary chains. I wanted the real thing so I scrapped the work so far, purchased additional wood and ordered the mechanism from Klockit and began the clock anew designing it as I went. As I drive an over the road truck, there wasn't always a lot of time to work on the clock and the wedding was fast approaching. Many days after coming in, I would work in the garage hoping that it was good enough for Emily and Andrew. The clock was finally finished and I had a local clocksmith come over to check the balance and sound, No adjustments were needed and the clock was covered until it could be given to the happy couple On Friday, just before the rehearsal dinner.
Rewind - Jacquelene Ambrose
Big Top; Self Standing; 10" h x 8"w x 6”d
I had just finished a book about a traveling circus. I am always surprised to see what emerges from a random collection of parts and imagination.
The clock housing is an old tuna can. The center is a rusted iron star. I must admit I have no idea what the screw part thing is but it’s attached to a farming tool hub via a wine cork with a eucalyptus tree button on top Sitting on the hub is an old elephant that was found at the bottom of a pile of buttons. I like to think of him as escaping … a free circus elephant. The clock movement is from Klockit as are the painted hands.
My fascination for unusual clocks led me to create an on-going expression of my creative imagination, ClockArtistry.com. Each hand-made clock uses a variety of re-purposed objects; rusted metals,, tuna cans, offerings from nature, random found objects, and Klockit clock mechanism and parts that blend together in many unexpected ways. I love making these bits of fantasy.
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