MILLIARD

Making the Clock Hands Click on the photo to see a larger image.
	Q. What do you make your hands out of? A. The hands and face were made from 16 ga. steel (.055") which I purchased at Lowe's Home Improvement. Q. Do you need special blades to cut it? A. I cut the face to shape at a machine shop, on their bandsaw, but a jig/saber saw with a metal cutting blade would have worked too. The hands were cut on my jigs saw using Dremel metal cutting blades #16483 which were .033 x .016 with 36 teeth per inch. I purchased these blades on close out at Wal Mart, so I don't know if the are still made, but jeweler blades would have worked too.
	Q. Are there special files for filing clock hands? A. The hands were filed with standard needle files that are commonly available at hardware stores and industrial supply houses. The ones I used were made by Grobet.
Q. Once the hands are completed how do you blacken them? A. The hands were blackened with a product sold to age model railroad tracks (I don't know the name, its worn off the bottle) This same product is common in the machine tool trades to black oxide steel, and gun blueing would also work. I gave the hands a Very light rubbing with 4/0 steel wool and wax to prevent rust and knock off the deep black giving them an aged look.


For more discussion about this clock see Rob Millards posting on the SAPFM Forum. Click here!