Metal and Wood Clock DIY
This project has been in the works since early fall last year. First we had to source our materials. Of course wood is in abundance in the workshop, the metal we bought locally but the clock parts took a little longer to arrive.

We started by picking up two lengths of steel that were 4 feet long, 2 inches wide, and about 1/8th of an inch thick.

We called around hoping to have it shaped into a circle and welded but the nearest place that could do it was an hour away and they wanted $160. Not happening.
Out in the workshop, Jim used his good ole free steel band shaper.

That was just to get the general shape. He built a jig out of scrap wood and began really shaping the steel using a mallet.


Once it was round enough, we used a ratchet strap to bring the two ends flush together.

Next up…welding!! Our lessons certainly came in handy. Still have to stop and think every time since we don’t use it on the regular.



Jim just tacked the two ends together and took off the strap in order to weld the rest of the seam.


We took the wire brush to the weld to knock it back a bit then got out the grinder with a metal disk to polish the welds.

We considered leaving the metal ring bare, and you could, but after grinding the seam smooth, we decided to use matte black spray paint. Since it is cold in the workshop we brought them indoors to dry.

Now it was time for the live edge wood. We laid the steel on top of the wood and scored the wood with a cutter. I might add that these boards had been prepped with 3 coats of poly waiting for the clock parts to arrive.

Then it was time to cut out the shape on the band saw.

Once cut we did a test fit, cursed a little, tried again. It fit! We sanded the ends, drilled a hole through the center of the board, and after tracing the clock mechanism onto the back of the board, we routed the back so the parts would sit flush with the board.


We drilled into each side through the metal ring and into the wood and placed a screw in each side.

We attached the clock parts and….

At one point before we started bending the steel, we contemplated welding both pieces of steel together to make one large clock. But since we made 2, we put the second up for sale in our store. (SOLD)
Later.
