The wood works clock.
It's a very early one made by Chauncey Ives. He was in business from 1818 - 1838 but during his last 8 years the had a partner, who is not acknowledged on the label in the clock so that would put this one pre 1830. If it turned out that it was early in his career, it could be 1820 which would make it almost 200 years old. Making the gears out of wood was an inexpensive way for new clockmakers to establish businesses.
The only brass gear is the escape wheel that is visible in the video at the bottom.
The problem with these is that all the work is by hand. The ultrasonic gets the day off.
Once apart every piece is checked and cleaned. I use a very soft bristled brass brush which does a nice job. After a few hours, they were all clean and ready for a test run. For this I only assembled the time train gears to see if this thing was even gonna work. Besides that, the striking gear trains are just nightmares to get together do to the syncing of the gears that is required. I'll get into that later.
Check back in a day or 2 for more on this.
Now that at least I know that it works, it all comes apart to install and test the striking train. These 2 wheels need to be installed in perfect orientation to each other so that as the last strike just finishes, one lever falls in the notched wheel and the other levers pin hits its stop. If the mesh is off by a tooth or 2 the plates need to come back apart and rotate one or both wheels and try again. I got it on my second try which is just a miracle. I've had some in the past that have taken 10 tries. Needless to say on these clocks words are used that you wouldn't want your kids to hear.
All the gears in the clock and ready for the front plate.
This clip has the clock running and striking.
