Cuckoo

I tried to use as many classical Cuckoo clock design elements as I could : the “house” for a case, the bright colors, the style of the dial & hands, the “leaf” pendulum (appropriately short), the “acorn” weights (chain drive), and of course - on the hour and half-hour - the hand-carved bird comes out and sings.

I raided the scrap bin when I built this, so there’s more than twenty different species of wood in this clock.

The log cabin is made of Bowdark roots - a local tree. (It took many trips to the creek to harvest enough straight pieces of the right diameters.)The roof is hand-split cedar shakes with copper flashing.If the wind is blowing in my breakfast room, the weather vane on top even works.

Classical Cuckoo clocks typically utilize a Countwheel strike mechanism, but ‘I’d done that’ and I wanted to try a Rack-and-Snail strike. It was harder to design and build, but I like that it stays synchronized - it makes resetting the clock easier.

Hiding in the “chimney” at the back of the house are the two wooden cuckoo whistles - I even made these, and the little paper bellows that blow them.

This was the first time I’d tried dyeing wood (as opposed to staining), and i was very pleased with the result. (I’ve since used dyes on other projects.) Even though most wood clock makers say, “don’t”, I’ve been lacquering the gears on my clocks for years - these had to be, to seal the dye. It provides a nice, hard, low-friction surface.

I put the 15-tooth modified Graham escape right in front for all to see, along with its gold leaf “Texas Star”.

The bird even bobs his head and flaps his wings when he comes out to sing!I just love machinery, and this was a fun trick to design. the Cuckoo Clock

One of my most prized possessions is an old original Black Forest Cuckoo Clock.

It hangs one room over from this.

I’m constantly tweaking both of them, trying to get them to strike at exactly the same time.

When they do, the “stereo cuckoo” is the most beautiful sound!