Wooden Movements

Many clocks made before 1840 have movements made almost entirely of wood. Clock making came to America in the colonial period. By the mid 18th century numerous clockmakers were making small numbers of tall case or later called "grandfather" clocks. Brass and other materials commonly used in clock making were heavily taxed or just not available in the colonies, so these early clocks were generally made entirely of wood and powered by iron weights. The wooden movement plates were made of oak, the wheels of cherry, and the arbors and pinions of laurel. Other woods were used including mahogany, walnut and apple. These woods were plentiful in the forests of the eastern seaboard, the region in which most of the clockmaking occurred in early America. There were parts in these clocks that were made of metal. The pivots of most wheel arbors, the strike wires and release levers, the pendulum suspension wire, the crutch lever, click springs, hand setting tension springs, bells, and gongs were made of soft or semi-hardened steel or cast iron. The verge or pallet was made of hard steel and the escape wheel suspension was made of brass. It is very essential that the escapement involve a brass to steel junction for good wearing qualities and a minimum loss of power.

Repairs on these movements require different types of wood. Plate repairs should be made using oak, replacing the wood with the grain running in the same direction as in the original plate. Bushings should be replaced in the same fashion as for brass bushing replacement. Wheel teeth can be replaced using cherry, dovetailing the wood, using a strong glue or epoxy. The teeth are then carefully cut, using a jewelers coping saw, followed by a fine cut file. The wood is cleaned with a mixture of boiled linseed oil and turpentine.

Here is a picture of an old wooden clock movement.  If you have one you now know its from the early 1800's.