Miscellaneous DIY Projects (or bits of jobs)

[plaques]

Quartz movements to make it a functional ornament? Is that what they call an oxymoron.

My thoughts as well, thirty bob and a AA battery and your sorted

These solution did cross my mind especially if I could get one that ticked and drive the pendulum at the same time. But that would mean two batteries and another 10p to the cost.

[Stanley]

Or accept that its days as a functioning clock are over if you can't find a qualified clock repairer.
I had my Vienna clock overhauled by Fred Huppach about ten years ago but he's died since.......

[Big Kev]

You can get a quartz movement to power the pendulum too but I didn't have a good experience with it. The pendulum was way too heavy for it and the battery didn't last long. Not sure if you can get a heavier duty one...

[plaques]

Some may remember in their distant past school days that the periodic time (the swing time) of a pendulum is a function of its length. Mechanical clocks give a pulse at the start of each swing. Most quartz clocks have relatively short pendulums and I don't know the frequency of input pulses or whether they are timed at singular or multiple pendulum lengths. Since Ian mentioned quartz as as way out I'll pass the investigation back. After all it is an electrics problem.

[PanBiker]

The truly electronic way out would be to replace the cogs with a quartz mechanism. That sorts the time keeping and get rid of the pendulum entirely by replacing it with an oscillator circuit that would make a perfectly accurate ticking sound.

If you really wanted a swinging pendulum you could drive that with a bit of electronics although that would be a bit more complicated and would involve some mechanical enhancement.

As Kev says there are lots of quartz movements advertised that will drive a pendulum. Not particularly expensive. You would have to research the best one for your particular job.

[plaques]

Yes it could be done but It may be easier to mend the clock and there again easier still to live with an ornament.
I can just see the blurb on e-bay. Pre-used, Genuine 120 year old antique Vienna clock with modified electronic components and quartz regulation No original works but looks and sounds the part. All reasonable offers considered.

[Stanley]

I agree with you Ken. As it is you have a clock with the original movement that can be overhauled and made good as new. Amateur horologists are always looking for clocks like that and it would be a good candidate. Once you have ripped the guts out and modernised it that's the end of it. That's what I would do with mine, either repair it myself or find someone who would.

[PanBiker]

I can just see the blurb on e-bay. Pre-used, Genuine 120 year old antique Vienna clock with modified electronic components and quartz regulation No original works but looks and sounds the part. All reasonable offers considered.

You did ask.

[PanBiker]

Last couple of weeks we have been gradually working our way around the back yard with a spring clean as such. We have jet washed all the yard with three sessions of pot moving. Everything in that regard is back in it's place now. Sally has painted up the pent shed in blue, I have the gate to do. I have just got the wherewithal to refurbish a small cast iron and wood plant stand. Blue Hammerite for the metalwork and I have just cut some replacement timber slats for the top. I had to get new coach bolts and nuts for the fixings as the old ones were beyond reclamation. I have drilled out the slats for the bolt shanks and they will need opening up with a larger drill to sink the heads level with the top. I will treat the timber with the same blue preservative that we do the hut and gate with. Nowt like a bit of colour coordination.

[Wendyf]

Colin has just been restoring a broken bench he got from Freegle a few years back, he has also used blue Hammerite for the bench ends and a blue stain for the slats....I'll post a photo later.

[Wendyf]

Bench and next project in waiting.

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[Tripps]

I love the table. Roxy Milk Bar c. 1957.

The top may need two coats of varnish though. . . .

[Stanley]

My advice is call a local sandblaster and get him to blast the castings and spray with red oxide paint. The refurb will then be a pleasure. David is right, 2 coats of varnish and perhaps some filler.

[Wendyf]

The table sat outside my parent's bungalow for many years and I think Dad replaced the original broken marble top with a Formica one. It went to my brother's house at some point and he put the wooden top on, then it came to me about 9 years ago and that's when Col said he would repair the top. We should probably do a tour of reclamation yards looking for a marble top but I think it will be another wooden one.

[Tripps]

I love these tables. I call them 'temperance bar tables'. Telll us more about the 'upright'. Is it some sort of figure? I wouldn't think that's too common. A quick look shows that a replacement marble top would hard to find and expensive. Obviously the tops are more fragile than the legs.

A wooden replacement would look OK. Like this Table

You'd come to no harm restoring it.

[plaques]

May be worth a look at 'Slate Age Fence Ltd.' Slate Age.. I've bought Granite to make fire places with quite reasonable prices at that time.

[Wendyf]

Thanks Ken I'll have a look.

Tripps, there is a figure at the top of each leg and a lion's head in between each figure. They are females with a Union Jack shield so possibly Britannia?

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[Wendyf]

I'm now thinking that the original top was likely to have been wood.

[Cathy]

Ooo, can’t wait to see it all restored Wendy.
I’d like something like that to put the bird’s water bowls on.

[Tripps]

They are females with a Union Jack shield so possibly Britannia?

I agree . On a closer look it seems to be the same as the one in the link.

Exciting project - might be a bit post colonial for any woke friends though.

Reminds me of the quip-
Ladies - when a man says he will do something, he will.

► Show Spoiler

There's no need to remind him every six months.

[Wendyf]

Ooo, can’t wait to see it all restored Wendy.
I’d like something like that to put the bird’s water bowls on.

Don't hold your breath Cathy, it might be a while! Mind you, we moved it out into an open area this afternoon ready for power washing, the remains of the top just crumbled away.

[Wendyf]

Tripps, love the idea that I might have woke friends who could be offended by my table....I might get a green chenille tablecloth to throw over if I am in any doubt about visitor's reactions.
I have put 2 hefty pallets next to each other in the garden to create a sort of decking area for my bench and table. Sadly they are bright blue.

[Tripps]

I changed the search terms to 'cast iron victorian table'and found quite a few on ebay. This is the best I'd say. Cast iron table. I'm almost tempted, but they're heavy, and collect only. .

I mentioned the 'woke' thing because I gave my late friend the Poet next door, a mug from the Britannia Coconut Dancers shop. Nutters Mug She thought it was a good idea at the time, (drink having been taken as they say) but gave it me back a couple of weeks later for fear of what her intellectual friends would think of her for owning such a thing.

[Wendyf]

I'll get my paints out!

[Stanley]

"for fear of what her intellectual friends would think of her for owning such a thing"
I must be peculiar, what my friends thought about my choice wouldn't affect me. But then I'm an insensitive bugger..... I have my Connor knicker prints in the kitchen.



Ken, that thought had come to my mind as well and it would be very good if it's going to sit out of doors, weather plays hell with wooden table tops. (As does water from plants.)