Introduction: Asian Style Fossil/PetrifiedWood Wall Clock

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I purchased a piece of Petrified Wood on Ebay with the intent of making a clock. This piece was described as coming from Indonesia. I also like the look of Japanese Torii Gates. This is my version of putting the two together. The edge of the Petrified Wood Slice really shows what the the bark of the tree looked like.

Step 1: Tools and Materials

Materials

  • A small cut off piece of 1x6 Walnut Wood.
  • Piece of Petrified Wood
  • Battery Clock Movement
  • J-B Weld Epoxy Glue
  • CA Glue
  • Polyurethane
  • Sandpaper
  • Jig Saw
  • Router
  • Dremel

Tools

Step 2: The Plan

I sketched a rough draft of what I wanted the shape of the clock to look like. Made a hand drawn template on printer paper, then cut out the 3 pieces for the Torii. Then transferred those over to the Walnut.

Step 3: Cutting Out and Shaping the Wood

After clamping the wood down the pieces were then cut out using a jig saw.

Used the oscillating sander to sand down to the line with 80 grit sandpaper.

Using the router to round over all the edges of the wood was challenging. I don't have a router table so I used scrap pieces to help keep the router level.

The on to the palm sander, worked my way up from 80/100/150/220 grits.

After that I hand sanded all the pieces with 220 grit until I was satisfied with the shape and smoothness.

Step 4: Drlling the Hole in the Petrified Wood.

Petrified Wood is classified as a fossil. But the process of Permineralization turns the tree into stone. I had no way of knowing how hard this stone was.

The diamond bit had little trouble drilling a hole through it. I kept the fossil under water the entire time it was slowly being drilled to keep the drill bit cool.

I would consider this piece a soft stone.

Step 5: Assembling the Torii

I dry fitted the three pieces to the Fossil, then used CA glue to temporarily hold them together.

Holes were predrilled and countersunk for the two screws from the back. I normally would have used wood glue and clamps to attach them, but I thought I might have to use the legs to hang the clock from. I hadn't received the clock mechanism yet. As it turned out the mechanism included a metal hanger. So it was used.

Three coats of water based matte finish polyurethane was brushed on.

Step 6: Attaching the Fossil to the Torii

I sanded off the finish where the epoxy glue was going to be applied to the wood.

Also drilled a series of small holes for the glue to adhere better to the wood.

Then used a dremel with a grindstone to scuff up the petrified wood for the same reason.

Mixed the 2 part glue together, placed the Torii on top of the fossil. Weighted the assembly down and waited the 16 hours for the glue to fully cure.

J-B weld is really strong once totally cured.

Step 7: Clock Assembly

These kits are really straight forward to assemble.

Put the metal hanger and rubber washer over the clock shaft, slide it through the hole and then put the metal washer on and screw the nut on to shaft to hold everything together.

The hour hand presses on over some plastic, the minute hand is held on by a small nut, and the second hand is pressed on.

Step 8: Conclusion

I didn't add numbers to face of the clock on purpose, I didn't want to take away from the beauty of the fossil. And I've already cut the hands down and may shorten them further.

My goal was to make a unique and pleasing to the eye clock. I'm happy with the way it came out.

Thanks for taking the time to check it out.