Expert: John Newman - 10/29/2010

Question
I have a clock with pendulum and weights that has been on its' back in the attic for about ten years.  It will chime once every half hour but chimes 15 times every hour.  Should/can I oil/clean it myself?  It took a similar clock to get fixed and it cost me $250, and it still didn't work.

Answer
Alfred, you can certainly clean and oil it yourself if you know how to do it properly.  To do this you have to determine what the condition is and use the proper clock cleaning solutions and lubricants.  Being as the clock has been in an attic for a long period of time, it could be that there is a lot of dust that has accumulated and the lubricants have deteriorated to a point that they are hard and gummy.  In this case a professional clockmaker would disassemble the clock, clean and inspect each part before reassembling and lubricating.  I can send you labeled photos and oiling instructions and recommend the proper lubricants, but they will not be much help if the movement needs a thorough cleaning.  There can also be some worn parts that would have to be repaired.  I think that the excessive striking (I think you do mean striking rather than chiming) can be caused by gummy lubricants or defective parts.  I would need to know the model of the clock movement itself to determine a few things, but it sounds like yours uses a rack and snail mechanism to determine the number of strikes.  This is rather technical, but the snail is a multi-level cam that rotates with the hour hand and the rack falls on each level associated with the particular hour, the lowest being the twelve count.  If the rack is falling behind and the snail is hitting the hour tube, which is lower than the 12 level, it can result in an extended strike.  To see this and correct it, the hands and dial have to be removed from the movement.  As far as spending the money on a clock that wasn't fixed, I don't know what the rate is for the area in which you live (varies in different areas all over), but did you return it when you found that it didn't work?  I work with a great group of members of my Internet Clocksmiths group and I don't know of anyone that would not correct a problem if the clock was returned.  If you would like some information on the lubricating procedures, contact me at my shop email address below and I will be glad to send you some photos, instructions and details.

John Newman
THE VILLAGE CLOCKSMITH
Old Prattvillage
Prattville, Alabama

klokdok@juno.com

Note:  Because of the number of Allexpert questions and follow ups,
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