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wall clock oil

matabog

By matabog
in All Things Clocks

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oldhippy Distinguished Member

oldhippy

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Thomas Tompion probably the king of clock making would have used whale oil, his clocks are worth thousands some still today have only ever been cleaned, no other repairs done, also the steel and the brass are a hell of a lot harder than the stuff today. In the really old bracket clocks the brass is so hard modern reamers will hardly touch the brass while with modern so called brass a reamer will go through it like a knife through butter.  

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oldhippy Distinguished Member

oldhippy

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24 minutes ago, vinn3 said:

so then  whale oil was better than clock oils available today?

I wouldn't say that. You have to take into account the very different atmospheric conditions we have in our homes today. The biggest problem with today's homes and clocks is central heating not only does it ruin the clock movement but the case as well, the heat is to dry. That's why these days we have so many types of lubrication. A slightly different subject about the old type of homes, they mainly had stone slab floors and the Longcase clock cases would suffer from water damage to the extent the bottoms would be cut off and some replaced, always look at the bottom of a Longcase to see if it's genuine or a replacement, not easy to do unless you have experience because it would have be undertaken many years ago which makes it harder to spot.    

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vinn3 Distinguished Member

vinn3

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i brought home one of those  well made German  mantle clocks home  yesterday. [ it looked new ] all 3  main springs UP TIGHT.   after letting all 3 down (a good story on its own),  they  were very tight! all the pivits were dry, but  the mvt.  would run. SO;  over tight main spring can stop a clock?  what do youall think?   vinn

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oldhippy Distinguished Member

oldhippy

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2 hours ago, vinn3 said:

i brought home one of those  well made German  mantle clocks home  yesterday. [ it looked new ] all 3  main springs UP TIGHT.   after letting all 3 down (a good story on its own),  they  were very tight! all the pivits were dry, but  the mvt.  would run. SO;  over tight main spring can stop a clock?  what do youall think?   vinn

More likely the lack of oil, oiled in the right places  makes a big difference between going and and stopping. Sounds as if the spring was pinching in the barrel. You would wind the springs right up in order for it to work for 8 days besides only the train side is needed for the clock to go. The clock has three springs so what you have is a 8day Westminster chime .

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