Grandfather Clocks Add Elegance to Your Home

I remember growing up as a child the large grandfather clock in my grandmother’s house. It never failed to chime the quarter hour and then play a fanciful tune each hour. I remember having to pull the heavy weights on occasion to wind the grandfather clock’s mechanism. It was huge, standing over six feet tall. And it has some of the most ornate wood carving I had ever seen. My father’s grandfather was a woodworker by trade; actually a cabinetmaker. He completed his apprenticeship in Germany at the turn of the last century. He was very skilled in woodworking and wood carving. This grandfather clock was a testament to his skill as a woodworker.

You can enjoy the elegance of a grandfather clock in your home. Many original, antique grandfather clocks still exist, today. But they are hard to find. Many of them will need expensive repairs, as well, since their mechanisms may have gotten out of tune over time. However, an antique grandfather clock is a treasure to find as they can almost always be tuned and repaired to like new condition.

If you can’t find an antique grandfather clock you can always buy a reproduction clock. These are brand new grandfather clocks that can look exactly like an antique one. They have the same type of wood carvings and movements inside so that the average person wouldn’t be able to tell it apart from the real one. And the prices on the reproductions are drastically less expensive than an antique.

One last option is to build your own. If you are handy with woodworking, you can buy grandfather clock kits. These kits can be as simple as complete kits with all the pieces that simply need assembly, to bare plans where you have to cut, carve, and finish each piece of wood yourself. Depending on your skill level, you may wish to build your own grandfather clock and make it a keepsake for your entire family.