"It's not that Keith Chambers has a particular fascination with time, but rather it's his childhood love of woodworking, and the challenges that wooden clockmaking brings, that has him wound up. With nearly 100 hours put into each individual clock, Keith said he loves the intricacy and detail it takes to perfect his timeless tickers.
"Am I crazy about clocks?" he pondered with a grin. "Well, no, not really, but it's a challenge."
A native of Danville, Ky., and an Eastern Kentucky University grad, Chambers has always appreciated a more hands-on approach, which is what led him to major in industrial education and to a career as a mechanical design engineer.
"I've got sort of a crooked background——I've always loved woodwork but I've been in the mechanical design field for 20-some years," he said. "I get to design and manufacture custom auto and video equipment, then during nights and weekends, I get a chance to work on my clocks. Woodwork is something I've always done, I'm good at it, and I enjoy it. I had gotten the idea of making wooden-geared clocks from this magazine I kept from 1987. I always knew it was something I wanted to try, so with my mechanical background, it seemed like the perfect challenge to me."
When it comes his uncommon knack for building timekeepers, Chambers takes a lot of pride in the fact that each of his clocks is unique, hand-crafted, and made of only the finest woods——some of which is found right here in Lexington, while other more exotic wood has to be shipped from various corners of the world.
Chambers builds his clocks——which contain more than 200 total parts; 170 of which are custom made——to exemplify the natural beauty of the woods he chooses. For his dials, he said he tries to make the grain look like it radiates out from the center, and once the timepieces are complete, he finishes with lacquer, finishing oil, and other various protectants. He doesn't use dyes or stains on the wood so all that shines through is the sleek perfection of Mother Earth.
"I like to use rare lumber," he said. "Purple heart, yellow heart, zebrawood from Congo——I sell more of these than anything. I also use cherry, oak, walnut."
With each of his clocks——many are scattered throughout his home and several in various stages of completion dotted his small, one-room garage/shop——Chambers said he first designs it on his computer.
"I really spend a lot of time on the design," he said. "Then I make my individual drawings for everything, every little piece. The thing with wooden gears is kind of a change, you work in close tolerances; the gears are probably the worst things. On the computer everything is super accurate, so the real challenge is getting it from the computer into a real part. When I first start, it is really daunting, and it's really detailed. For the hands alone I might spend an hour designing and two minutes to make the cut."
Once he has the perfect design, it's time for Chambers' hands to get to work. Because of his love of challenges, he said he likes that he only uses woodworking equipment——no fancy machines for him, just a table saw, drill press, jig saw, band saw, and lots of routers. "When you look in here, it just looks like any other woodworker's shop."
Because so much of what Chambers does requires detailed precision and planning, it's no wonder he makes multiple pieces at once, especially when it comes to the clock's most intricate parts——the gears.
"When I start making gears, that's all I'm doing. I make three different outlines of the gears, I draw the gears, then I take the profile and make another drawing. Then I send off the info to Montana and they actually make the fitted bits for me," explained Chambers. "It's fine tuning using the different-sized bits to first cut away excess wood, then angle it with another bit, then go back for fine tuning, down every single groove——to give it the profile of real metal gears. A 64-tooth gear has over 190 cuts in it. It brings tears to your eye when you're done and you realize one of the teeth is chipped."
After the gears and other parts are completed, he installs a custom made 24-volt AC motor, which keeps the clock accurate within one second a month.
"I do everything right here," he said of his one-person workstation, sprinkled with layers of sawdust. "I don't really have expensive equipment but I can do it all. I always work on different stuff, so when I get tired of working on one piece, I'll work on another."
Chambers started selling his clocks five years ago under the name Woodwerks, and travels to various art shows throughout the year to generate a client base. This year he said he attended six shows, including Louisville's St. James Court Art Show (rated the #1 Art Show in America in 2007 by Sunshine Artist Magazine), Keeneland Art Fair, and the Kentucky Guild of Artists and Craftsmen Art Fair, which is only open to Guild members.
"Last year I did a few more shows," said Chambers. "I tend to get burnt out because I have to take a day of vacation from work, set up (it's a two day show), then I unload and go back to work——I'm like a zombie.
"I'm still learning about the fairs and what sells," he continued. "I did a show in Louisville, the first time, and you can't always listen to the (other) artists. This artist made birdhouses out of birdseed and she told me, 'oh you'll love this show, it's a great show.' She sold every single one; I didn't sell any. It just varies from show to show."
To become a member of the Kentucky Guild of Artists and Craftsmen, an artist's work has to be of exceptional quality. For member and glass artist Dan Neil Barnes, there was no doubt in his mind that Chamber's unique clocks would make the cut.
"The first time I met him was at the Guild," said Barnes, who has done several art shows with Chambers and calls him a really good friend. "I didn't know who he was but once I saw his work, I knew instantly it would get in. His craftsmanship is excellent and his designs are really good. I've always been a big supporter of Keith, pushing him to do bigger, better shows. He needs to be doing these national shows, he's that good."
One Lexington couple happened upon a picture of Chambers' work before he started attending shows, and they actually purchased his first clock——a tabletop wooden-geared one. "I've always been interested in the arts and when I saw a picture of his beautiful clocks, I thought they were really neat," said Peaches Scearce, local landscaper. "My husband, Ralph, and I were introduced to Keith and he' a very personable guy so we ended up going to his house and buying a clock it was an expensive dinner! The clock sits in my husband's office at home and we just love it. It's so precise, very unusual, and really top notch——and his beautiful clock has never lost a minute of time."
Chambers said he tries to accommodate everyone at shows by supplying a varied assortment of clock colors and sizes. Although his one and only, very distinguished-looking, handmade grandfather clock sits proudly in his home's front room, he said he doesn't plan to design more until he's perfected it.
"One clock I sell is the wall clock," he said. "I have a swinging owl——already made two of those——a little mouse with simulated cheese, one that has a second hand with a leaf, or chili pepper, or lady bugs, but leaves sell pretty well. I'm always making more than one clock at a time."
Chambers bases the price of each clock by the number of hours he has put into it. He said the smaller desk clocks range from $70-$140, and some of his larger, more detailed pieces can price as high as $2,800. And, of course, there is always the case of putting in too much work. "There are some I can't sell that high because I have so many hours put in!"
He said his goal is to make three new clocks each year. He also said before he attended his first art show five years ago, he had pushed himself to complete six. "After I did a show or two, I realized you don't have to sell one each show so now I make some more smaller stuff."
When asked whether he'd like to take his hobby to a fulltime level, Chambers said he's not in a hurry. "I like having this as my hobby. I'll be 55 next month so if my health holds up, even if I retire, I won't do it full time. This is my hobby and if I don't feel like going out to the shop to work on my clocks, I don't have to. It's like they say, I have one job, I don't need two."
This story originally appeared in the Chevy Chaser Magazine, our sister publication.