So I'm getting an itch to make a wooden clock (which traditionally use wood gears). I've watched a lot of videos and read how people do it, but thought I'd ask here. Here are some of the various methods I found, arranged with the suspected quality from okay to best:
- Cut them out entirely by hand (via scroll saw)
- Use a router somehow, most likely with a pattern piece, but then there's how to make that...
- Drill holes at the gear roots, then cut the sides with a band saw or scroll saw.
- Drill the above holes using a mill's DRO feature of holes-on-center.
- Use a rotary table and appropriately sized end mill as a router bit
- Use a dividing head and the proper gear cutter in a mill (though I don't know how well it would work on wood)
- Give up on wood gears altogether and do #6 with brass
Okay, any other methods that I'm missing? The thing is, I want to build one clock for starters, then decide if it's something I want to get into. At the moment, I have a mill, but no dividing head, gear cutters, or scroll saw.
What say you?