Filing a verge
In the last few months a number of old clocks with verge escapement have come in for repair. In all three cases the verge pallets showed considerable wear that had to be filed away and the pallet surfaces re-polished. However, it is difficult to hold the verge in a steady and straight position. Only in that way will it be possible to obtain a flat and even surface when filing and polishing the pallets.
In Reparatur alter Pendeluhren by H Jendritzki (Editions Scriptar SA, Lausanne 1991, pp33-34) the author suggests a device for filing the pallets when making a new verge. Based on this, I made a jig in order to hold the pallets safely. A piece of 12mm brass rod was faced at one end and a groove, around 1mm deep and of the same width as the pallet to be worked on was filed into the end. This groove supports the pallet. At a right angle to it a V-shaped slot, about 2mm deep, was filed. This slot accommodates the verge staff, see photographs.
If the pendulum is fixed to the verge staff, a simple wooden jig (a block of square wood at the end of which is a strip of thin plywood, in my case some 15mm wide and 13cm long, is glued to it in a perpendicular position) to support the pendulum at the correct angle thus bringing the pallet surface in an exactly level position.
For the first time I obtained a nicely polished surface that was straight and level and the escapements worked smoothly. The result was well worth the small effort of making the two jigs.
Dr Thomas Fishcher-Dieskau, Germany
