Several years ago I described on one of the discussion lists a method I have developed and used for about 20 years or more on all striking and chiming clocks especially those of French origin.  They have the hardest of pivots and often bring grief to the horologist by snapping off whilst trying to locate them in their plate holes.  One of the hardest workshop techniques as well for those who are new to re-assembly (or perhaps a bit rusty) is how to get all the wheels and levers to synchronise properly for the strike and the chime.  We never seem to have sufficient fingers! 

I discovered Rodico when I was in my 20's - a plasticene type material from Bergeon sold through all material houses such as TimeSavers, LaRose, Cousins, A G Thomas and so on..  It's prime purpose is in watch work as a means of removing blemishes and dust/debris from watch parts.  Excellent also for dabbing on pivots to ensure cleanliness.  I use a whole bar of the stuff as a bounce-pad during watch repair.  When the watch-material gets tatty it is put one side for clock work uses. 

This material is non-sticky but picks up dirt and grit and helps remove fingermarks too. I have used it in my watch repair for about 20 years before I realised one day that it was a great non-marking non-invasive gripper for small clock parts and tried it out on a little French Striking clock.  The result was so dramatic and useful that I have used the material ever since and would never even contemplate trying to juggle all the parts of a striker without a few helping hands.

For anyone who is interested I have written out the basic procedure as would be applied to a standard Rack and Snail clock of French origin.  Obviously, other types such as American wheel and wires, 3 Train Strike/Chime models, 30 hour Longcase Clocks and the various styles of Countwheel clock require the procedure to be adapted slightly - but it WILL work really well for all of them. 

 I begin always with the hammer pin wheel and the hammer lift bar ONLY and after making SURE that the hammer falls properly, (not so critical for French clocks, see step 7 below), I place small pieces of Rodico to hold them in place.  Then successively add wheel after wheel testing and fixing with Rodico.    After completing the Strike train I do the same with the Chime train if one is present and finally the Going train.   If this is done carefully with attention to detail you build the clock trains but ONCE and you have ABSOLUTELY no pivot problems even with those fine French movements.  I have not damaged a pivot on re-assembly for years and years.  Using this method it is possible to remove mainspring barrels for correction should you find that a new spring is failing to hold properly.  Furthermore the incidence of fingermarks is reduced considerably because it is possible to wear cotton gloves on both hands for almost all of the time. Last time I offered this suggestion several people told me it cannot work, would take too long, and so on.  I say now as I have said previously......  Try it a few times.   First time you do it it will be a strange technique but soon you realise that those wheels AND levers stay EXACTLY where you want them to stay ALL OF THE TIME!! (they even stay there when you answer the telephone or need to talk to a customer in the front office)  I don't do many American clocks these days as my clock time is mainly with French movements but Rodico makes the assembly of the wheels and wires of an American clock a real breeze.......

Here in Britain there is a material called BLU-TACK which is a lot cheaper than Rodico and has great adhesion but sadly does not always remove as the latter...  I tried it several times but prefer Rodico.