My grandpa, Eldon, started building this mission-style clock for us before he even knew about our obsession with all things Stickley. It’s made of locust, which is a heavy, hard wood often used for boat hulls and xylophone keys. He’s finishing it with oil rather than stain, which should bring out the natural grain and color of the locust wood.
We can’t wait to see it in person, but Grandpa’s very humble about it. Here’s what he said in the e-mail with the photo –
A quick look at the Harland clock. Although I have quite a bit to do yet, I stood it up for the first time a couple days ago. No glass yet in the front door, and the side panels on the top need to be sanded and finished. The little yellow thingys under the dial are small clamps holding the dial to the dial board. I have some different colored cloth to put into the top side panels, other than black ones that came with the order and don’t look like they belonged there.
Just don’t get the photo too much closer or you will see some of the flaws in my work or the boards. I heard one time that the Amish women, when making quilts, actually design flaws to enter into their creations for people to see, because they say only God doesn’t make mistakes and they don’t intend that they are on a parallel with Him.
For reference, here’s Stickley’s Tall Case Clock. I think I like Grandpa’s – especially the square face and open sides (for the chimes) – better.
Not at all related to the clock, but here’s another e-mail from Grandpa about woodworking and carpentry that I really enjoyed reading –
My father was a great reader of catalogs. He seldom had money to spend on such things as nice tools, but I discovered from my own experience how much information you can gain just by reading and looking at catalogs. My grandfather Marsh was an accomplished carpenter. He learned the trade in England before he came to America. He built their home on the tree claim he and my grandmother took south of Plainview in 1884. That house stood until last year when they demolished it to develop the land for irrigation.
Several years ago I went there and took trim boards from that house, with permission of the owner, and made a box on a stand to store family records. You may recall the house west of Foster on the south side of the highway, where the Acklies lived. The Acklie girl was a good friend of your mother. That old house with its spires and third story was built by my grandfather. He walked to work each Monday morning, worked all week there and walked home to nine miles south of Plainview for Sunday. The house is gone now, but I regret that I never went to take photos of it.
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De-Victorianization on Division 