Dear esteemed NASS members:
My name is John Carmichael and I thought it would be proper to present
myself to you as a new member of the society. Let me say that I was greatly
pleased and amazed when I found out that a sundial society even existed.
And there are so many members!
I have been designing and building sundials for five years, first as a
hobby, then as a business. I obtained all my knowledge and experience from
the rather scarce resources of the public library and a lot of hard work.
To find the answers to my questions I,ve had to develop my own theories and
conduct experiments as I knew of no other dialers who could help. Looking
back I'm glad that I was isolated in the beginning because it forced me to
think harder and has contributed to the uniqueness of my sundials.
Harold Brandmaier saw a newspaper article about my heliochronometers on the
internet and contacted me, putting me in touch with Claude Hartman and Fred
Sawyer.
I sent them all photos, newspaper clips, and copies of my Sundial Owner's
Manual. Harold told me it was the best manual he's ever seen. As I
told them, I've been living in my own little sundial world and I can't wait
to exchange ideas and to confirm my theories with my fellow dialers (or is
it "dialists"?).
I design and make gorgeous (I'm not modest) hand carved and polished
heliochronometers. They are longitude corrected and tell Standard Time .
They also show the time and direction of sunrises and sunsets for different
dates. Around the outer circumference of my horizontal dials are
engraved the 360 degrees of a compass which is used for local sighting
purposes and bearing taking. The solar azimuth is also shown. The blank,
non-functional areas of the face (the central and southern portions) are
filled with beautiful engravings in the stone and inlayed brass.
I love to carve realistic natural three dimentional scenes of birds,
insects, animals and panoramas. But I also get many requests for carvings
with a southwestern or native american theme. Sometimes I'll combine the
two on one dial. I take as much pride in my artwork as I do in the quality
of my timepieces.
Usually, I stain or paint the engraved parts with gold or dark colors to
provide more contrast with the lighter colored stone face. This accentuates
the artwork and makes the dial easier to read. The dial stone is Coconino
flagstone from a quarry near Ashfork Arizona. I am very picky when
selecting my stone. It must be as flat, smooth and flawless as possible .
It must be at least 1.5 inches thick. After cutting the raw stone to shape,
I mark the design and begin carving with water lubricated high speed diamond
burrs. As flagstone is like a sponge, water really soaks in during carving.
Water trapped in the stone can cause fracturing of the stone from expansion
due to freezing or high temperatures. (I learned this the hard way!) So now
I bake my stones in thwe hot Arizona sun for many hours before I seal them
to remove as much water as possible. After this I begin the
polishing/sealing process which takes several days to complete.
Unbelieveably, when it is done, my flagstone dials have a marble-like high
luster sheen. I have never seen any flagstone anywhere that is polished to
this extent. In fact, I didn't think that it was possible until I did it
myself.
As far as I know, my copyrighted gnomon "mechanism" is also unique. In my
research I have not found any other sundials with this feature. ( If any of
you have, please let me know). The gnomon on my horizontal dials is a thin
brass cable held perfectly straight under tension by a hinged brass lever
from which is suspended a heavy counterweight. The counterweight can be
almost any heavy object: an interesting rock or mineral sample, glass or
polished stone spheres, solid brass balls or teardrops,etc.
My main business is horizontal dials but I occasionally make polar or
vertical south dials using the same materials and techniques. I've made 52
sundials to date and most have been sold locally. Because they take me at
least three weeks apiece to make, I can only do about 15 per year. My small
heliochronometers are 24.5 inches in diameter, weigh about 60 lbs. , and
have 10 minute markings. They are readable to within 2 minutes or so. My
large dials are 40 inches in diameter and weigh about 140 lbs. They have 5
minute markings and are readable to within about 30 seconds.
All dials are different and individually priced.
I'd love to communicate with any of you who are interested in my work,
especially those of you who work in stone or brass. I'd like to try marble,
slate, or granite someday (hello Susan!).
You can reach me at the above E-Mail address or at phone: (520) 696-1709 or
at 925 E. Foothills Dr. Tucson Az 85718
Thanks for reading this, and I hope to hear from you soon,
John L Carmichael Jr.
