An artist and an astronomer

  My son had a tree cut down in his yard due to disease. An old white oak tree. Due to its size, it was cut about three foot up from the ground. The stump is immense and the root system almost impossible to remove without excavating the yard. So, it was decided to make use of that stump. I assumed the task and have been enjoying the project. I began by removing the bark. With some experimentation I discovered the easiest way to accomplish that. I did get some advice from online experts; they are in abundance on You Tube on any subject that comes to mind. Following that I needed to level off that stump at a height of about twenty-eight to thirty inches. That's the standard height for a table. But I don't have a chain saw or a two-man saw. I could have rented a chain saw but decided to purchase one instead. Harbor Freight just opened a new location close to me and I went there. To make a long story short I purchased an electric chain saw with a 14" bar with a grand opening deal for just thirty-eight dollars. Now that stump has a girth of over fifty inches, so it was a bit of a challenge. I did manage to get it done with that saw. I have to say it was well worth the thirty-eight dollars I paid for the saw. Kudo's to Harbor Freight. 

 My son wanted a checkerboard on that stump. I liked that idea and suggested we add a sundial as well. That is what is going to happen. The checkerboard is easy enough to lay out, sixty-four two-inch squares is well within my capabilities as an artist. Okay, I used a framing square for that, and the longer leg of that square just happened to be two inches wide, making the job even simpler. Two inches is the standard size of a square on a checkerboard! You can learn a lot on the internet. The sundial however is more of a challenge. I have discovered several resources for that. There is certainly a lot more to creating a sundial that one would first expect. Having read about it quite a bit I gained a new appreciation for those ancient people that first figured it all out. It took a lot of time and patience. How they discovered the latitude I have no idea as sundials existed before we had globes with latitude and longitude lines. And yes, latitude plays a very important role in constructing a sundial. 

 I'm glad I live in a time when I can simply google all this information. I need to know the exact latitude of Greensboro, Md. Piece of cake, just ask. It is, 38.595 degrees north latitude, 75.85 degrees west longitude. Then I needed to know the magnetic declination. Again, easy peesy, it is 11.46 degrees west. You need to know that in order for the "clock" to be accurate. Knowing all that information I entered it into a program that drew a template for my sundial face and one for the gnomon. The gnomon is the slanted piece that sticks up on the sundial to cast the shadow. That angle must be the same as the latitude where the sundial is being used. The magnetic declination must be known to be able to point that gnomon towards true north, otherwise your time will be off by the number of degrees of declination. I know, it gets complicated and a bit confusing. You still have to adjust the dial for daylight saving time to have the universe agree with what the government says. It's a difference of about fifteen minutes in the northern hemisphere. 

 The project is moving along nicely but the rains have come. I'll continue when it is dry enough. The plan is to stain the black squares on the checkerboard and leave the other squares that natural white oak color. I know the standard checkerboard should have red and black squares, but I don't want to paint that wood. Call it creative license. The sundial will be laid out with lines showing the hours from 6AM to 6PM. That is just the template I chose given the space I had to work with. The gnomon will be made out of oak as well. I plan to seal the whole stump with polyurethane, high gloss with UV resistant qualities. Regular two-part epoxy resins are quite expensive so I'm opting for the poly. The internet tells me I can expect that stump to last anywhere from two to five years before rotting away. I will post some pictures when the project is complete. I've learned a lot about sundials so far. I'm just glad there are programs to do the math for me and print out templates. Sure, makes the task a lot easier. If I had to figure all that out, I would certainly have a headache. I just get to enjoy the process. It's like paint by the numbers, only it's astronomy by the numbers. An artist and an astronomer! I like that.