Creative Woodworks & crafts-103-2004-Holiday, страница 28

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mini clocks by the dozen to give to friends as presents, and he has a great quantity of them on hand at all times. Another striking clock on display in his Providence home is the Mike Bureh Clock (shown in Fig. 5), complete with dual pendulums and backlighting.

Miscellaneous practices and procedures employed by Ira

in general, Ira likes to hack-light the larger fretwork clocks, as he feels this really enhances their beauty and draws increased attention. Frankly, we couldn't agree more. He also likes to modify many of the patterns he uses to generate one-of-a-kind projects. Often, he will enlarge smaller clocks; for example, he enlarged all of our mini grandmother clocks, including 6'-tall versions of the Moonlight Kiss and Moonlight Fish Clocks, which were both designed to be only 25" in height. Another of Ira's favorite clocks is this beautiful version of Bill Guimond's Banjo Clock (see Fig. 6). Ira has also cut out a great quantity of religious plaques, including all those offered by Wildwood Designs. As you can see. ha has completed a vast amount of fretwork in the last nine years. Much of it has been donated to one of his favorite charities, Animal Welfare, in Providence and also in Vieques, Puerto Rico, where his second home is located. Animal Welfare holds auctions in which they sell handmade items in order to raise money to help sick and homeless animals.

Now, I know many of you may be wondering what type of wood Ira uses. It may surprise you, but be uses plywood for most of his projects. Sometimes he uses hardwood for his trim or cabinet doors, but most of his fretwork is on plywood. Both of Ira's homes arc near seafaring ports, so he has excellent sources for marine plywood, which is good on both sides. He also uses special trim from Wildwood Designs to cover up his edges very effectively. This eliminates the need for glued-up floor panels, and the plywood is less likely to warp or split than solid hardwood.

The Tower of Time

When asked what his biggest woodworking accomplishment has been, Ira quickly replies, "The Tower of Time." Ira built the first prototype of this 9-l/2'-tall clock by himself in three months, while Dan and I worked on it over a two year period. He admits that at times the project seemed overwhelming, but nevertheless he completed it magnificently. It should be noted that Ira accomplished this feat without the benefit of assembly instructions or floor plans. During its construction, he had a few-questions about the correct position of certain parts, and wc c-mailed him digital photos of our prototype to clarify what was to be done. This worked until Tra got ahead of us, at which point he was on his own! We are very proud of Ira for building the first prototype of this project and for making it look as it was intended.

His shop in Providence

Ira's Providence shop is the shop many woodworkers dream about (see Fig. 7). Everything is neat, orderly, and as clean as his operating room at St. Joseph Hospital. The shop is housed within an oversize two-car garage. Every hand tool has its place, just where Ira will need it, and all his Delta-Rockwell tools, although old, are in pristine condition. Ira says that in spite of their age, they all continue to perform flawlessly—not one has given him a major problem. He also uses many shop-built tools and assembly jigs; note the shop-built panel saw "hiding" behind the band saw in Fig. 8. The same photo also shows ins lumber storage area. The shop is well lighted, air conditioned and heated. Fig. 9 shows more of Ira's machine tools and storage areas for various hand tools.

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Fig. 4. Ira cut, assembles!, and finished the three lovely Anjoorian Clocks in just nine da ye.

Fig. 5. Mike Burch Clock, complete with dual pendulums and backlighting.

Fig. 6. Another of Ira's favorite clocks is this beautiful version of Bill Guimond's Banjo Clock.

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Fig. 7, Ira's Providence shop is the shop many woodworkers dream about.