Easy-to-Make Wooden Sundials

Offert en anglais seulement

The sundial, the oldest mechanical clock, is also the truest – when properly set and corrected, it is more accurate at its longitude than modern clocks. Beneath and behind the shadows on the dial operate principles of celestial mechanics, geography, trigonometry and magnetism. With proper guidance, a good deal of sundial science can be learned in the making. Here is the guide.

Novice craftsmen who can wield a saw, a wood-burning pen, a matte knife, sandpaper and a few other simple tools can make five different kinds of sundials. Plans are flexible and allow for embellishment, alterations and a variety of materials. Pre-calculated templates can be removed from the book and transferred by carbon paper to wood. Illustrated step-by-step instructions show how to build horizontal, direct south vertical, folding equatorial, bowstring equatorial and diptych sundials. Ultimately, one can design a working pocket sundial.

Tables are included for four different latitudes (25°, 32°, 40°, 45°), applicable throughout the United States and much of North America. A table of more than one hundred cities gives latitude, longitude, time, zone, magnetic variation and the necessary time adjustments. A special section is given to dial correction – the equation of time, longitude, magnetic variation and hour angles. A bibliography and a list of sundial mottoes complete this comprehensive manual.

Softcover, 64 pages, 1982.