WEATHERVANES
PROCESS, AESTHETICS AND SIZING A WEATHERVANE
36” Brook Trout northern white cedar marine wood-epoxy composite weathervane. Scale 4.5:1.
WHY WEATHERVANES?
While building a wood drift boat back in the days when I was carving decoys, I recognized the potential to apply marine wood-epoxy composite technology to exterior fish carvings, particularly weathervanes. As one whose carving origins began with working decoys but transitioned to fish carving, fish weathervanes are a logical utilitarian folk art conclusion - and there is something magical and fun about watching them point into the wind.
What distinguishes my carved wood-epoxy composite weathervanes from most copper vanes and their makers?
The short answer is anatomical knowledge and unique one-of-a-kind creations versus manufactured copies. Weathervane makers typically do not create their own shapes particularly if they are copper vanes hammered from iron cast molds, but rather rely on carvers to create the original shape for them to copy. Nineteenth century weathervane masters are revered for their beautiful manufactured works ( J. Howard & Company horse vanes come to mind), but credit is rarely given to the mostly unknown carvers that created their vane’s original shape or wood plugs that the vane’s iron molds were cast from.
While fish have been as well known to the casual observer as horses or other commonly rendered species, they seem to have never received the respect and devotion required to accurately recreate their shape for weathervanes. It can take years of experience or formal training to work out the subtle compound curves and shapes required to create an accurate fish model. One doesn’t have to know anything about fish anatomy to intuitively know when a fin placement or body shape doesn’t look right. It perhaps explains why there are practically no great historical examples of manufactured fish weathervanes from the 19th century vane makers like J. Howard or individual folk creations. Based on a dearth of historical examples, it could be that my fish vanes are the most accurate and realistically rendered fish vanes available.
PROCESS
It takes skillful artisans a few hours to hammer thin sheet copper in a vane’s molds and trim and solder the parts together. Creating original shapes however requires completely different skills and is significantly more time intensive - from drawing the pattern to carving and painting. All combined it typically takes several weeks to complete one of my weathervanes. Hand painting the 10,000 plus scales alone for a species like trout takes about 20 hours. In a world where uniform mass-production and time efficiencies are celebrated and the merits of time intensive original work is often unappreciated, I offer genuinely unique fish weathervanes that combines the best of modern technology with artisanship from an earlier era.
MATERIALS
Weathervanes are simple mechanical devices that have two functional requirements - that the axis be placed forward of center to turn the vane into the wind, and the vane be counter balanced to evenly distribute the weight over the axis. Using the most practical, durable and time tested mechanical design (a spindle, spindle tube and single independent ball bearing), I use the highest quality materials available - stainless steel for the custom made mechanical load bearing components, and state-of-the-art marine wood-epoxy composite technology for the vanes.
Wood-epoxy Composite Technology
WHAT IS IT?
Marine Wood-epoxy composite technology makes it possible to create durable heirloom quality exterior wood fish carvings. 36” Brown Trout northern white cedar weathervane, scale 2:1.
First developed in the mid twentieth century for marine applications, wood-epoxy composite technology laminates and seals wood with modern plastic adhesives / sealers in structural wood applications. State-of-the-Art Wood-epoxy Composite technology’s strength and durability has revolutionized contemporary exterior structural wood applications from heavy load bearing vehicular bridges, high performance and recreational waterproof boat building to my weathervanes. The technology makes it possible to create durable heirloom quality exterior wood fish carvings.
HOW IT’S USED AND WHY IT WORKS
JOINTING - The two planks that create the body, and all the fins and tail are glued with epoxy in mortise and tongue joints to take advantage of the wood grain’s direction and natural strength while also making the joints stronger than the wood itself.
SEALING - The first coat of epoxy penetrates into the wood grains creating a super strong structural bond and successive coats build a substantial mil (3 total coats are applied over a several hour period when the epoxy is still green or soft). As the epoxy cures each coat chemically links with the others and the wood grains creating a hard plastic submersible shell that is impervious to moister. Moisture is the major reason for wood failure. No moisture, no failure.
Wet sanding the cured marine epoxy moisture barrier before painting a 48” Steelhead trout weathervane. Weathervanes are painted and finished with state-of-the-art exterior finishes - U.V. resistant acrylic automotive artist paints and protective 2 part urethane automotive high gloss clear coats with U.V. inhibitors.
AESTHETICS
There is more to creating a weathervane’s visual appeal than the vane itself. One could describe integrating the vane into the spire, globes and cardinal points (N-E-S-W) as presentation aesthetics. There is a major difference how nineteenth century vane makers designed their presentations when the American weathervane industry reached its creative and economic peak, and contemporary retailers and makers.
It seems to be a reasonable assertion that the change in aesthetics from the nineteenth century master’s to contemporary presentations came with the decline and loss of the weathervane industry in the early to mid twentieth century, and replaced a generation later by retailers that do not make weathervanes but sell imported copies from an earlier era. I can only speculate on why the change occurred but the contemporary arrangement of display components and vane (and cupolas) seems to favor a retailer’s ground based perspective rather than roof top installations. While a show-floor based aesthetic is appealing up close, when viewed on distant roof tops often substantially shrinks into busy presentations. Nineteenth century design consciously plans an installation for its structure and is meant to be viewed from a distance. It scales the components to the vane, has open spaces that optically enlarges the overall presentation, and draws the eye to linger over details. When you purchase one of my weathervanes, you are also purchasing an aesthetic. I design my vanes and their presentation with a nod to the nineteenth century masters.
19th Century Aesthetics - The spire’s area above the roof line is approximately two-thirds (measured from the globes outer edges for hip roof cupolas), to the full length of the vane with substantial breathing space between the globes and cardinal points (N-E-S-W). Also, 19th century vane makers scaled their signature cardinal points and globe diameters to their vane sizes. Contemporary vanes are usually paired with the same size and style cardinals and globes regardless of vane size. 36” Rainbow Trout vane, 3” and 5” globes, 23” x 3.75” cardinal points.
Contemporary Aesthetics - The spire’s area above the roof line is typically one-third or less than the length of the vane. Most notably is the lack of space between the globes and cardinal points. While aesthetically balanced, the arrangement becomes too compressed and busy to appreciate from typical viewing distances, and optically diminishes the vane’s size and overall presentation. In the above example, the vane would only be about 14” above the roof line without the additional height of the hip roof styled cupola (also undersized - section on Cupola Design coming soon). Vane is an imported reproduction of the famous trotting champion Black Hawk produced by many of the 19th century American vane makers. 36” vane, 2” and 4” globes and 18” x 3” cardinal points.
SIZING A WEATHERVANE
Contemporary weathervane makers and retailers typically sell their vanes based on an all-encompassing sizing formula of 1” of vane per foot of roof line. While it is a convenient way to sell vanes, the formula does not take into account the height and scale of a structure - both of which often have little to do with the number of feet in a roofline. The usual result is an undersized weathervane that in the extreme can instead of being an architectual focal point be obscure and busy to the point of distraction. Perhaps the most important considerations when sizing a vane are its scale to the structure, the distance from which the vane will typically be viewed, and the vane’s expected viewing impact. Which is to say, sizing a weathervane is really best done on a case-by-case basis.
While I offer as a starting point two vane sizes to meet many common viewing distances, heights and structures, sizing a vane is a simple process. Contact me if you have questions about sizing a weathervane. I’ll be happy to discuss them with you and what might be an appropriate size vane for your project.
48” Coastal Rainbow Trout Steelhead “Bright Hen”, northern white cedar marine wood epoxy-composite weathervane with finished paint scheme and clear coat. Scale 1.6:1. Commissioned by the Orvis Company for their western flagship store, Bend Oregon.
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REFERENCES AND READING
Heritage Above - A Tribute to Maine’s Tradition of Weather Vanes, Marcia Burnell, Maine, Down East Books, 1991
Spiritually Moving - A Collection of American Folk Art Sculpture, Tom Geismar and Harvey Kahn, New York, Harry N. Abrams, 1998
Yankee Weathervanes, Myrna Kaye, New York, E.P. Dutton & Co., 1975
Mystery of the Missing Molds - or - Scattered to the Winds, Myrna Kaye, Maine, Maine Antiques Digest, May 2002
The Many Directions of J. Howard, Weathervane Maker or J. Howard Weathervane Manufacturer,…Farmer, Myrna Kaye, Maine, Maine Antique Digest, August 1982
Weather Vanes - The History, Manufacture and Design of an American Folk Art, Charles Klamkin, New York, Hawthorn Books, 1973
Weathervanes, Prior Art and Available Art Book, #7274, Kenneth Lynch, Connecticut, Canterbury Publishing Co., 1971
The Art of the Weathervane, Steve Miller, Pennsylvania, Schiffer, 1984
Weathervane Secrets - Historic Lore and Hidden Contents of Vanes in New England and Old England, Mabel E. Reaveley, New Hampshire, William L. Bauhan, 1984
J.W. Fisher 1893 The American Historical Catalog Collection, 1971
Illustrated Catalogue and Price List of Copper Weather Vanes etc, Facsimile of Thomas W. Jones Nineteenth century catalog
American Antique Weather Vanes, The Complete Illustrated Westervelt Catalog of 1883, Dover Publications, 1982
Weathervanes of Great Britain, Patricia and Philip Mockridge, London, Robert Hale Limited, 1990