The "A Sundial Made By A Friend" Story

 It was an ordinary day.  Cleaning the sundial that has been on the back deck of my home for the past 20 years.  It was made for Carol and me by a friend and fellow teacher at Manheim Township High School.

My sundial.  The base is copper while the part that stands up,
which is known as the gnomon, is brass.

John Shultz was a high school mathematics teacher who loved anything related to numbers.  He got the idea that he could make a sundial for he and his wife and when he saw how neat it was, he decided to make a sundial for some of his friends.  Wasn't long before he stopped in my classroom and gave me one of his copper sundials.  It has been on my rear deck, telling the time of day ever since he gave it to me over 20 years ago.  What's neat is that I have never had to change the batteries since he gave it to me...since it has none!

  

The date Carol and I were married.

In the booklet that he prints with each sundial, he tells how he became interested in sundials when he saw a table representing the equation of time and was curious why the correction was zero on his birthdate (September 1).  Since he began making sundials he has given presentations on the mathematics of the sundial to fellow mathematics teachers on the state and regional levels.  As a hobby, he began constructing mathematically correct copper artilleries an other types of sundials.  He has made sundials for locations all over the United States and many foreign countries.  He does post an address of shultzsundials.com in case you may be interested in one for yourself.  

The booklet that John gives with each sundial.

The base of his sundial is copper with the gnomon being brass.  The gnomon is the part of the sundial that is perpendicular to the bottom part of the sundial.  The sundial can be polished using metal polish.  John gets his copper from Rancocas Metals Corporation in Rancocas, New Jersey and his brass from Enco in Fernley, Nevada.  He likes the freedom copper and brass give him as an artist, and enjoys the aesthetics these metals bring to his sundials.  He writes in his booklet:  “There’s no rust, the oxidizing makes it look nicer, and the shadow is much easier to read.”  His armillary spheres are made of rings shaped from copper while the incorporated arrows are made from brass.

Page 1 inside his booklet he give to you.

“And in time, the brass looks black, while the copper looks green,” Shultz says about the coloration lure in the sun-swept pieces. “People who order these like the precision idea involved; a lot appreciate the beauty, but I think around one-third of those who buy them are really interested in telling time.” He also writes... Personalized sets of words stretch across the bases of the sundials, with names of homes, pets and anniversary dates as just a few samples of what people ask to have custom-etched into the sundials they order.  He also writes that many take the time to send him snapshots of their sundials and armillary spheres in place. In fact, John now keeps a photo album of them all, with hundreds of pictures tucked inside its pages. He’s seen them mounted (often modifying them to mount as the person prefers), used as centerpieces in homes, set on mantels, placed on windowsills, arranged on small tables near entryways and attached to the tops of chimneys aside from just perching outside in people’s yards.  Carol and I have placed our sundial on the table we have on our back deck.  It gets plenty of light and never is in the shade.  It really is interesting and it's amazing how accurate it can be as long as someone doesn't move it around on our table.  Even though it is rather heavy, the squirrels still enjoy moving it around the table while searching for peanuts.   Take a look at the sundial John has made for Carol and I and you will see the craftsmanship that John has placed in his work.  Truly a masterpiece of time!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.