Cactus Wood Clock

For Douglas, a few old snaps of the cactus wood grandfather clock built by my Dad's great uncle, Eddie LaPlant.

I found some notes from my Dad - he owned a brick yard in Tuscon and built worked on (I don't have much information on this) many of the older brick buildings at the University of Arizona. There's also a snap of a newspaper article from the late 60s - sorry, I don't have a larger version handy - it's somewhere in my files - on the cactus clocks.

I can't even imagine the patience it took to design and build this (and he built five of them!). Photos below the fold.



Wow - I found the text to the article above online!

You have heard of the patience of Job. Odds are Job would run a close second to Edward -P. LaPlant, an 88-year-old re- 'tired contractor, who lives at 1001 N. 6th Ave. Time hung heavy on his hands, so LaPlant Built a grandfather clock. To be specific, he has constructed four. But it is the last one that takes the grand prize for intricacy, for beauty, for patience. The entire surface of. the clock is decorated with more than 14,000 pieces of inlaid wood, some so minute they a l m o s t defy identification. And LaPlant has never worn eyeglasses in his life!

He used 11 different kinds of wood in their natural tones of brown, beige, and creamy yellow. The soft shades, blending together in patterns designed by LaPlant, are warm and beautiful. Included in the types of wood used were cherry, maple, mahogany, black walnut, African padauk, teak and oak.

LaPlant cuts the wood with a band saw, with the original strips ranging in size from 1-16 to 1-64 of an inch in thickness. In one section on the clock, there are 86 pieces of inlaid wood for every inch, and this portion of the clock measures only ? inch in width. The delicate veneer of inlay is backed by sturdy oak.

LaPlant utilizes many patterns , including diamonds, squares, circles and half-moons. With the same process, LaPlant has designed floor and table lamps constructed of cholla and saguaro cactus. He believes he is the only person to combine desert cacti in patterns of inlay.

The retired businessman started his hobby about five years ago, learning by trial and error. Seven months were required to complete his last grandfather clock. Early in the game, when his patience wore thin, he learned "to walk away and stay away from the project for several hours." "The lumber for the clock cost $107," he said. "And even though there was a minimum of waste, only about two-fifths of the wood finally ended up in pieces of inlay. The rest is sawdust."

Mr. and Mrs. LaPlant, who have been married 62 years, live in the home which he built in the 1930 ! A bricklayer and stone mason, he remembers that 27,000 bricks were used in its construction. LaPlant first came to Tucson in 1899 and returned again in 1907 when a "revolution in Mexico made it expedient to work north of the border. "This was Arizona territory, and I remember that scrip was being issued in place of money. There was a panic on and right then things weren't very stable," he said.

F o r 33 years, LaPlant owned his own contracting business, the Pima Brick Tile Co. He is proud of the fact that he continuously has had an account in the Southern Arizona Bank since Aug. 7, 1914. That was the year he permanently made this city his home. A small man {he weighed only 96 pounds the day he reached his 18th birthday), LaPlant knows that size is no indication of a man's worth. "Patience and perseverance--with these two character traits, one can accomplish almost anything," he says.

Citizen Photos By Dan Tortorell PAGE 16 T U C S O N D A I L Y C I T I Z E N SATURDAY, JUNE 24, 1967