Buffalo ($400 off)

Buffalo 16″ tall, 14″wide, 6″ deep
Quartz Movement
Quarter-sawn Oak
Ebony Finish
$500

This is my “Wabi Sabi” special. Wabi Sabi is the Japanese world view or aesthetic centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is “imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete” in some marvelous way. I learned about this while docenting at the Gamble House in Pasadena back in the early 90s.

This clock was going to be a special order for a customer. With the Buffalo Square I have to nearly make the entire clock, and in this case even cut the perfect mortises for the ebony pegs before I cut the curved sides on the bandsaw.

In this case once the cut was made, it revealed a little over exuberance of the “ray flaking” that makes quarter-sawn oak so special, thus it has a visible “split” or “flaw”. I made him another one and saved this one for myself. It is not a structural flaw and so I filled it with glue and clamped it tight, though it is still visible. It is dyed a deep dark espresso brown and the “distinctive mark” is tucked up under the right side (shown in the second image here). The replacement clock with the ebony pegs sold for $900. However, this very special version is going for $500.