Like clockwork

Stanhope stands in his den surrounded by his finished clocks and woodwork pieces. Photos by Mark Stanhope

Mark Stanhope can’t explain natural talent.

He doesn’t know which switch is flipped in his head when he sits down with his tools, a piece of wood and a woodworking plan. He just knows he can turn that wood into an ornate clock, an intricately carved shelf or maybe a nature scene with an animal theme.

He also knows the end result is pretty good.

“Some people could step up to a musical instrument and just start playing,” said Stanhope, a senior safety engineer for Mortenson Construction, Brookfield. “I just started playing. I never read a book and never took a class. It’s just something I do.”

Stanhope, 48, started woodworking about four years ago when his wife bought him the tools for the hobby for Christmas. Once he had the tools, it was just a matter of ordering plan kits, finding the right wood for the project, drilling pilot holes and making hundreds of cuts.

He said he got the idea from his father-in-law, who also was a woodworker.

There is no stained wood on Stanhope’s Charlie Sloan Clock. He used different species of wood to add the various shades to the piece.

“I thought that was something I could really sink my teeth into,” Stanhope said.

Before Christmas 2003, Stanhope simply never had the time for a hobby. He spent 20 years in the U.S. Army, serving as a platoon sergeant for multiple-launch rocket systems.

“I made nine permanent moves in less than 20 years, and I did two long tours in Germany and Korea,” he said. “To have a hobby requires a lot of tools, and that’s difficult to pack up and take with you.”

He found the time after he retired from the military in May 2000 and moved back to Wisconsin. And once he found his hobby, he didn’t waste any time sinking deeply into it.

“One of the nonclocks that I made was extremely detailed and very fine,” he said.

“It took 14 hours, and I did it nonstop. I get focused, and I go.”

But that kind of focus doesn’t mean Stanhope sacrifices other parts of his life for woodworking. He said it’s mostly a winter hobby that gives him a chance to clear his head.

Stanhope’s Mill House Clock features a motorized waterwheel.

“For me, it’s my other world,” he said. “I get away from all the things going on in my daily life, and I get into something else. I do my best thinking when I’m into it.”

Since starting his woodworking hobby, Stanhope made about 100 clocks and a variety of other items, some of which he has sold. And, he said, the fact that he matched a talent he never knew he had with an art he never knew he would be good at has him thinking about a third career down the road.

“It’s certainly something I would consider for post final retirement,” he said. “For me, it’s just the satisfaction of making stuff I like.”

— Chris Thompson