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Wednesday, February 8, 2012 1937 - 2012 · Celebrating 75 Years Orono Weekly Times - 5 Wood finisher restores historic clock Every once in a while in the life of a craftsman, a commission comes along that really stands out. This was the case recently for local wood finisher, Tracy Osmond of Fine Finishes in Orono. A wood finisher deals with finishes put on wood, "any finish, any wood," according to Osmond, who has been plying his craft for over forty years. Osmond says he received his most interesting challenge recently when he was hired by Dan Hooper of Hooper's Jewellery in Bowmanville to restore an old regulator clock. Hooper told The Orono Times he received the clock from the McNabb family in Oshawa who had owned a grocery store in Orillia until the late 1950s or early `60s and when they left they took the clock as a keepsake. Hooper says they knew he fixed clocks and they wanted this clock to go to someone who would appreciate it. Besides needing mechanical servicing, Hooper said the clock, which had a very unusual shape, also needed refinishing so he sent it to Osmond. When he received the clock, Osmond said it was heavily painted with many coats of paint, each representing an era. Inside the clock were pencilled signatures of owners or employees of the Orillia grocery store where it first hung, the first signature being that of J Milson, dated 1887. The original coat of paint, according to Osmond, was dark brown with the words "Spanish Blacking is the very best" on the cabinet around the face of the clock, painted a barn red colour highlighted with ochre. Spanish Blacking is similar to shoe polish, and according to Hooper, the clock would have been a promotional item the makers of Spanish Blacking would have given to the grocery store. He also found a small family bible in the clock dating back to 1867 ­ the year of Confederation. Osmond says the clock is stunning, but for him the story of the clock is the signatures and the tiny bible that was stored in it. Through the signatures he was able to trace the clock's history through the U.S. Civil War, the Industrial Age, the invention of the bicycle, the motorized buggy and then the mass production of cars, t h e first World War, the depression and then World War II up to the last signature, that of Bob Bartlet in February 1948. The restored clock is now among Hooper's collection of old clocks, which he says he will donate to the museum at some point. Tracy Osmond refinished a rare clock (top photo) for Dan Hooper recently. The inside of the clock has signatures (inset) dating from as far back as 1887.