John Thew's Weathervanes
The Guard Dog
John is an inventor and an engineer, as well as an artist. That combination always has challenged him to improve and make "this one" a little bit better than the "last one'. John has been answering this challenge for nearly 50 years and the incredible balance  of his weathervanes is one of the results.  That balance is so good that the vane  will literally fly when struck by a stiff wind angling up the slope of a roof.  This became a fairly critical problem because the vanes were "lifting off" their mounting posts and landing some distance from their roofs. John's solution is the Guard Dog pictured here. The Guard Dog slides down the slides down the mounting and secures tightly with the set screw. In normal conditions, the weathervanes spins freely. In a stiff wind that lifts the weathervane, however,  the brass washer at the bottom of the vane tube rises up until it hits the chin of the guard dog. The guard dog holds it down. Problem solved in a neat way that has become John's trademark.