Nine-Stick Perpetual Calendar

The purposes of this Instructable are:

1. To increase awareness of the stick type perpetual calendar and to promote it as an alternative to the common tile type perpetual calendar.
2. To show how to include an easy-to-make standalone perpetual calendar in a stick design.
3. To show how an attractive and useful perpetual calendar can be made from recycled material or low-cost new material.

As is the case for the tile type calendar, the stick type perpetual calendar requires reference to a conventional calendar to set it or to verify which month of which year is displayed. To eliminate having to refer to a conventional calendar, a small standalone perpetual calendar is added below the sticks. The numbers on this calendar are too small to be seen from a distance of more than two feet, whereas the numbers on the sticks can be clearly seen from a distance of 10 feet or more. The standalone perpetual calendar is similar to a calendar I used to improve a tile perpetual calendar. (See https://www.instructables.com/Tile-Perpetual-Calendar-Improvements/ .) For this Instructable, I used a moving window design, which is easier to make than the moving slider design that I used for the tile calendar. These small standalone perpetual calendars use concepts that are described in my book “Practical Perpetual Calendars – Innovative, Convenient and Green” by James R. Saltvold. (A pdf copy of my book can be viewed on https://archive.org/details/9781532021367PdfOfBook/mode/2up )

The above photo shows the scrap material that I used to make the calendar. The piece on the left is part of a panel from an old bathroom vanity and the piece on the right is a short length of spruce plank that I found in a pile of waste. The following supplies are also required:

A sheet of 8.5 x 11 inch 20 lb cardstock

Mod Podge glue

A sheet of Avery 76293 or equivalent self-adhesive laminating sheet

Stain and urethane as desired to finish the pieces

In my previous Instructable, “Tile Perpetual Calendar Improvements”, I suggested using 80 lb or heavier glossy cardstock for the standalone perpetual calendar. When making this project, I found that 60 lb cardstock covered with a self-adhesive laminating sheet has adequate rigidity.

The first document compares the nine-stick calendar that I made to a typical tile calendar. Tables in the document show the printing on each stick. My calendar uses flat sticks that can have printing on two sides. The document makes brief mention of a stick calendar that uses square sticks that can have printing on four sides. In this case, only seven sticks are required.

The second document shows a front and side view of the main body of my calendar along with its parts. This document also shows how to make the main body using only parts cut from a sheet of 1/4 inch thick plywood. A two foot by two foot sheet of birch plywood costs between ten and twenty dollars and looks nicer than the piece of scrap panel from the vanity that I used. My main goal in making this calendar was to work out construction details rather than to make a beautiful finished item.

The “Calendar Sticks Actual” document shows the printing on the sticks, which are 1.125 inches wide by 6.125 inches high. Arial Narrow 48 bold font printed at 100% is used for the letters and numbers. The document shows how to use an Excel spreadsheet to make the template. To transfer the letters and numbers to wood, a sheet of paper with a mirror image of them must be glued face down on the wood. The “Calendar Sticks Print” document has the mirror images for printing on paper which is glued to the wooden sticks.

The “Standalone Perpetual Calendar Description” document provides enough information to make an Excel spreadsheet for printing the calendar. This document is based on the file “Tile Perpetual Calendar Details” in one of my previous Instructables (See https://www.instructables.com/Tile-Perpetual-Calendar-Improvements/ .) In the previous Instructable, there is a slider that moves behind a window. In this Instructable, a piece with the same tables that are on the slider is fixed in position, and a window moves in front of it. When the window moves, the construction is simpler and the overall travel length is less. However, the appearance is less pleasing, as the window is not fixed in place in the centre of the stick calendar, and parts of tables that are not in use cannot be hidden. Making an Excel spreadsheet is necessary only if you want to modify my design, as the document “Standalone Perpetual Calendar Template” can be printed to make an exact duplicate of the standalone calendar that I made.

The PDF document “Nine-Stick Design Details” lists all the parts that are needed. Except for the back, which is made from the panel from the old bathroom vanity, all the other parts are made from the spruce plank. A table saw is needed to cut out the parts. Wear eye protection when using the saw and take care to keep your fingers a safe distance from the blade. Wearing ear protection is also a good idea. I use a hearing protector that looks like a headphone. When hearing protection is used, the saw is not very loud and a person can easily not be aware of how dangerous a machine it is.

Cut the spruce parts to the dimensions in the parts list. Sand after cutting. Start with 80-grit paper, then 120-grit and finish with 220-grit. Stain the pieces after sanding if desired. If the piece use for the back is not prefinished, also stain it. The stain has to be fairly light so the black lettering can be clearly seen. The back is listed as being 10 inches by 13.5 inches. I suggest cutting a piece to 10 inches by 15 inches and trimming to a shorter length after assembly.

Use a laser printer set to its highest dot density (most common is 1200 dots per inch) to print the pdf document “Calendar Sticks Print” on standard 20 lb paper. Cut out the strips and use Mod Podge glue to glue them face down on nine calendar sticks and on the SMTWTFS strip. Spread the Mod Podge evenly on the wood and lay the paper onto the wet wood surface. Use a thin straight edge of wood or metal to flatten the paper after it is laid down. The printing on the paper must make good contact with the Mod Podge on the wood.

Let the Mod Podge dry for 72 hours. A time of 24 hours may be long enough, but one reference (https://www.itsalwaysautumn.com/diy-photo-pallet-mod-podge-photo-transfer-wood.html )  states that a longer time is needed to ensure that none of the printing comes off when the paper is peeled off. When you are satisfied that the Mod Podge is dry, wet the paper on the pieces thoroughly with water using a cloth. Alternatively, the pieces can be soaked in water for a few minutes. When the paper is wet, peel it off and the letters and numbers will stay on the wood. The paper may not peel off cleanly and you may have to wet the surfaces to enable rubbing the remaining fibers off. Take care not to rub off any of the lettering. If part of a letter or number rubs off, touch up the stick with some black paint or a marking pencil.  After all the fibers are off, the sticks can be covered with two coats of urethane if desired. Also coat the back if applicable.

Use a laser printer set to its highest dot density (most common is 1200 dots per inch) to print the pdf document “Standalone Perpetual Calendar Template” on 60 lb cardstock. After printing cover the sheet with a sheet of Avery 76293 or equivalent self-adhesive laminating sheet. This is a delicate operation. I peeled the backing off the laminating sheet and laid the sheet on the cardstock. The laminating sheet is thin and flexible making it hard to lay flat. I got some wrinkles. If I were doing the job again, I would lay the laminating sheet sticky side up on a flat surface and lay the stiffer cardstock on top of it. To prevent the laminating sheet from curling, the corners may have to be taped down. Covering the cardstock with a laminating sheet is essential to give it more rigidity and to enable the moving window to slide easily.

After the cardstock has been covered with the laminating sheet, cut out the two pieces and the three windows on the moving window part. Use a straight edge and a utility knife that has a sharp blade. I suggest cutting out the windows first as an 8.5 by 11 inch piece is easier to hold down than a piece the size of the moving window. (The moving window piece actually has three windows.)

The calendar is assembled starting from the bottom. Use Mod Podge or ordinary white glue to attach the pieces together. Clamping, taping, or weighting down the pieces while the glue sets improves the chance of getting them stuck together well. However, I have found that pieces often stick together quite well if they are just pushed together after the glue is applied. With reference to the pdf document “Nine-Stick Design Details” the assembly sequence is as follows:

1. Glue part #10 to the bottom edge of the back (part #1).
2. Butt part #9 against part #10 and centre it on the back. Put light marks on the back to locate the two bottom corners. Apply glue to the back side of part #9. A band of about 0.5 inches along each edge and a few spots in the centre is all that is required. After the glue is applied, put part #9 in place and apply pressure all over to smooth out any thick patches of glue.
3. Draw a line 1/16 inches to 3/32 inches above part #9. Glue part #6 to the back so that the lower edge of it is along the line just drawn. The function of the space between these two parts is to enable the window (part #8) to move freely, as it is the same height as part #9. An alternative to having a space between part #9 and part #6 is to butt these pieces together and cut a narrow strip off the top of part #8.
4. Glue one guide (part #7) to part #10 and the other guide to part #6. Use a thickness of material that is slightly thicker than the moving window (part #8) to space the guides out from part #9. Some thick cardstock cut from a cereal box should be adequate. Apply the glue sparingly to part #7 so that a minimum amount will be pushed out into the space where the window will travel. After pressing part #7 into place, slide a piece from a cereal along where the window will travel to clean out any glue that has been pushed out.
5. Glue part #5 to part #6.
6. Glue part #3 to the back. Locate part #3 so that the lower edge of it is 1/16 inches to 3/32 inches above the tops or the sticks (part #4).
7. Glue the two parts #11 to part #2.
8. Lay part #2 in place and check the gap between part #11 and part #1. The gap has to be slightly greater than the thickness of two sticks so that the sticks can be easily put in and taken out of their holder. I found the gap a little tight and I built up the thickness of part 3# with a layer of cardstock cut from a cereal box. An alternative to building up the thickness of part #3 is put cardstock on the area of part #11 that is glued to part #2. (This, of course, has to be done before part #11 is glued to part #2.)
9. Glue part #2 to part #3.
10. Cut the back to length. This step is optional depending on the appearance you want. I like to minimize the overall height and decided to make the space between the top of part #3 and the top of the back equal to 2 inches. This resulted in the height of the back, which is the overall height of the calendar, being 13.5 inches.
11. Drill holes about 3/16 inch diameter for hanging. Locate each hole 3/4 inch from the top edge and 1.0 inch from the edge.
12. Put in the standalone perpetual calendar moving window and the calendar sticks and use the calendar.