I am a lucky man. I'm married to my wife, Shanna, who has selflessly endured my obsessive pursuit of fan perfection. I asked her to write a blog entry about what it's like to deal with me on a constant basis and she happily obliged. Click below to read her entry.
Tim Marks - Editor
10 Rules for Living With a Fanner
My wonderful husband, Timothy Marks, is a Fanner. I am writing this article for anyone who shares a household with a fanner and his or her fans. Hopefully this article will help fanners and their housemates live in perfect harmony.
Fan-ner. Noun. A person who spends a great amount of time searching, restoring, blogging and talking about, shopping, and hunting for, fans.
Rule #1- Never believe a fanner when they say that their collection is almost complete. Where there is one fan there is probably more, and if there is only one fan there will be more. You can prepare for this by designating space for your Fanner’s fans.
Rule #2- Know a little Fan Lingo.
- Wings - Blades
- BMY - Big motor yoke
- SMY - Small motor yoke
- AOU - I am pretty sure that no one really knows this one
- Pancake - A flatter motor housing usually with lots of decorative cutouts in the back.
- Stick mount - decorative skinny base on fan
- Vane - Early wind powered mechanism for oscillation
- Lollipop - Early mechanism for oscillation that looks like a lollipop.
Rule #3- Keep your Fridge Full and Bar stocked. Your Fanner might have just spent and entire day Fanning. Be prepared to feed your fanner. My fanner particularly spends a large amount of time drinking scotch and just staring at his work at the end of the night. This leads me into rule #4.
Rule #4- Give your fanner a curfew. Fanners tend to get lost in time; Tim usually is lost between the years 1900-1910.
Rule #5- Designate separate clothes and shoes for fanning. Mineral spirits work great for soiled jeans. I like to add a bit of dish detergent to the fan clothes wash load to breakdown the grease.
Rule #6- Be sensitive to your fanner. Sometimes fanning isn’t fantastic. A lot can go wrong while fanning. Paint jobs failing, missing parts, bent cages, stuck motor housings, not to mention who knows what drama happened on the fan forum. Fanners can get a little cranky at times and what I think works best is to give your fanner some space. Then follow with Rule #7
Rule #7- Be supportive. A little encouragement goes a long way. Fanners tend to be better fanners when they have a support system. Sometimes fanning can get in the way of things or in my case pretty much everything. I’ve noticed if I give a little bit of time to my fanner to admire his work or just simply say “Wow, that is your best fan yet,” he’s much happier. Also, tag along to the fan meets!
Rule #8- Keep your eye out: The best gift you can give a fanner is a fan. Listen to your fanner because more than likely they have mentioned once, twice or a million times what kind of fan or fans they want. Craigslist, eBay, and yard sales are a great place to hunt.
Rule #9- Fanning is #1- If your fanner is anything like my fanner, chances are your fanner is thinking about fans, ALL THE TIME. It is definitely helpful to remind your fanner of other things that are going on in the world.
Rule #10- Beware of the “Assembly Day” This is the last day of a restoration when I would advise going into hiding. Fanners typically go into a finishing frenzy. My fanner typically gets little fans in his eyes. This is when communication comes to a standstill. Communication usually resumes when the fan is complete and is ready for show and tell.
In closing, I would like to say that my fanner husband drives me nuts sometimes with his fanning hobby. With that being said he is happy being a fanner and that’s all that matters.
And don't forget the golden rule: LOVE YOUR FANNER!