Sick of that wooden block hanging at the wrong height?

Tired of wondering whether you picked the right level to hang that block of wood? Are you tossing and turning all night worrying about wooden block height?

Well, now you don't have to!

Hi! I'm Bob Thomas, inventor of the adjustable height wooden block connection system or AHWBCS for short. I used to be crippled by fear wondering what height was best to hang my brown wooden block. That fear coupled with a requirement to explore connections as part of my brief for exploration of materials inspired me to create the AHWBCS you see before you.

Features:

-Two movable hinge connections
-One static collar connection
-One movable collar connection
-One balance-based connection
-One wedge-based connection
-Two connections featuring different materials
-The inevitable connection that someone feels with the piece as they try to figure out its purpose.

I came up with the initial idea of this connection out of a desire to create a connection that was adjustable. It grew from there and became some what of a monster as I added to it more and more, thus making it a "thing" I suppose. 

I actually hated this thing until I decided to add the hanging block part earlier today in a last minute effort to make it look "complete" enough for my taste. I thought it looked like a bear trap without anything hanging off it. 

Adding the hanging block turned this piece around more me. It is balanced now; both aesthetically, and in that it actually hangs straight! 

The block also gave me an opportunity to incorporate three more connections. The first one is a balance connection that requires gravity to hold it in place. A fullered spike balances on hook at the end of a lever. 

The second connection involves two wedges. One is meant to look like a key that holds the block in place. These wedges were a little tricky to forge because they have to remain half round the whole way down to a taper because the hole in the wood is round. 

The third connection is that of the metal connecting to the wood itself. I was very excited about this connection and went through a few different ideas before settling on two opposing wedges. My excitement lied in the temperature variable. I knew I could get the connection to look several different ways just by inserting the metal hot or cold. I put the wedges in hot and then quenched the whole thing after they had burned out a goof bit of wood. This of course shrunk the metal, so I then pushed them in a little further cold to get them snug. I am happy with the result. 

Yes , I could have broken this down into a bunch of different connection samples that were in no way related and it would have been exactly what the brief called for. However, I doubt that I would have thought of half of them without the element of necessity to drive my creativity. They all work together and they all rely on each other. It's all one connection.