Greetings Woodworkers!
Thanksgiving has arrived with foggy, drizzly chill. Great days for shop work, and recalling the warmer days of summertime.
On Thursday, September 20, the City of Nanaimo had made arrangements with MJR Tree Services to take down the massive and historical Arbutus tree on Millstone Avenue at Alderwood Place. The wood was offered to the Guild as part of an ongoing agreement between the City of Nanaimo, and MIWG to provide downed trees for the Guild’s Wood Recovery Program – ultimately to be shared with High Schools. The largest stump had to be trucked to MIWG’s wood storage site by the crane truck hired by the City since it was far too massive to be carried by our own trailering system. It now stands at our storage site – awaiting a decision on its ultimate purpose. A ring count by Nanaimo Parks and Recreation reported the age of the tree as 218 years – in 1800…52 years before the establishment of the Hudson’s Bay post on Snuneymuxw land, and 18 years after the first arrival of Spanish vessels in 1792!
On the social scene…Mid-Island Woodworkers’ Guild had a wonderful BBQ on Saturday September 22. Even though it rained heavily in the morning, and we had to cancel a wood sale and a garage sale, by the time the barbecues were hot, the air had dried out somewhat, and about 40 of us feasted on burgers, hotdogs, and salads and desserts provided by attenders. The herd of elk never showed up in the lower pastures as we had hoped, but after arriving home at about 4:00, Peter informed me that the elk had arrived!
Our September meeting featured Rob Oldale’s report on the planning for the upcoming Wood Showcase with the Nanaimo Arts Council in November. We also had a slide show about Bill Beese’s entries and visit to Maryland’s “Ward World Championship of Wildfowl Carving” in April. Bill managed to secure several well-deserved awards for his amazing bird carvings!
MIWG now has a significant supply of logs – to be cut into boards as soon as crews can manage to help with the cutting AND the construction of a suitable storage for our wood inventories. At the moment we have 2 maple logs from the City of Nanaimo, two maple logs from Terry Robinson, a massive cedar log from the City, several of Thorne Underwood’s Beech logs, as well as the City-donated Arbutus – with many branch pieces available for turners (and carvers?) As soon as plans are set for the construction of the storage shed, Tony has offered two more Douglas fir trees for construction timbers in addition to the 2 spruce logs that he supplied several weeks ago.
Our October meeting (this Wednesday, October 10 at 355 Wakesiah Avenue at 6:30 pm) will feature presentation of products by individual members for possible inclusion in the upcoming November Arts Council Showcase. These “show and tell” sessions are always enjoyable, and highly popular. As always, visitors are always welcome as well as family and friends. Bring your works and friends! See you there on Wednesday! (Meeting Room A behind the Band Shell. See the website for directions.)
Best wishes to all and hope you had and are having a Happy Thanksgiving Day weekend!
Tony