The IWCS Northwest Chapter held their fall meeting in Florence, Oregon on September 22, 2007. The day began at the Davidson Mill site about 10 miles east of Florence where attendees were given a demonstration of making baseball bats on their NCR Lathe. The finish of the turned bat was excellent and each bat turned was precisely to planned dimensions. Click the link for more information.
After the ball bat demonstration, we migrated to a shed across the grounds to view the worlds largest collection of Burled Maple Tree Trunks. There were other woods (mainly yew) in the building, but it was mostly a collection of Maple Burls, very impressive as you can see by the following picture submitted by Alan Curtis.
After lunch, we met at the Davidson's ranch arena for demonstrations of bowl turning by Ted Bartholomew and bottle stoppers by Allan Schwindt.
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This was followed up by an auction of donated woods, which brought a total of $602.00. All in all, we had an incredibly good time.
The Davidson's were the most incredible hosts and not only provided us with incredible place to hold an auction, but also provided members with several species of wood, custom cut to our specification and best of all, the price was FREE!
The group met again for breakfast at the Florence Elks Lodge for a waffle feed. The Strawberry Waffles were delicious. After breakfast, those so Desiring, could go to the Davidson Ranch for more cutting of wood and visiting.
The weather was absolutely beautiful and the dinner, breakfast and tour of the Davidson's ranch were well received and we can only hope that we are invited back in the future. Anyone missing this event missed an incredible event.
