Welcome to IWCS - Advancing Information on Wood Since 1947
President's Message from Dennis Wilson
With this new year it is my hope that we all have
confidence to make plans to attend our two large meetings
this year. If you have not made plans to travel to Lake Yale
please contact meeting organizer Don Smith. It may not
be too late to make those arrangements. The Lake Yale
meeting is always a pleasant time with great displays, classes,
demonstrations and lots of wood to bid on. This year there
will be some wood that was gathered by Yale University
during World War II to be tested by Yale for use as substitute
war materials. The supply lines were cut from Africa and
Asia so woods used by the military were not available. The
remaining wood was made available to the IWCS and was sold in the early 1960s. The wood is from Central and South America and are difficult to obtain now. The wood is donated by the estate of Alan Bugbee who was one of the original sales organizers. It is a great opportunity.
If you cannot attend the Lake Yale meeting some of the same wood will be at the 75th Anniversary Meeting of the IWCS in Texas, November 2022. This meeting is being planned by President Elect Mark Duff along with some of his former co-workers. It is shaping up to be a meeting worthy of our 75th Anniversary. Look for further information including the meeting registration form in upcoming World of Wood issues. Now is the time to begin planning to attend.
In this year’s budget we projected that we will need 2-3 local meetings to bring our budget into balance. Those local meetings are always a great time and offer a chance to obtain some wood and member craft items in the auction. Now is the time to plan to host a meeting this coming year. No matter if you have never hosted a meeting before just contact your local Trustee or myself and we can help guide you. That is my personal plan for this year, and if I can do it you can also.
Late last year we separated the positions of Secretary and Treasurer to reduce the work load of the combined jobs. Now, all dues renewals and new memberships need to be sent to the Treasurer, Judy Miller. If you do not remember and send renewals to Secretary Christine Henning, it will only delay the processing of your renewals. If you do send your membership renewals to the wrong person be assured that it will be processed.
This month will be the end of the Matching Fund Drive. I and the rest of the Society am grateful to all those that donated to this fund. If you remember at the start of the Matching Fund Drive we
had several very generous donations to help the Society make it through a year that we could not have any fund raising meetings. Even though the donations were large we could not operate the entire year without taking money from our Endowment Fund. This was the reason to create the Matching Fund Drive to provide an avenue for our membership to step up and support the Society in a material way. While we did not meet the original goal we came to about 90% of the goal. That is excellent. Thanks to all who helped out in a difficult year. Of course if any would like to make any more donations please send them to Judy Miller and note they are for the Matching Fund Project. We will keep track of them but will not be reporting in our Scorecard in each issue.
Note to Contributors Please submit articticles as you complete them. They could be placed into future editions so each edition will present a balance of topics. Last minute changes before February 15 for the March/April 2022 issue.
"Note from Don Smith:
The SE Winter Meeting at Lake Yale Florida has been confirmed and will proceed as scheduled on February 14 - 18, 2022. Lake Yale has extended our registration due date to Jan. 3, 2022. Now is your last chance to get registered and join us for a great time with friends and making sawdust together again."
IWCS Scorecard as of 30 September 2021
Number of members: 552
Matching Fund Goal: $17,000
General fund balance: $38,508
Donations to date: $ 14,150
Average monthly expenses: $ 3,642
% To Goal: 83 %
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
IWCS Website Update
You may have noticed that the IWCS website has remained somewhat static over the past year. The website has been undergoing an update, with a majority of the current content transitioning to the new site. The format change will hopefully make it easier to edit and add announcements. The testing and
changeover is occurring in late November or early December. You will receive a notice in December
2021 from Dennis Wilson asking you to log onto the new site and establish your members only access
to view the World of Wood and member directory archives. The upgrade is a work in progress. If you see
omissions or errors, please let me know! Thanks! Art Lee #7984L
In response to the requests of wood collectors, the International Wood Collectors Society endeavors to supply wood specimens of 80 species. Prepared specimens measuring 0.5 x 3 x 6 inches are available in kits containing up to 44 specimens. Whether used for studying wood structure or identification, these specimens will prove to be a valuable resource of information to collector, tradesman, craftsman, teacher, or hobbyist alike. Specimens are shipped in a padded cardboard box and are numbered to correspond to the list below. Also included is an eight-page wood identification bulletin with an identification keys and photos. Click link: pdf/wood_specimen-list-06-2020.pdf
Greetings to all IWCS members.
More and more information is coming to us every day about the spread of Covid-19. But my main concern is the safety of each and every one of you.
We all know what to do to protect ourselves. I for one am staying home and I know a lot of you are doing the same. Even though we are to practice social distancing, there is no reason we have to cut off friends, neighbors and family. Now is the time we need each other, especially the older folks. We can phone, text, email and even video chat to each other on our phones or computers. If you do venture out to the grocery store, see if a neighbor is in need of anything. If so, you can leave it outside their door and they can get it once you leave. Your smallest gesture of caring could brighten someone's day.
Oh yes, don't forget to wash your hands.
Until this is over, please watch over each other, help when you can and remember to pray for all of us, wherever we may be.
God Bless You All,
Elaine
Elaine Hunt 1st Past President IWCS 03/21/2020
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Request for vouchered chestnut samples to assist with a joint American Chestnut Society and Pennsylvania State University research project. *-- Letter from Chuck Ray --*
What's New at IWCS?LIKE our Facebook page!
FUTURE MEETS
September 20-23, 2021Dennis and Tammy Wilson will be hosting the Annual General Meeting on Sept. 20-23, 2021 at the Alpena (Michigan) Ramada Inn. Additional information will be posted.
Well, we missed having a 2021 SE Regional meeting. Here is your chance to see old friends and make new ones in 2022. Escape to sunny Florida, USA from the colder regions of the world! We plan on having great crafting and woodworking demonstrations, raffles, daily silent auctions (rare woods, tools and supplies), and the Monday - Friday wood auction. Buy custom cut slabs, boards or bowl blanks straight off of the portable mill. Find rare wood specimens. Talk (and purchase directly) with crafters and wood artisans. Take a morning off to shop at the farmer's market and flea market. Get some fresh seafood in the nearby town of Eustis. Lake Yale (accessible from the meeting facility) is a fishing and bird watching paradise.
Hope to see you there!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Other Meets are Postponed In 2021
PAST MEETS
May 01, 2021 Great Lakes Region
Bob and Judy Chastain held a one-day Great Lakes Region meeting on 01 May 2021 at their farm in Ladoga, IN. The meeting began at 9:00 am. Questions?bobjudyc1@att.net
February 17-22, 2020 The IWCS 2020 Southeast Regional Winter Woodfest at the Lake Yale Baptist Conference Center, Eustis, Florida, is the most attended US IWCS meeting. This year, it will be held Monday afternoon through Friday breakfast, February 17 – 21, 2020. The registration form is on page 30 of the September-October 2019 World of Wood and on-line at https://www.woodcollectors.org. 05/02/2020
Jim Zoellner. Masterpiece in the Making. Garry Roux started a "friendly" competition between Bob Dickherber (member 8719) and Jim Zoellner (member 8364). At last count Bob came in with 7000+ pieces against Jim's 5251. Jim went back to work. It was never Jim's intention to let it be known what he was working on,however, here we are.... Now see his completed masterpiece...06-29-2020
Now available, Southern African Wood (ISBN 781920217587, Briza Publications, Pretoria, RSA), authored by former IWCS members Stephanie Dyer (#9380), Danielle James and Barry James (#9381). It is a fully illustrated guide to the properties and uses of wood from 140 Southern African tree species. A handful of leather-bound collectors editions remain for $140.00 US dollars plus shipping and handling, and the standard hard cover books are $46.60 US dollars plus shipping and handling. These are discounted 20% for IWCS members. Non-members will be charged $168.50 + S&H for the collectors edition and $57.57 + S&H for the standard. Each copy will be signed by the authors. All copies will be shipped from Pennsylvania, USA. Reserve your copy today by contacting our Northeast Regional Trustee, Mark R. Peet. E-mail: . Updated 05-25-2018
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
IWCS Wood Specimen Kit order form with instructions for selecting and ordering wood specimens from IWCS. Gary is a professional Urban Forester/Sawyer and takes great pride in preparing high quality wood specimens, all properly seasoned, clean, well milled, free from dirt and defects and accurately identified and labeled. As of 08/06/2018
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Guide to Wood Microtomy by Ernie Ives -- in the Members Only section under "Wood Identification Content" 121 pages -- Posted 12-07-2016
Please join me as we get to know trees across a range of scales, from cells to forest ecosystems, and through expanses of time. You will learn about the identifying characteristics and growth processes of trees, and explore what makes this sense of “knowing” feel so potent, so vital—how learning names and practical facts can open a window into deeper understanding and connection. When the weekend is over, you’ll be able to walk through a typical forest and actually know what you are seeing. 03/11/2020
The Omi Center in Ghent, New York, has wood paneling salvaged by the Hudson Co. from mushroom farms. (Hudson Co.) Sawkille Co., based in Rhinebeck, New York, salvages tree trunks, turning them into stump tables and seating. They can be bleached, stained or custom dyed. (Sawkille Co.)03/09/2020
Bodgers Ball Feb 2020 We will be holding the second annual US Bodgers Ball to be held on June 26-28, 2020 in Wisconsin. It will be a fun time of green woodworking, chairmaking, spoon carving, blacksmithing and more and we would love to have you attend. 02/10/2020
Penn State Wood Pro News by Charles David Ray, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Ecosystem Science and Management Forrest News from Wood Pro Resources. Updated 04/06/2017
Wood blog Forest wood, timber, lumber, biomass, energy wood, pulp wood, wood furniture, wood buildings, and anything else woody you can think of. Because, well, wood is good. And you'll agree if you visit Go Wood every so often. So, read... enjoy... comment... share... and Go Wood! Updated 10/18/2018