B4
PERCIVIL

CASTLEGAR NEWS, November 9, 1980 . 4

Ea SS

Pree Juy Seyret tomate

B.C. wood, beautifulic

By DOUG COWELL

“British Columbia birch
is a really nice, wood. It's
white birch, not’ the yellow

birch they have in Ontario, ©

{and when it's quarter-sawn
‘and dried properly
* great.”

Thirty-one-year-old Rick
Bockner moves across his
newly-built studio-cabin to a
big workbench along one
wall. He bends down to sort
through a selection of wood
sampls and comes up with a
piece of birch. Quickly, he
clamps it in a vise and with a
few quick strokes of a plane
lays bare a fresh surface.
“Tue built tables with birch
and turned it ona lathe. It’s a
pretty wood, and easy to
come by.

“Five years ago, here in
Argenta, I saw people cut-
ting three-foot diameter
birch for firewood. I decided
that birch was too good to
burn, so a couple of friends
and I got access to some, and
every fall for three-years we
went birch cutting. We wait-
ed until there was a foot of
snow on the ground. By then
the sap was down, so the
wood was drier and it was
easier to skid.” :

They had it milled loc-
ally, built a drying shed ad
carefully piled 18,000 feet of
wood. “Some of it was useless

because ‘it wasn't: properly’
‘dried; and-some- was -beauti---

ful because it was. Birch is
not a terribly stable wood
until it’s dry; so you need to
quarter-saw it and pile it
really carefully.”

. Brocker's interest in
working with hardwoods ery-
stallized in 1975 when, along
with friend and tree planter
Dirk Brinkman, he set up a
hardwood import business
called Arkwoods.

The company grew slow;
ly, the owners feeling their
way, learning about’ hard-
woods. In time they began
importing hardwood flooring
and started laying floors,
making more work for them-
selves.

: “I think there could be a
{ business for someone cutting
i flooring in” B.C.,”
{ Bockner. “There's lots’ of
: birch around, and if you cut it
edgegrain and dry it properly
it would work great. And it
would be using something
that’s ot being used now.
As he talks in turn about
each of the B.C. Hardwoods,
Bockner digs out a sample
from under his work bench.
“Then there’s western
maple," he says holding out a
blond-colored board with a

fascinating grain pattern.”

“This pattern is-called curly

it's:

suggests |

Rick Bockner

Rick Bockner
.is a man into
whose life the
themes of craf-
tsmanship,
wood and
forests are in-
timately woven.

He's planted
_trees and har-
vested them,
bought wood
and sold it; he’s
been a carpen-.
ter and a con-
tractor, a craf-
tsman arid an
artist.

maple, but it also develops a
figuring called birdseye

. maple. Our western maple is

softer than eastern maples,
but it’s very good for furni-
ture and musical instru-
ments. I've got a friend who
builds mandolins and uses
western maple for the Cie
arid backs.

“None of the B.C. hard-
woods have the reputation,
for being high-class wood;
but they're here, they're
inexpensive and they're

iful. You just have to

gét” uded"t6' them. It would °
~tike a” bit of “coinpaigd to

develop a market for them
but they're very similar to a
lot of other woods that have a
strong market.

“Then there's ‘yew
wood,” . Bockner continues.
“It's the darkest of the B.C.
woods, and the most exotic to
my mind. You see a yew log
and it looks like African or

South American wood. It’s -

got shaggy bark and: it’s
twisty and has beautiful knot
formations.”

., Yew isn't a large tree
and it’s not available in com-
mercial quantities, but a few
years ago Dirk Brinkman
found some while tree plant-
ing on the coast. He salvaged
a pickup-load of yew -logs
from partially-burned slash.
_ ."We traded some of it
back east for. African and
South American wood. This
ebony was traded for it,"
Bockner says, picking up an
almost black,

* Museum of .Man in Ottawa
now. He glued up the back
out of long wedges of al-
ternating yellow cedar and
yew wood’ into a sunburst
design. It_was ‘quite incred- |
ible.”

Rick Bockner is at least
as comfortable talking about
guitars as he is discussing

hardwoods — hi: it
ar waa ‘as a amuite f

Tt was no surprise Oo any
of his friends when he took °
up building instruments; Boc-
kner's love for music and his
‘deep involvement with wood
and craftsmanship seem, to
have destined him for it. His
first effort was the dulcimer
he made under the guidance
of his friend John Kragen.

+ “The. top: of that dul-

cimer was B.C. yellow cedar. +

It’s an incredibly nice wood
to carve, and very fragrant.
Anybody who is into carving
will.drool over a piece of
yellow cedar. The grain on
that piece was so fine!”
Guitars, though, were
another problem.
Bockner nor Kragen had ever
build one. However, for years
Bockner had gone tree plant-
ing every spring, and the
tree planting grapevine ev-
enutally caused an experi-
enced guitar maker to, show
_up at his door looking for a

"Left-handed, who:

LOOK Mom)
NO TEETHY) | ‘is to b
; If you are left-handed
“and wish you-weren't, blame
your parents, :

"A study by Loise Carter-
Saltzmann’ .published | in
Sclence found that. heredity
determines which hand is
‘dominant.

Carter-Saltamann com-
pared hand preference pat-
terns ‘in 286 families with

» adopted children and 206 in.
-which the children lived with

ray

expensive

lame? .

/their natural parents, She"

studied such tasks as writing,
throwing, using scissors and’
‘opening’a jar.

The children showed a

smarked tendency to follow -

the preferences of their na-
tural parents. For example,
when. one or both parent
wore’ left-handed, biotoale 1
children had a strong: ten-"
dency toward ; left-handed-
ness, but adopted. children
“did not,

“ap

|. summer he and Brinkman .

_ patiy; Brinkman took! what —

decided to shut down the vom

hardwoods'wer left and Boc-
kner took the instrument

ood.
“We'd been operating

.Arkwoods for five years,

working part-time, and Td,

been doing all my. other.)
things: playing music,’ build;

ing instruments, planting
trees. I could have set up in
town and dealt wood in
larger volume, but the other
things wer important too.”
ntly Bockner bought’
land in Argenta, which:

‘located néar the northern tf

of Kootenay Lake.;

Besides:
selling instrument wood he’s

too fast. You can’t ask a
logger to get down on his
hands and knees and cheke

place to ubild instruments,
They teamed up, and Bo
cker’s first guitar was such a
coniplete success (with a
“beautifully laminated neck,.a
B.C. Engleman spruce top
and a sweet tone) that Sheri
Ulrich, well-known: Vancou-
ver musician, tried to. buy it it

log that comes past. I've
found a few people who are
looking out for wood for me;
people who are logging their
own land or doing salvage,
“not production logging.”
joékner’s -involvement
insttméent wood And ‘in-
strument making meant’-he
had less time for the hard-
wood aside of Arkwood, so last

jalty woods, Bockner also be-
came interested in instru-
ment wood, called tone wood.

the color and grain of'every ©

: growing it, making

the teacher, but.I'll:organize
it and get the teachers..and

students together.:.I'll pro- -

vide the facility and the wood
and I'll get’ to learn alot
about instrument building,
furniture making, boat build-
ing; whatever is happening
at the time. I'm also building
a big woodshed. °

“T've been tree planting
for years and that feels good.
Because if you're going to use
wood you've got to replace it.
I want a more holistic ap-
proach to wood; that means

Yours at

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knowledge.”, :
ForesTalk

Some friends of Bock-
ner’s once ordered a batch of |
tops from Germany and sent
one for cellular identification
to The Forestry Research
Laboratory in Madison, Wis-
consin, It turned out to be

EVERYBODY NEEDS
SOMEBODY SOMETIME

-® Looking for part-time employment?

Neither _

Engleman Spruce from Brit-
ish Columbia!

Comments Bockner:
“That just points up the po-
tential for actually using B.C.
instrument-quality woods as
instrument woods, instead of
turning them into toilet pa-
per. The Germans apparently
feel there's no difference be-
tween Engleman Spruce and
what they've traditionally
harvested in Germany.

“When you're looking for -

instrument wood you take a
different view from foresters
or loggers. Loggiig hapfens

heavy board from his trea-
sury of wood. “Traditional
bowmakers use yew, and

anybody who has turned it on

a lathe loves it.

“Michael Dunn, a Van-
couver guitar maker who
studied in Spain, made a
beautiful Elizabethan guitar
using yew wood. It's in the

IF...

IF.

priorities. ©

essential at this time,

°
+. You olen taxes are too high.

- + - you believe we should explore all.
avenues in future development.

witee yourbelieve the fire hall and a secon-
dary access through the ay are -top

. . -you believe the city hall semper t is not

THEN VOTE FOR

RILKOFF, George

X

_WATER WELL DRILLING

ch : Box 2520
Wecers Ltd. Creston, B.C.

Telephone
428-5901
e

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FOR YOU!

That all children deserve a quali
individual needs as much as possible

—That children and teachers are entitled toa good ‘education :
environment with proper working . conditions: facilities,

SCHOOL BOARD
‘TRUSTEE

AREA J

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—That communication is an important aspect of education
involving teaching and non-teaching employees, parents,
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OTE.

ye education serving théir

As 4 d
As your! to work for and with the.residents
of Castlegar to right high city: taxes by
broadening the tax base, creating more

- employment, careful effecient spending of
your tax dollars.

dtd If elected |

1. .We must receive a ‘dollac value for
; each dollar we spend.

2. The City Plan” must be. carefully
: “and well das to our
Rees growth adhered to for the
protection of existing zoning and be
able to attract and .generate new
development. ea

We mist take an active part in bring-
.ing more industry to dur area. Indust-
tial growth is needed to provide jobs
for our young-people and a healthier
‘financial climate to the bussiness,
ial and residential sectors of
our city, plus help to provide funds, for
: ‘much needed civic facilities. 28
4. We must be ready to take advantage
of grants and_ subsidies available to
ourCity. -

. | would your
the polls on rie 15th. -

(LESLIE, Harold |X]
pee actacto .
: Thank You"

ideration at

“Y pendent oil
+ discovered the Deep Basin

tf

ion

1 Land of the
tree
Us Miliary org. 4
113 Paddle te:

“gins
4H haaple food
rr

ev nnuus

YMCA centre now:
house of worship ‘|:

By DON BENSON

EAST PROVIDENCE,
RA. (AP). — Where basket-
balls bounded a pulpit stan.

a2 82435 82 Bf 3a 29. Be zeR

Hatred arctic 1
19 Uncanny u
+ Its

Fitsot virgin matiyr
pique WSklrts the lasue

MOCJEUWGM Ko NHVYBG-NUVYTGEC
2 i ‘Today's Cryptoquip cine: T equals L. y

Siseotaenaane

te, f
ie

gone, replaced bya carved

inscription in Chinese: “Jesus

wide ‘Tam the truth, and the
fe."

After three years of
prayer and four months of
labor, a former YMCA youth
centre has been transformed
into a house of worship for

b of the» Chinese -

cl -Church of Rhode

Pity the

THIS is a time of year when
my heart goes out to city-
“dwellers. It’s a time when ru-
ral or small town living is im-
-mensely superior to that in
the concrete canyons, the a-
bominable.- apartments,. the

* sad suburbs of metropolia.

In> the. city, day, ends
drearily' in the fall, There's
the. long, _ wearying . battle
home through traffic, or the’
draughty, crushed, degrad-
ing scramble on public trans-
portation.

The city man arrives home
efit for nothing but slumping
for the evening before the
television -set.. And what
greets him? ‘The old lady,
wound up like a steel spring
because she hasn’t seen a soul
she knows all day, there’s
nothing’ to look at but that
Stupid house next. door, ‘ex-

actly like their own, and the

kids have been giving her
hell.

He's stuck with it. For the
whole evening. That’s why so

many city chaps have work--

shops in the basement. It’s
muchsimpler to go'down cel-
lar and whack off a couple of
fingers in the power saw than
listento Mabel.

Life is quite different for
the small town male. He is
home from work in minutes.
He surveys: the ranch, says,
“Must get those storm win-
dows on one of these days,””

_ Hunter defects to States *

CALGARY (CP) — In
one of the most damning

criticisms of the federal en-'
. ergy program announced in
* the budget, Canadian Hunter

Exploration Ltd. is moving
its entire new exploration
program to “the United
States. *

John Masters, president
of the Calgary- -based inde-

the basement, the smail
male, announces that this is
his bowling‘night,.or he has
to go toa meeting of the
Conservation andSlaughter
Club, -and-where’s a clean
shirt. And that’s alt there is

+ toit.

While her city counterpart
squats in front of TV, gnaw;
ing her nails and wondering ©
why she didn’t ‘marry good
old George, who has a big.
dairy farm now,_ the sntall
town gal collects the kids and
goes out to burn leaves.

Women, kerchiefed
like’ gypsies, heap the dry
ofeaéstRigh on the fire. Kids
oxivokdthe bubject of bedtime,
bdastrabout the fire like nim-
obi giibmes. «
boo On: perhaps the whole’
iofamily goes to a fowl supper.
2)What, in city. living, can
{gompare with this finest of.
rural functions? A crisp fall
neavening, a drive to the church
hall through a Hallowe’en
landscape, an appetite like an
* alligator, and that first wild
whiff of turkey and dressing
thatimakes your knees buckle
and ‘the juices flow free in
your cheeks.
But it’s on weekends that-

my pity for the « city-dweller -

mneih over.” Not* for him
‘hfe SRoBHNEfhdteh Gh.a clear

fall Saturday, wittits good- ~

humored competition, its ,
“easy friendliness. Not for ~
him the quiet stroll down a

There.is nothing more TO-- sunny wood road, shotgun

mantic than the back streets
of.a small town in the dark of

a fall evening. Piles of leaves |

spurt orange flame. White
smoke eddies.
Nelstbors call out, lean on

over arm, partridge and
woodcock rising like clouds
of mosquitoes.

It’s not that he doesn’t live

+ right; or doesn’t deserve

+ these pleasures. It’s just that

it’ 5 physically impossible to
to them easily. If he
wants,to crouch in a duck-
blind, at dawn, he has to-
will be no new exploration in drive ‘half the night to get
‘Canada. there.
* “Here is -what we're
doing, And I think this is
significant because I think. =
Canadian Hunter is acknow-
ledged to be one of the best
exploration companies. i
Canada.
“We have now ‘trans:
ferred every single one of our
and:

pany “which

natural gas field three years

‘ago, said Canadian Hunter

will spend $50 million to $100
million in the United States
next year. .

. Deep Basin, on ‘the Al-

‘ berta-Britishs Columbia bor-
der, is one of the largest gas .

fields ever discovered in
Canada.

Masters said‘in an inter-
view that all company ex-
ploration geologists and geo-
physicists have been trans-

. ferred south of the ‘border.

The company head office will

remain in Calgary but there.

“are going to be done in the

geophysicists to work on U.S.
projects. We have. trans-
ferred our entire exploratory
budget for next year.
CAN'T LEAVE -

“We are still committed
to a lot of drilling and lot of.
effort here in Canada and
there is not way for us to get |
out of it. But all new projects

United States.
“We don't do that be
cause we want to or because.

FOR 2 YEAR TERM AS ALDERMAN
ON NOV. 15th
VOTE

Nese ona Sindy ‘or ho-

liday, in the fall; the city fa-
» Mily decides to head out and
‘see some of that“ Beautiful
autumn foliage. ‘They See it,
after driving two hours. And
with 50,000. other cars, they
crawl home in ‘late ‘after-
‘noon, bumper to. bumper,

_ the old man cursing, the kids

getting hungrier, the gmother
growing owlier, °°"

Small town -
scenery, at least art
that leaves them breathless.
Or they'll wheel out a few
miles to see their relatives on
the farm, eat’a magnificent
dinner, and sit dround watch-

ing TV in a state of delicious”

torpor.
Yup. It’s tough to. live in
the city, in the fall.

Legion LA holds

annual

Ladies’ auxiliary to the
Royal Canadian Legion held

’ its annual, fall tea on Oct. 25

at the Legion Hall i in Gastle-

ee Receiving at -the door in
the absence of the president
was honorary president Mrs,

j Ann Wadey. Taking tickets

hi ras.
charge ‘of Mrs. Doreen, Mis-
cavitch;. bake table, Mrs.
Pearl Zorn, Mrs. Vi: Crosby

nd Mrs. Bernice Narraway; |

al

sewing table by Mrs. Phyliss
Pickering and Mrs. Kathy,

Grimn; white elephant table,

Mrs. Connie Champ and Mrs. °

Edna Dodgson, _

_Serving the tea were Mrs.
Carol Him, Mrs. Sig Olsen,
Mrs. Pearl Mott and Mrs. Ed
Durin.

Kitchen conveners were.
Mrs. Eve Sperling, Mrs.

For careful
scrutinee of |
city finances

> and
equal
representation
toall ;
citizens

we like to. We're doing it in
ordar to maintain the jobs of
150 Canadians who work

[ LOEBLICH, Cari M.

here in our Calgary office.”

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fall tea

Muriel Heagy, Mrs. Marg
Rafter, Mrs. C!
Mrs. Helen Leduc.-

Winner of .the door. prize
was Mrs. J. Raine of Robson
and the raffle was won by

., Mary Dinner.

Many thanks are extended
by the auxiliary to all who
“donated, to the .tea;,and to

led.

lara Hale and’

_Island. This weekend they're «
holding a Thanksfiving ser- °

vice in three languages’ to

’ celebrate its new beginning.”

“The place was just run
down,” said Rev. Micah Leo,
church pastor and a chem-

istry professor at Barrington”
(R.L) Collegé. “If you look ©

close you'll find a lot of holes

in the walls because they‘

used them as targets to shoot

Erected about 1889, the ;

building was a United Con-
gregational Church until
1970, when a dwindling con-

gregation and financial trou-

bles. forced it ito close. The

property was ‘given to the

YMCA that year and turned

into a centre fi tocal ‘youth

activities, we

’ Early this year, the Chi-
urch I

move to new quarters and
wanted to sll old build-
ing. The con; tion de-
eided to buy and restore it.
AGOOD PLACE

“This building really is a
good place,” said Rev Bulson

- Chang, who along with Leo

and elder Pon-Sang Chan
founded the church in 1977
from a Bible study group at
Brown University.

Volunteers have been-

working since last July..to
patch the holes, paint the
walls, replace broken win-

dows and furnish the chapel.’ :

They hope by informing the
community about the work
through a monthly news-
letter that more members
will, be attracted . fro ., the

CASTLEGAR NEWS, November, 21 1980 fay

estimated between 2,000 and
8,000.
Leo, a former

combine your life Insurance, |
social

priest, . said. the meeting |
house is one of about 500
inter-denominational Chinese
churches in the United States
that follow the Bible. .

» “So many Chinese-
Americans — especially the’
older generations — they do
not speak English. Some of
them invited to an ordinary,
church cannot ‘understand
what's going on, They just do
not have the spiritual fruit.

‘The
PINE BASKET.
HOUSE

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FOR,
ALDERMAN |

| LEN a

EXPERIENCED
—AWARE |
—ACCOUNTABLE

VOTE

LINDA GREEN 365-6316

M. KENNEDY 365-3590

FOR ALDERMAN
on Election Day, Nov. 15

KANIGAN, Vera

x|

269. Columbia» to register write: Hotice of conceilation must be recsived two
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