I'm a lumberjack!

Ok, not really, I'm only sort of an amateur lumberjack. I once said that two a couple people in the timber trade, who had seen me operate a chainsaw, and then explained that I hadn't sold enough logs to pay for the equipment I was using for that, so I wouldn't make much of a professional. They looked at eachother, and one quipped, "I guess we aren't professionals either!" Despite most people wanting to live in a house, most of which are wood construction, providing and harvesting the raw material for that is not highly valued in this society. After all, wood grows on trees!

Yesterday, at the UMass Campus Center was the third edition, my first, of the Canopy forestry conference. The first I heard of it was when I received a postcard invitation from the DCR a month ago. It's been awhile since I've done any cutting beyond trail clean up and dropping one dead tree that was within striking distance of my roof. I haven't sold any harvested timbers since well before I was hit by the car in 2022, thereby solidifying my rank amateur status, but that's not to say I no longer care about proactive management of forests to provide a valuable human resource as well wildlife habitat. Yes, sometimes cutting trees is just the thing for helping a range of critters.

So I attended, and not just because the mailer included a code for free entry. Plus, being winter, and me wearing my annual winter coat, a beard, I'd even fit in with the crowd. If the rain had come early, I'd even have rocked suspenders, as they're the most effective means I found of not snagging the saddle with my elastic waisted rain pants. It was a good chance to reconnect with something that matters to me, and maybe even spark a little inspiration to boot!

What I didn't expect, after finding a bike rack under a roof for the predicted rain and working my way down to the lower level concourse that I never knew existed, was to see a bicycle in the exhibitor space. I've seen lots of bikes, so while I didn't rush over for closer inspection, it was certainly noted with the intent to take a closer peak as I passed. My thought: Good on someone for the gusto to take the really dry parking option! What I soon learned, however, was the bike was on display, made largely of wood!

Lugs, hand brazed, were a concession to metallurgy

And allow joining the octagonal tubes

 fabricated as a laminate of wood layers

Nifty!

Ooh! Also, I wasn't the only person excited. As I approached, I overheard another person inform the builder, John Fabel, that a bike had been their mode of transport to the conference that morning. High fives all around, we started talking bikes AND timber, two topics I like more than just a tiny bit! John told us that when he looked at the structural properties for various materials, once he ignored the preconceptions of knowing what they were, wood was very well suited to the demands placed on a bicycle frame. When he mentioned that it's quite close to carbon, yup, I chimed in with, "It is carbon!" He followed with, "And a fiber, no less!"

It was a good event, and yes, seeing that bike, as well as another dedicated biker, were both highlights. Bonus, the roof over my bike did keep it dry from the day's steady mist, and despite a few true drops forming by the time I arrived home, my unsuspended non-rainpants were mostly dry. The trees were treated to their good watering last night, so everything won!