THUNDER BAY -- Woodworkers looking to make art with a piece of the city’s history will soon get their chance.
When a famous 100-year-old white pine tree was illegally chopped down last year near Boulevard Lake, the city wanted to salvage the wood and put it to good use.
On Tuesday, two 17-foot remaining logs were milled at Lakehead University to prepare the wood for a new purpose as public art projects for the Current River Area.
“I’m so happy that we’re able to utilize it,” city forester Shelley Vescio said. “At least it will be used in perpetuity. We will have art in the greenway that will always honour that tree.”
Lakehead wood science professor Matt Leitch said despite the countless cars that had hit the tree over the years, the wood is in remarkable shape. He figures between the two logs, there could be up to 1,000 board feet of wood.
“It’s not a mainstream commercial species but it’s very desirable in furniture making and wood carving because it’s a nice soft wood,” Leitch said.
Leitch is mostly making two inch slabs up to 22 inches wide. Perfect for furniture or other projects he said.
But what the wood will end up as is anyone’s guess right now. A public call to artists will go out at the end of the year. A review committee will judge the proposals that come in. Vescio said people have been offering up ideas on how to use the wood since the tree was cut down.
“We could choose from a number of different proposals so it doesn’t have to be just one artist that gets all of the wood,” she said.
The project’s budget is $5,000.
