Great Lakes Log Crafters Conference

Once a year, a group of handcrafted log builders meets in Minnesota, Wisconsin, or Michigan to share ideas on the craft of log building. The Great Lakes Log Crafters Association has been meeting for over 30 years, and describes itself as ‘an organization of professional log builders and others interested in the art of handcrafting log structures.’ This year the moving conference will be meeting April 12 & 13 in SLHS’s own town of Grand Rapids, MN.

The two-day gathering packs in a combination of lecture-presentations and craftsmanship demonstrations. Recent gatherings in the past, members have demonstrated cutting dovetails, scribing and cutting lock notches, media-blasting logs for surface restoration, and chainsaw carving feathers out of scraps from scarf cuts. This year’s conference includes presentations on curved paneling, building an s-curved stairway, historic log structures, and engineering for log, log blasting, and other topics.

Another exciting component to the 2019 Annual GLLCA Conference is the location and venue. The Log Crafters Association will be meeting at The Forest History Center, a site of the Minnesota Historical Society, which features a recreation 1900 logging camp, forest walking trails, and the main interpretive center where most conference of the conference activities will take place. The event is open to public attendance, and registration as a guest can be found here and inquiries can be directed to Kay at info at gllca.org.