Great Lakes Log Crafters Association - 2024 Conference

The Great Lakes Log Crafters Association had its annual meeting and conference, this year near Trego, WI, at Trinity Woods (formerly Heartwood Resort). As usual, the conference attendees were a combination of active and retired handcrafted log builders, owner-builders, and log home industry associates. The camaraderie is great and the education is memorable. Here’s a summary of the weekend’s programming:

Day 1: Friday, May 17, 2024 GLLCA President Nate Heim welcomed the group and introduced past President Bob Kenel. Bob discussed and demonstrated the placement of concentrated borate rods. Then the group installed borate rods into the exterior timbers of the facility. Back indoors, Jim Parma of Bell Pole presented on sourcing logs, the costs of transportation across country, and advantages of using local species by region. Following on the topic of transporting logs, Nate Heim of Heim Handcrafted Log Homes presented on moving logs from the yard to the building site across state lines. After that Nate Demers of Weatherwize spoke about utilizing modern digital tools for administrating and marketing a log business. The day ended with a round table discussion, a wine and cheese social sponsored by Sashco, and after supper was the annual fundraiser auction. 

Day 2: Saturday, May 18, 2024 Day two began with the Annual General Meeting, chaired by President Nate Heim. During the AGM, the work of IMTA (International Mass Timber Alliance) was discussed, and the importance of researching the performance of log and all mass timber. After the GLLCA meeting, Duane Sellman of Sellman Log Structures shared pictures and reported from his attendance to the ILBA 50th anniversary conference at Chateau Mon- tebello. Mike and Deb Hansen of Heritage Logcraft led the group in a strategic planning session. After working on organizational business, the presentations got back to building and ways to join traditional craft with modern techology. Curtis Lindberg from Backwoods Log Homes demon- strated the use of SketchUp for drafting log plans and then showed some projects with head-scratching stereometry in some creative roof structures. Dovetail corners were then discussed and demonstrated by Cam Wait from Frontier Builders, and many lessons had come out of the experience of GLLCA building a collaborative structure in October 2023. In Tech Talk session, Donovan Dums of The Natural Log Homes showed a way he makes his own oak dowel pegs and Mike and Deb Hansen shared pictures of their full-scribed sauna build and Deane Hillbrand shared experiences he had in joinery when traveling to Japan. Next year’s conference is planned to be hosted by Frontier Builders in Land O’ Lakes, WI, with tentative dates the last weekend of April. Updates will be posted at www.gllca.org.