The state’s top woodworking craftsmen will be displaying their work at the Cooroora Woodworkers’ annual Wood & Craft show to be held as part of the Cooroy Fusion Festival on Friday & Saturday 10, 11 May 2013. This popular event will be held as usual in the Cooroy Memorial Hall in the main street of Cooroy.
Many valuable timber species were native to the Cooroy and surrounding districts and timber milling was an important local industry. Many of these timbers such as Hoop Pine, Australian Red Cedar, Bunya Pine, Kauri Pine, Gympie Messmate, Turpentine and Tallowwood are no longer available in commercial quantities and the timber mills that depended on them have also passed into history. Still from time to time logs do become available on private and public properties, often as a result of storm damage. The club’s timber milling team collects suitable logs and mills them into slabs or lumber and places these onto pallets for air dry seasoning. As a result the club has been recycling logs into usable timber and making available again stocks of many timbers that otherwise would not be obtainable.
At the Wood and Craft Show visitors will be able to see the milling team in action using the Lucas Mill. Among the logs being milled into slabs will be Camphor Laurel which is much in demand for furniture such as coffee tables and blanket boxes. These (green off the saw) slabs will be available for purchase as well as slabs of other hard to find species, all at a very reasonable price. Other timber pieces (lumber and bowl –turning blanks) will also be available for purchase
Demonstrations of carving, pyrography, scroll saw work, miniature box making, and wood turning will be happening during the two days – come and see the craftsmen and women in action.