Grand Champion
Lauritz Romo
Cannon Falls, MN
Also First Place winner in this category
for the Midwest Region

Lauritz Romo obtained some discarded western cedar poles from the electric company a couple of years ago. Most of them had been in service since the late '30s when electricity came to this rural area. Romo said "after over 60 years, they are beginning a new purpose, perhaps for another 50 or 60 years." That purpose is a beautiful arbor. He wanted an arbor that could seat four, so he could sit with others and enjoy the outdoors. First he designed it by adding his own creativity to ideas from several arbors and plans he had seen.

But before he could start sawing, he had to remove any metal that might still remain in the poles. He used a metal detector to find any broken nails or screws that were left. He sawed 216 board feet, all of the lumber needed for the project, on his Wood-Mizer sawmill. It took about 35 hours to build the arbor.

"It's been rewarding using the Wood-Mizer to saw lumber out of what looks like weathered, discarded poles," Romo said. "It's like starting with diamonds in the rough, and coming up with beautiful lumber."