Boxing Day Here Already?

Sorry people, we're not having a boxing day event. It just feels a bit like the day after Christmas around here. The shop guys dug deep working overtime to finish off their tables so that our clients could show them off at their Christmas parties over he past weekend. Needless to say, they were a hit!

Here are a few of the finished pics I snapped with my IPhone last Friday. Enjoy!

Testing out the clamps for the drop leaf.

Hinges all set. Tabletop ready to be flipped.

Flipping.

8 foot table. Now 10 foot table! No prob!

Reclaimed Spruce Timber Coffee Table

Square Reclaimed Fir Table

Rethink. Reclaim. Reuse. - Ray

It's Christmas Eve at Wood Anchor!

Our would be elves have been working their fingers to the bone! Cutting, scraping, staining, sanding merrily on their way! Even under pressure these guys still have fun. And why wouldn't they? They're building wood tables! Enjoy the pictures below of todays progress.

Custom Reclaimed Oak table in progress.

Beautiful bur oak!

Stain! More stain!

Gettin' close!

Can you say character?

Custom folding timber table. One of a kind!!

Actually three of a kind. The order is for three folding tables!

Our elves maybe working overtime tonight but it will be all worth it tomorrow! Check back tomorrow to see pictures of the finished tables.

Rethink. Reclaim. Reuse. - Ray

EnerCan West - Emerging Issues 2010: "The Green Dragons' Lair"

On December 2, 2010 EnerCan West, a collaboration of the Manitoba Environmental Industries Association (MEIA) and the Saskatchewan Environmental Industry and Managers Association (SEIMA),  presented in partnership with the Information and Communication Technologies Association of Manitoba (ICTAM) held the first ever 2010 EnerCan West conference.

The conference focused on renewable energy: wind, sun, thermal, waste, etc. exploring possible applications and solutions such as bioenergy, district heating, urban mass transit, active transportation, energy conservation, LEED standards, electric hybrid vehicles, distributed generation and sustainable community development. 

To conclude the conference MEIA held a closing reception as well as its first Green Dragons' Lair.  Modeled after the hit CBC show "Dragons Den", The Green Dragons' Lair offered select local Manitoba entrepreneurs and innovators the opportunity to pitch their product to a panel of judges. 

Each of the participants were given 3 minutes to capture the judges' attention and compete for the MEIA Green Dragons' Lair Braggin' Dragon Award.  This year's panel of judges was composed of journalists: Mychalylo Prystupa (CBC); Martin Cash (Winnipeg Free Press); Richard Cloutier (CJOB) and John Morriss (Farm Business Communications).

From what I heard there were a surprising amount of entries. The Green Dragons' Lair offered select local Manitoba entrepreneurs and innovators the opportunity to pitch their product to a panel of judges. 
Here are the final eight companies that made it to the Dragons' Lair:
DollarWise 3:26
Aboriginal Cogeneration 9:05
Global Wind Group 16:01
Blue Flame Stoker 22:23
Solanyl 28:19
Liquid Depot 33:41
HD-Petroleum 39:30
iRecycle 48:23
Participants were given 3 minutes to capture the judges' attention and compete for the MEIA Green Dragons' Lair Braggin' Dragon Award. (54:53)

The Green Dragon's Lair award description. (58:51)

So what did the winner receive? Well it wasn't a partnership of $1,000,000 for 50% of the company sort of thing. The prize was a Manitoba Environmental Industries Association Braggin' Dragon Award. 

I was personally happy to hear that my good friend Alex Stuart of Global Wind Group took top honors receiving the award. GWG is a design manufacturer of vertical axis wind turbines and technology associated with wind energy.  For his achievements he received a plaque made from our reclaimed pine coated with OSMO Polyx Hardwax Oil that had an engraving made by Innovative Laser Work featuring a stainless steel plate with 60% post recycled content. 

Its fantastic to see that there's an abundance of growth in the green sector right in our own back yard. Keep it up Manitoba!

Rethink. Reclaim. Reuse. - Ray

Mid Week Crunch Time!

Here'e the midweek progress on the tables that the guys have been working on. The majority of tables will be ready for staining. A couple of designers will be down today to confirm on stains and away they go! Once the stained pieces are dry the guys will put them together and get them ready for Friday when we deliver them.

It's a clamp down!

Luscious Grains

Sanding away.

Check back tomorrow, I should have pics of the finished tables!

Rethink. Reclaim. Reuse. - Ray

Wood Anchor Elves Making Tables before Christmas!

No they don't look like Santa's elves but they sure work hard as if they would be! This is our last big push in getting our tables finished before Christmas. Our clients stated that they want to show them off at Christmas dinner. A great way to from them to make some new memories on top of the rich history of the wood being used.

Sometimes our clients see a design that they will want to incorporate into their custom table.

8' Timber Table with custom folding side tables.

Custom Square Reclaimed Spruce Table

This is what you get when you plane the wood. Mulch mulch mulch! A whole lotta mulch!

Keep an eye out for my next post or check back soon for the progress on these tables. They're gonna be beauties!

Rethink. Reclaim. Reuse. - Ray

Winnipeg's a Dump!

How do you feel about the title? Would you agree or disagree? Does the statement make you angry or are you indifferent about the topic? When you walk around our downtown, around the malls, or anywhere that has high traffic of people, do you notice that there's quite a bit of litter or TRASH?

I do. I think there is quite a bit of trash. Compared to many cities that I have visited in the recent past I would have to rank Winnipeg as being a 5 out of 10 on cleanliness. Calgary ranked as the world's cleanest city by Forbes Magazine in 2007 but when it really comes down to opinions and stats, we really shouldn't be comparing cleanliness from city to city. We should be focusing our thoughts of garbage from within and gathering ideas from other cites to work through our cities unique challenges.

Winnipeg is now amidst another shift in how it deals with "our garbage" and the city is calling upon its people to help. There's been a lot of media buzz about trash of late. Darryl Drohomerski, Winnipeg's manager of solid waste services has been in the "spot light" shedding some light on the cities vision. If you've missed the media articles follow the links below. They are worth the read!

The topic of trash - Winnipeg Free Press 

Recycle 'dump' material : City

Garbage and Recycling Master Plan

Notable topics that are open for debate are the Brady Landfill, organic waste and composting,  trash & recycling bins, and house hold hazardous waste.

If any of these are of importance to you now is your time to speak up at Speak Up Winnipeg. Here's a quick link to participate: Garbage and Recycling Master Plan Survey

Rethink. Reclaim. Reuse. - Ray