Getting wood dressed is not new. Getting dressed up with wood might be. That’s what a father-son team in Burnaby, B.C. has introduced to the fashion world with designer bow ties. The company’s website offers 10 different styles fashioned from what some might refer to as trim ends guaranteed to make you look trim. Made of reclaimed maple and North American walnut, each bow tie begins as a remnant sourced from a commercial mill in Oregon. Even the packaging materials are repurposed, reports The Georgia Straight here: “The only virgin element is the Swedish teak oil used to hand-seal the wood and bring out the grain in each piece. Thanks to variations in grain and texture, and the occasional knot or burr, no two ties are identical.”

~Sawdust~

The Lumberjack World Championship is reportedly now in full swing south of the border. Log rolling, tree falling, and pole climbing are among the 21 disciplines scheduled to keep the town of Hayward, Wisconsin abuzz over the weekend. The event’s set to heat up with “hot saw” on Saturday, before “couples bucking” come Sunday. According to the website, “over 100 competitors will vie for more than $50,000 in prize money, making this one of the largest purses for a lumberjack competition in the world.”

No doubt some guys in B.C. would consider their lumberjack competitions to be ‘world championships’ also. At the Squamish Days Loggers Sports Festival, the world championship happens July 31-August 4. And in Campbell River, we’re told two lumberjack world championships will be held during the Salmon Festival August 8-10. Here in Vancouver, world champions are crowned twice daily at the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) in Vancouver August 16-September 1. Timber!!