On any given summer weekend, Minnesotans most likely could enjoy a Minnesota Antique Tractor Club event somewhere. The West Central Antique Tractor Power Club held their annual Tractor Pull and antique tractor display June 26-27 at their 13-acre site that used to be a highway rest stop, along State Highway 7 near Blomkest.
Proudly displaying half a dozen of his assorted 1- to 3-horsepower engines was club member Gerry Marti of Willmar, who used to have about 50 of these ancient power units in his collection.
“This 1 hp International engine, about all it would power would be a washing machine or a well pump,” Marti said. Then he pointed to a 90-year old, 4-hp rig quietly cranking away grinding corn at the WCATPC event. That one was even water-cooled with water simply flowing out over an open cylindrical screen.
“These last engines like this LB International were made up to about 1948 to 1950. REA basically put them out of business because once small electric motors came into being, folks were glad to get away from the noise, the messy smells, and the sometimes unpredictable starting nature of these gas rigs,” Marti said.
This particular antique tractor club was first organized in Willmar 15 years ago with its first two shows in Willmar. More space and less congestion moved them to Lake Lillian for the next several years.
When the club four years ago was able to get a 99-year lease from the state of Minnesota for this abandoned rest stop, the club undertook a complete renovation including cutting out trash, trimming trees, expanding a new parking area, fixing up a couple of structures including restroom facilities, and building a great tractor pulling track with shaded, hill-side seating for observers.
This year’s pull had 102 hookups. That doesn’t mean 102 different tractors. There are 10 weight categories. Simply by changing weights a given tractor could conceivably pull in three, maybe four different categories like 7,500-pound; 8,700-pound, and 10,500-pound divisions. A mini-pull for lawn and garden tractors was even part of the event.
“It really looks good today compared to what we started out with. We’ve got 13 1/2 acres and a neighboring farmer leased another 10 acres for additional parking as needed,” Marti said.
It appears these events are addictive. Marti is a member of two other antique tractor clubs — Atwater and a life-long member at Montevideo. “But this is my main show. I grew up here. During World War II, we kids used to play at this rest stop so it’s got lots of memories for many of us.”
This year International Harvester was the featured brand at the West Central event. Last year it was Case. The club decides at its next meeting which brand gets featured at the 2011 show and a certain club member is pushing hard for Oliver.
Perfect for trade
Chain saw sculptor Charlie Kirchenwitz of Dent finds these events perfect for his trade. He’s now 25 years into his hobby of taking a 50-pound to maybe 500-pound hunk of tree trunk and cutting away to gradually sculpt a beautiful bear, eagle, owl, a hefty northern pike or an impressive wild turkey.
“I saw another guy doing it. I thought I’d like to try that. It sort of worked out so I just kept at it,” Kirchenwitz said. Chain saw manufacturers love these guys. Kirchenwitz said he uses at least four different chain saws (with different blades/chains) on a typical sculpturing job. Often that means a diamond tip on the “carving bar.”
How much time to do a sculpture? “Each is different. Like this four-foot bear carved out of white oak took me about eight hours. At a show you usually do one a day because you are stopping so often to answer questions and talk with the folks who are watching you,” he said.
Sculpting on white oak is his favorite, but basswood and white pine are two other popular woods. The American eagle and the bear are the two most frequent requests but fish, pelicans, coyotes, wolves, dogs, praying hands, even Norwegian trolls are on his list. “Sometimes people just sketch something out and we give it the best we can,” said Kirchenwitz, who doesn’t claim to be an artist but suggested that if you do enough cutting soon what you are visualizing starts to actually take shape.
His cutting “strategy” is usually to start at the top and rough it out to the bottom. Then he changes chain saws, finishes out the bottom and works his way back up to the top, usually changing chain saws two or three times.
Sometimes when working a show he’ll finish the top completely before doing the bottom. He likes to do bears or eagles or pelicans because people more quickly see what you are making. “If they have to stand too long to figure out what you are sculpturing, they lose interest.”
