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A Supplement to the Star Shopper
W
DEN WONDER
Piece by piece, Soine builds car of wood By HERMAN LENSING Staff Writer
BELGRADE – As conversation starters go, Howard and Joyce Soine can’t do much better than drive to a car show. A lot of vehicles at shows are rebuilt models of a limited-edition car. Or they are one of the last examples of a vintage model. But the Soines’ stands out. “It is a limited edition, one-of-akind,” said Joyce of their vehicle. “People come up and knock on it to see if it’s wood.” It is - and it looks, well, unique. It has been winning awards ever since 2003 and has brought smiles – and some questioning grins – to people since Howard started building it in 1999. “We owned a Jimmy’s Pizza in New London at the time and had a float in the parade. I wanted something to pull the float with,” Howard said.
Focusing on Today’s Rural Environment
Friday, Sept. 15, 2017 • Edition 13
They purchased a 1982 Chevy S-10 with a V6, removed the outside metal, and had the cab moved back. Then Howard started building the truck body – out of wood. “She said I was crazy for doing it,” he said. “That’s why he built it. Just to show me,” Joyce countered. Joyce was probably the first to see the vehicle when Howard decided it was ready to be the tractor for their float. Even Joyce took a liking to it. “He built it one board at time,” said Joyce. “He started with the fenders and running boards.” Howard is not a woodworker by trade. He operated heavy machinery for a number of years, then helped with the pizza parlor. All the while he kept working on the woody. “It was a hobby,” he said. “I made it mainly from knotty pine and other stuff I had lying around.” Board by board it came together. Fenders and running boards, all modeled on the Model T, were built, sprayed with a truck liner spray and bolted in place. Pine was cut to shape, sanded, varnished and installed to create side panels, the grill and windshield. A hood and bed were added and installed. The vehicle, which was equipped with headlights, mirror taillights and brake lights,
PHOTOS BY HERMAN LENSING
Joyce and Howard Soine of Belgrade meet people at auto shows all across the United States, while winning awards with their wood-bodied car.
was then inspected, licensed and declared street legal. The first time it appeared in public, it was an open cab and used to draw the Jimmy’s Pizza float. It also drew attention. But the vehicle was not completed. “Every year we add something,” said Howard.
There is now a cover for the truck bed The chrome that adorned the headlights and taillight has been replaced by wooden fixtures, and metal bumpers have been replaced by logs.
WOODEN WONDER continued on page 5
KNAPPING ON THE JOB Osmund is one of Minnesota’s flint knappers
By MICHAEL STRASBURG Staff Writer
PHOTOS BY MICHAEL STRASBURG
Joel Osmond, of Spicer, is a skilled flint knapper – he chips blocks of stone into blades, arrowheads and spearheads.
SPICER – The Minnesota soil, like that of many other states, is speckled with artifacts from America’s Stone Age. Arrowheads, spearheads, stone weapons and tools of the ancients can be found across the state. And while these are indeed artifacts of a bygone era, the means to produce them are still alive in pockets of the country. Spicer is one of those pockets, along with Willmar, where Joel Osmund who owns the local Trading Post, is one of the individuals who keeps an ancient art alive. Osmund has been a flint knapper for 13 years; in his spare time he chips chunks of rock down, refining them into beautiful, artful, yet strong blades and spearheads. “Back when I was a kid I used to
visit Pipestone National Monument down south in Minnesota and started carving stone and going to different museums and things like that,” Osmund said. “I’d see these knapped spearheads and arrowheads and I was just fascinated with how they were done.” Osmund’s interest in flint knapping stemmed from a greater curiosity of the Stone Age cultures that existed before steel. “I’ve always been fascinated with the way people survived and got along without steel knives and tools, so that’s what got me most interested.” Once Osmund was older, he attended a flint-knapping demonstration put on by an experienced knapper — and he was instantly hooked.
KNAPPING ON THE JOB continued on page 7