— Daily Freeman-Journal photo by Hans Madsen
Keith Stuhrenberg, of Barnum, gets his 1929 Witte log saw running Saturday at the West Central Region Cockshutt & Co-op Club's annual Threshing Bee in Homer.

HOMER — Don Lamb, vice president of the West Central Region Cockshutt & Co-op Club, had a big smile on his face Saturday afternoon after firing up his 1940s vintage David Bradley chainsaw at the club’s annual Threshing Bee in Homer.

“I had it all apart,” he said proudly. “Got it so it would run again.”

Lamb had to source an electrical part from Washington, which only arrived a week ago. He used to have a few parts in his shop for the brand, but, unfortunately, not the part he needed.

“It’s a labor of love,” Lamb said.

On occasion, at least for the tractors and machinery, parts simply can’t be found.

“We’ve had to have a machinist make a pulley,” he said.

After he sawed through a rather thick log, the smile was still there.

“The after effect when you get an engine running,” he said, “that makes you feel good.”

Matt Walstrom, of Stratford, was on site again this year making sorghum syrup, a boiling process similar to making maple syrup. He has a new-to-him sorghum crusher.

“It was made by Wilde & Company in Washington, Iowa,” Walstrom said. “The patent date is 1882.”

Getting it out of the wooded area where it had been reposing for decades proved a challenge. It was almost too heavy for his skid loader and ended up requiring a little field-expedient rigging to move. The machine weighs about 4,000 pounds.

“It was pretty heavy,” Walmstrom said.

Jim Cabeen, of Mason City, came to the show to both admire the tractors and maybe buy one.

“I’m looking for something to buy,” he admitted.

He had his eye on a John Deere A.

“I need to kick the tires, see if it will start, evaluate the condition.”

He’s been collecting for a while and sounds almost sad when he says he still has under 70 tractors.

“I’m still looking,” he said. “I bought my first John Deere B when I was 13. I bought it to use.”

The 1929 vintage Witte log saw Keith Stuhrenberg, of Barnum, demonstrated still works quite well. He was using it to slice inch-thick slabs off a much longer log. The saw is powered by a hit-and-miss engine that’s sometimes easy — other times difficult — to start.

“It was used to cut logs up to split into firewood later.” He got to use it for that once when he helped a neighbor cut up some logs. “He just said, ‘That’s cool,'” Stuhrenberg said.

Missing from the Homer Threshing Bee this year was actual grain threshing.

Lamb explained that heavy rains followed by extreme heat caused the oats being grown for the show to fail.

One of the requirements for visiting the show is to stop and enjoy a cup of homemade ice cream. Kim Anderson, who lives nearby in what would be suburban Homer if Homer had continued to grow, has been serving it for about seven years.

Her secret?

“Good ingredients, and never raise your prices.”

— Daily Freeman-Journal photo by Hans Madsen


Don Lamb, vice-president of the West Central Region Cockshutt & Co-op Club, runs a 1940s vintage David Bradley chain saw at the club’s annual Threshing Bee Saturday in Homer.