Williams Lake’s former fire chief Randy Isfeld is enjoying the opportunity to create woodworking projects.
Up until he retired from the fire hall in 2013, he’d spend free time ‘playing’ in his workshop making things, but now that he is retired he has all sorts of time, he said.
“I like building unique bird houses that are very, very different than the standard or normal,” he said as he picked up one of his creations he had on display during the Seedy Saturday and Early Bird Farmers’ Market event in Williams Lake on April 30. “These I have a lot of fun building.”
Calling his business Woodpecker Wood Designs, Isfeld, 73, noted he does not have a favourite type of design, he goes with inspiration and whatever it dictates.
“Sometimes I will see a picture or I will take a photo of something I like and go home and create.”
He builds every little piece himself, such as a small metal saw being used to cut a log, for a display reminiscent of the old children’s TV show, Friendly Giant.
“I try to make them as strong as possible. Everything on here is glued and pinned or nailed. You can pick it up anywhere you want and it will stay together.”
Some of the items have been sitting in his own yard for 10 or 15 years. They are buried in the snow in the winter and when spring comes along they are still intact.
As for the name of his business, he said his wife Linda came up with it.
Isfeld was participating for the second time at Seedy Saturday and to date he has not participated as a vendor at a Farmers’ Market.
“It is always difficult to know what to sell stuff for. When you are trying to put it together, you want to be able to sell it, but at the same time a lot of work goes into it. You have to figure out where the balance is.”
Some of his creations take him about seven or eight hours to build because of the detail.
Isfeld joined the Williams Lake Fire Department in 1976 and was a volunteer firefighter for 10 years before joining full-time.
He became chief in 2008 and upon his retirement said he’d had a “tremendous” career and considered members of the department like family.
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