Pete ...			...the driftwood builder
			by Diana Roberts

Pete Konkin, like many Burns Lake residents, spends many hours in the bush, during the winter, driving logging truck. During spring break, it's not surprising to learn that he spends his time working on his favorite hobby which is building bird feeders, plant pots and furniture made of driftwood. Pete says he doesn't work on his projects after a workday in the bush, because when he's tired his imagination just doesn't work. After looking at some of his projects it is obvious that imagination is a very important part of this business.

Pete Konkin

Originally, Pete's wife, Arlene, started by building bird houses, then Pete got into it and expanded on the concept by building furniture and planters though Arlene still comes up with a lot of the ideas for projects. Soon, their son Dave may be following in his parent's footsteps and join the family business of building driftwood furniture.

Pete's driftwood supply

Arlene says, in the beginning, they would go out on a pontoon boat on Tchesinkut Lake and find boards drifting around, along with a large variety of driftwood. Pete says it's taken quite a few years to learn what wood he wants, and what he doesn't, but now he uses pretty well everything he picks up. "People will have a totally different outlook when they go to the beach" Pete says, once they see what can be done with driftwood