Tired Iron makes great showing

Antique engine and tractor club provides weekend of educational demonstrations of old farm and household equipment

Steve Low, of Gentry, heats a piece of iron in the forge before shaping it on the anvil during a Friday demonstration of the old art of blacksmithng.

Steve Low, of Gentry, heats a piece of iron in the forge before shaping it on the anvil during a Friday demonstration of the old art of blacksmithng.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

— The sputter of old engines, the buzz of sawmills and the hammering of hot metal on anvils was again heard on the show grounds of the Tired Iron of the Ozarks, in Gentry, last weekend.

The 20th Annual Fall Antique Engine and Tractor Show was in full swing Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And once again new features were added and the numbers attending continued to grow. This year’s show included a meeting of the Missouri Regional Garden Tractor Club, so, needless to say, a wide variety of garden tractors were on hand and displayed.

Even though the show was just getting started on Friday morning, there was much to see. Old tractors - many restored to pristine condition - lined the driveway of the show grounds. Old engines with large spinning flywheels sputtered and smoked. Two saw mills were in full operation - one with a large circular saw and the other, a band saw - cutting logs into timbers and boards. A field was turned with antique plows. Metal was heated red hot and hammered into shape to make tools and decorative artifacts. And the show grounds were filling with displays, showing engines, old and new, and displaying numerous antique tools and machines. The show was even busier on Saturday and Sunday.

The club holds the shows to inform and educate the general public about farm life in the early 20th Century. And the shows givethose who love to resto work with old engines an machinery the chance t them off and explain th pose and function.

On Saturday, the Blac Organization of Arkans there to demonstrate the smith trade which was major part of every farming community.

A parade of power was noon each day of the sho tors were fired up and d in a parade across the shogrounds as spectators watched.

Tired Iron of the Ozarks, a club dedicated to the preservation and exhibition of antique engines and tractors, is located at 13344 Taylor Orchard Road, between Gentry and Siloam Springs.

On the club’s 17-acre show grounds are a 1907 log cabin which is being restored, a blacksmith shop, clubhouse, sawmill, large pavilion, antique household exhibit building and a recreational vehicle park with over 30 spaces.

In addition to their two annual shows, members of Tired Iron of the Ozarks participate in a number of civic functions, such as parades, farm shows, automobile shows, boat show county fairs, tractor p and other festivals throu northwest Arkansas, no Oklahoma, southeast Kanting at Center grown mem- of the a non- eduional d historical organization dedicated to proof the n, res-, presn and ion of ne and ue en-, trac- powriven hines other pment istorivalue. Iron of Ozarks ranch f the Day Engine Tracsociawhich med in infore club all the Glenn

News, Pages 15 on 09/14/2011