Chainsaw Carving - Today

Today

In the United Kingdom, the English Open Chainsaw Competition draws thousands of visitors annually. English chainsaw artist Matthew Crabb has carved the largest wooden statue of the Virgin Mary in the world, at 9 meters high, to great fanfare in Schochwitz, Germany, highlighting the evolution and growth of the art.

In Canada, many wooden statues produced by the chainsaw artist Pete Ryan decorate the small town of Hope, British Columbia. Glenn Greensides, another Canadian artist, branched out into Japan in 1995 and visited Japan each year for 12 consecutive years to create one 5 meter tall sculpture from an exported British Columbia log depicting the upcoming year's Japanese zodiac symbol.

In Japan, the Toei Chainsaw Art Club established the World Chainsaw Art Competition, which was the first chainsaw carving competition in the country. The 2011 World Chainsaw Art Competition at the Toei Dome will be dedicated to raising money for disaster relief due to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster that has affected the country.

2010 marked the year American sculptor Bob King was awarded a coveted "Star/Sprocket" on the Carvers Walk of Fame in Mulda, Germany, the location of the World Cup competition. This award confirms Bob has won more carving competitions than any other carver in the world to date. Competitive chainsaw carving has evolved to produce masterful artists around the globe.

As the art has evolved, special chainsaw blades and chains have been developed for carving. In Finland such equipment is affectionally called konepuukko ("mechanical puukko").

The chainsaw "blades" are technically known as "guide bars". For chainsaw carving these bars have very small noses (typically around 25 mm diameter). This enables the artist to create detail in the carving that would be impossible with a standard guide bar. The chains that are used on these guide bars are normally modified by reducing the length of the teeth in order that they are able to cut efficiently at the tip of the bar. The reason for this modification is that all chains manufactured currently (circa 2007) are made to be used on standard guide bars only. These "carving bars" are manufactured by "Cannon", "GB", and by a companies in Japan supplying "Stihl" and others. The other very important advantage with these guide bars is that they do not "kickback" when using the tip. they are therefore very safe to use in comparison with standard guide bars.

In order to reach the high levels of skill required to be a "chainsaw carver", a considerable amount of instruction and practice is required in the safe operation of a chainsaw. This is then followed by plenty of study and practice in carving basic shapes which then ultimately leads on to more ambitious projects. It is extremely important that anyone using a chainsaw to wear the proper protective clothing. A cut from a chainsaw is not just a cut, it actually removes a whole centimeter or more of flesh and bone. A victim can die very quickly from blood loss.