Chainsaws and Bagpipes

This is the piece I was working on for this past weekend, but ended up going waaaayyyy off track. So getting back to a regular post now. Thank God.

I haven't been getting out and about much, which is not a good thing, but I did get to take in some chainsaws and bagpipes... say what? The sound of chainsaws and bagpipes on the same field. Hmm... In my head I was thinking to myself "how cool is this?" ... only in Canada? I don't know, it was just one of those things... I went to check out a chainsaw carving contest, and the pipers who just completed a parade happened to be playing at the same time as the roar of the chainsaws.

I had seen a "regular" chainsaw carving contest before, but not a "speed" one, so I stuck around to watch the latter competition. It was, to me, fascinating to see how the two youngest (and best-looking) carvers, both from Oregon, each "attacked" their approx 4 foot tall small "logs", with such different techniques. At one point, one of the older Canadian men competing looked over his shoulder at the "kids" and just shook his head, ah... the vigor of youth. While he was finishing up his carving, they were each working on their third. Now these aren't "big" guys, but can you imagine the biceps? I don't know exactly how much the different chainsaws weigh, but each has a small tank of gas in it, and they were working constantly for two hours. Basically they start off with a "big" saw, then work their way down to the smaller tools, and finish off with sanding and torching the wood for "depth".

I didn't get good enough photos from the "speed" portion, but I did get some "satisfactory" pics of the big carvings, which I'm guessing were maybe 8 feet tall. Now, something else that struck me was that the smallest guy there, hailing from Washington State, had THE biggest saw.

Tomas Vrba, Everett, Washington

For better perspective, you will notice at the top of the photo (very blurry I know) some spray cans, which are probably 6 inches long? This thing was huge. The saw actually looked bigger than the guy carrying it, so it was definitely over 5 feet long.

This is the main piece of one of the carvers from BC:

Glen Greensides, Seyward, BC

This is the main piece by a carver from Germany:

Joerg Jung, Forst-Molzig, Germany

This is the main piece of another carver from BC:

Dan Ritchey, Nanaimo, BC
(I hope I got the correct name for this one. )

Note: I didn't get photos of all of the carvings, nor did I get one of the one that won. (Yes, this sentence is grammatically correct.)

Well, that is the extent of excitement this summer, other than the drug bust across the street (no, they weren't locals) and the car crash at the streetlight. Who says nothing ever happens around this area?