By ANDREA MCCANN
Indiana Correspondent

BICKNELL, Ind. — Chainsaw carvers are one big, happy, international family – and Charles Neighbors of Bruceville, Ind., discovered when he invites one for a day of carving, he might as well invite the rest.

Neighbors, a carver himself, said chainsaw carvers chat in at least one online forum almost every night. One night, he invited a carver to his shop to carve with him some weekend; another carver saw the post and wanted to come, as well. By the second day, Neighbors said, 10 wanted to participate.

Unable to accommodate a group that size, Neighbors set out to find a venue for the get-together. He found sponsors, including someone to provide wood and a skid steer, and he arranged to rent the Knox County Fairgrounds. Thirty chainsaw carvers from as far away as England descended on the fairgrounds Sept. 25-27 for the first Knox County Chainsaw Carvers Festival.

“Four months was all I had,” Neighbors said. “It’d probably been better if I’d had more time. Next year, I guarantee we’ll have 50 carvers.”

According to Neighbors, major chainsaw-carving events that were previously planned competed with Knox County’s, drawing away many carvers who were already committed to the other events. Next year, he’ll try to plan Knox County’s chainsaw carving festival around the others so more of the carving “family” can attend. He also plans to make it a seven-day affair.

Spectator turnout for the festival was good. With more time to plan and advertise next year’s event, he hopes for an even bigger crowd. He said several carvers sold artwork created at the festival. The going rate for chainsaw art is lower in Indiana than in other places, he said, but the artists were still pleased with their sales.
Each artist was required to donate something for an auction to offset event and travel costs. Those prices also were lower, Neighbors said, but auctioned pieces still brought a total $11,300. The highest selling auction item was an eagle, carved by Doug Ricks of Walkerton, Ind., that went for $1,450.

“Not bad for our first time,” Neighbors said.

Kevin Grove, who came from near Claremont, Ill., was enthused about the variety of carvers in attendance, the quality of the artwork and the prices. He bid on several auction items and came away with two chairs carved by the English artist.

He paid only $50 for one with an eagle carved on the back, and $150 for one with an ornate leaf design carved onto the back. The eagle’s head and the leaf design were painted. The Grove family likes the look of chainsaw carvings and has collected several pieces.

David Draeger of Bicknell attended the festival with another goal – becoming a chainsaw carver himself. He had the opportunity to watch and learn from the carvers in attendance. Draeger, already a hand carver, dryly commented that he learned he needs to “get a chainsaw and cut away everything that doesn’t look like a bear or a horse or whatever.”

But according to Inge Imel of Columbus, Ind., it takes a bit more than that. Imel, who does a small amount of chainsaw carving herself, was at the festival to assist artists Rick and Myles Nasby, also of Columbus.

She said getting a chainsaw and a log and going to town on it is a fine way to start, but added different types of wood react differently to the saw and produce unique looks, as do various methods of finishing. White pine is softer and easier to carve than walnut, for instance.

In addition, depending on the desired result, one saw bar may be preferable to another, such as a small one for detail work. “Each piece is different,” Imel said. “There’s not one set way of doing something.”

For example, she explained, a smooth, polished eagle figure in walnut with a lot of detail took longer than most pieces would and required a special sanding tool. The piece took Nasby two weeks, she said, because he’d never produced a piece like it, and it was a learning experience. Once a carver has created a piece, it takes less time to make more like it in the future.

Preparing the wood and finishing a carving take as long as the carving itself, she added. Carvers must find an appropriate piece of wood and debark it before carving. Afterward, the carved figure may require burning, sanding and sealing, she said.

Imel said Rick Nasby has been a chainsaw carver for six years, and it’s his full-time job. “He’s come a long way,” she said. “His first bears looked like chipmunks.”

Nasby learned a lot by going to chainsaw-carving events to watch other carvers, as well as chatting with them online. Now his 17-year-old son, Myles, has taken up a saw to join his dad in the business.
“(Myles’) ‘Wipe Your Paws’ bear sold for $300 in the auction,” Imel said. “He’s very excited.”

 Sherri McCloskey of DuBois, Pa., was another young carver participating in the Knox County Chainsaw Carving Festival. She became interested after attending the Ridgway Rendezvous, a major chainsaw-carving event in Ridgway, Pa., five or six years ago.
“I waited six months and got my first saw for my birthday, and I’ve been doing it ever since,” said the trim 33-year-old. “I don’t think it’s hard. The only thing I find hard is meeting deadlines. I could work seven days a week.”

McCloskey said she’s been working part-time for her family’s construction company and carving part-time; however, she spent the summer carving full-time.

One perk of being involved with a family construction company is that she gets wood that’s cleared away from the construction sites. She primarily uses pine, poplar or bass.

Like most chainsaw carvers, McCloskey said she saw others doing it and decided to try it.

“My grandma was a painter, and my grandpa carved with a chisel, but I don’t know where this came from,” she said. “I just saw it and learned from watching.

“This is my third show. This event is special because we’re all so close. It’s just like a family. It’s way more than just carvers getting together. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for anybody, and they’re the same way. We all talk on the Internet and get to know each other.”

One thing McCloskey has learned along the way is that a good chainsaw is crucial. She said an average saw may be $600, with an additional $100 for a bar, chain and sprockets. They can be purchased online, at a saw shop or at a good small-engine shop. “They may be a few hundred dollars and up, but you have to have a good one,” she said.

Neighbors, the event organizer, said he actually started carving his first piece out of red oak with a chisel.

“I had blisters and a sore back after 12 hours, so I got my chainsaw out, and an eagle took shape,” he said. “I sold it for $150 the next day. Six months later, I found out there was such a thing as chainsaw carvers.”

It’s his full-time job now, and his wife, Desiree, got started in the business five months ago. Neighbors said there’s always room for more in the chainsaw-carving family – and there’s plenty of business for all of them.