Vroom! Chain gang a bunch of carving artists

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
BY DALE BOWMAN STAFF REPORTER
May 8, 2005

Call me a Philistine. But I have a weakness for chain saw art.

The bigger, the bearier, the better I like it.

Some day, I plan to have a freakin' 8-foot grizzly bear with claws like Edward Scissorhands, chain-sawed out of redwood, guarding our front steps.

So I was quite happy to hear the decision by Echo Incorporated to formalize a professional team for competitivechain saw carving. The Lake Zurich-based leader in high-performance, handheld outdoor power equipment correctly figured it made sense to sponsor a team of world class carvers.

The Echo Carving Team of Mike Bihlmaier of Marengo, Mark Colp of Lakeport, Calif., R.D. Coonrod of Downstate Quincy, Jason Emmons of St. Croix, Ind., and Bob King of Edgewood, Wash., debuted in Lake Zurich on April 29. The mini-competition ultimately benefited the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life program.

Chaps and chips

The basic team uniform was work shoes or boots, black Carhartt jeans, red protective chaps, gray Echo sweatshirt, protective earmuffs and either protective head gear or eyewear.

If they were going to be out in public, they were also going to be promoting safety. As far as I could tell, all of them had their full assortment of digits, though a couple had experienced some hearing loss.

A first-aid kit, fire extinguisher, gas cans and seven chain saws lined the back of Bihlmaier's area.

"I got more,'' the father of seven said, meaning more saws, I think. "That should about cover me.''

Joe Fahey, Echo's vice-president of marketing, blew the horn that started the competition and the chips to flying.

As might be expected, wood matters to chain saw artists.

For the one-day competition with about three hours of carving, white pine was a natural choice, Coonrod said. He brought the pine up from Quincy. And the carvers used a lottery the night before to decide who got what piece.

For a short competition, pine has some obvious advantages.

It's soft for one, so the cutting can go quickly and easily. Pine is also a sappy wood.

"Pine sap is naturally flammable,'' Coonrod said. So a torch can easily blacken some areas for effect.

The size and cut of the wood matter, too.

Before the lottery, King, known for his dog sculptures, had his eye on one piece in particular. "It had a golden retriever in it,'' he said.

Instead, he drew a long, thin piece of wood. Then turned it into three eagles perched in a column. Personally, I thought it was the best piece done.

"Catalpa is the best wood you can get in the Midwest,'' Bihlmaier said. "It has such a fantastic color and great overall carving properties.''

"Redwood is, hands down, the wood of choice among wood carvers,'' Colp said. "It has great color, it's long-lasting and it's huge.''

Maybe I am not as much of a Philistine as I thought.

Colp handles white pine well, too. Lake Zurich Mayor Jim Krischke judged Colp's fierce bear head with an eagle in the back as the best.

The nickname for Lake Zurich High School is the Bears, so there was some hometown reasoning.

Bears and eagles are natural favorites among buyers of chain saw art. And, by extension, among carvers.

But carvers, generally in favor of making money, accommodate most special requests. Including carving people (in wood).

"Elvis, Martin Luther King, Abe Lincoln, I can do that with a chain saw,'' Coonrod said.

It takes more precise work to get that dimple just right in your late grandfather's chin.

"I have a bar I designed that comes down to the size of a dime,'' Coonrod said.

Two members of the team come from pioneers in the sport or art of chain saw carving.

Coonrod's dad, Ron, was one of the earliest accomplished carvers. He had been a forester for power companies.

Colp's dad was such a pioneer that the Don Colp West Coast Championship is named after him. Father and son still compete occasionally against each another.

And Colp is properly appreciative of his family lineage.

"It's all I do,'' the 42-year-old said. "I never filled out a job application in my life. I started carving in 1981, after graduating from high school.''

Let the chips fall where they may is a wonderful saying to most. Carvers, however, want each chip to depart very precisely.

Nothing worse than having the beak of a bird suddenly flying off while giving a demonstration before hundreds at a county fair.

"I have changed and gone from an eagle to an Indian,'' Coonrod said. "It's a one-shot deal.''

As King put it, "You cut away all the superfluous in the wood, everything that doesn't look like an eagle.''