Surfing Gnome

Three days at the Shenandoah Valley Invitational Chainsaw Challenge has rendered me wrung out! I bought my first chainsaw just for this competition a few months back, but work being so busy, I've only actually carved twice. This is my third piece, if you count the dinky little skull I made when I was testing out my friend Glenn's saw. This is my second large piece, being six feet tall, and two feet in diameter.

Read the article in the Northern Virginia Daily to hear my logic... or lack thereof. I also am caught by the camera using a carving mallet and chisel... old-school.

""Carving competition attracts chainsaw artists" by Ryan Cornell

What is it? It's a Gnome Surfing!

Day One - Start with a White Pine log, 6' x 2'

Day 2 - Carving mostly complete, sanded with 40 grit paper on a disc grinder.

Day 2 - My goal was to have the piece sealed in a black undercoating of porch paint before going home... I just made it, which meant that I would only have to deal with surface painting on the short (5 hour) final day of the competition.

Day 3 - Final color applied. He will still need a coat of polyurethane to seal the paint from the weather, but he is done enough for the judges.

I won 3rd place!!! Whoo Hooooo! - The other carvers were fantastic, and really helpful. It reminded me of finals week back in the senior studios in college: loud, stressful but lots of laughter.

Video Walk Around

Three New Castle Nut Brown Ales when I got home! It was still 86° at 6pm... It really was draining.