Artist to show chainsaw skills Saturday

Brittny Hughes is good at logging. She took to the skills like a gull to an updraft when she began in forestry at the age of 18. She can put up firewood faster than many men do. She has cut down trees, killed off Scotch broom, and planted a lot of young trees, sometimes 900 in a day. She worked as a wildland firefighter. She cut wood using a 562 Husqvarna with a 30 or 32-inch bar.

“I have a lot of energy,” she admits. Now at 32 with a ten-year-old son, she led a really outdoorsy, hunting-and-fishing kind of life.

Then the coronavirus arrived and all contracts were pulled. She watched a chainsaw artist, tried carving once, and everything changed.

“I don’t want to do the big chains anymore,” she said. “But I still use that saw for big jobs.”

“I love forestry and trees; I’m really good at it,” she explained matter-of-factly, “but chainsaws more.” She started carving in discarded, junk pieces of wood.

“A couple friends showed me tricks, but mainly the competitors learn from each other,” she added.

Why leave the bread-and-butter sort of work to do chainsaw art? When she carves a plain block of wood into an artistic shape, Brittny reflected, “It makes me feel really happy. I can’t draw or anything, so it really freaked me out!”

Now her passion to do chainsaw art has become the staple provider plus more. Her finished work has a definite creative style, whimsical and adorable. Sales have been good.

She just got a 170 Stihl with a special 8-inch tip to facilitate detail work. As she continued setting up for the Roseburg County Fair competition, she paused to consider.

“Carvers are like a family. We all help each other,” she said.

Brittny will be one of ten competing carvers at the first annual Sandy Invitational Chainsaw Carving competition (SICC) event from 8 am to 6 pm Saturday, August 26 at 38600 Proctor Blvd., the site of the Mt Hood Farmer’s Market on Fridays. Come try your hand at logging skills such as splicing a cable, choker setting, using a double buck saw, clinometer, Biltmore sticks, and more.

Schedule:

7:00 am Arrival on Site and Setup

8:00 am Carvers choose logs by lots and begin carving their “main piece” for sale at the completion of the event.

9:00 am Clackamas Fire Arrives on site

10:00 am 1st Traveling Tree Tour Guided by Forester/Arborist

11:00 am Practical Demonstration by former OSU Forestry Team Members

12:00 pm 1st Forest Fire Prevention by Clackamas Fire

1:00 pm Quick Carve event takes place. 60 minutes for “artists' choice” and a silent auction follows.

2:00 pm 2nd Traveling Tree Tour Guided by Forester/Arborist 2nd Forest Fire Prevention by Clackamas Fire

3:00 pm Practical Demonstration by former OSU Forestry Team Members 4:00 pm 3rd Traveling Tree Tour Guided by Forester/Arborist

3rd Forest Fire Prevention by

5:00 pm Quick Carve Silent Auction winners announced

5:30 pm All Carving is to be completed by 5:30 pm and final judging will be announced.

6:00 pm Tear down and clean up.