Chainsaw Art Competition?

[Martin Dewgarita]

So, I don't want to go into the details, but basically I'm bumming out because of some poor tree pruning issues and wood transportation/storage I've infected a huge portion of my courses (bald/golden eagle) with oak wilt. Now rather than crawl under a rock and cry about it (or maybe I'm crawling out from under my rock to peek at the daylight..), I'm trying to figure out how to move on from here. Obviously planting new trees is on the timeline, but I have to do something with all of the massive dead oaks that I have.

Ideas have varied from firewood, milling them into lumber, burning them, selling them, to... chainsaw carving competition.

I cut all of the trees down leaving a 15' stump (Many stumps would be 20" in diameter or better). I entice artists with some kind of prizes, and the allure of helping a kids camp that has been devastated by oak wilt. I retain obstacles in the fairway, rather than completely opening up all of the fairways, and the awesomeness of it becomes a huge draw for the course...

I assume chainsaw art competitions must be a thing, anybody know anything about them? How do I attract artists? How do I get them to donate what would amount to like a $1000 sculpture? Do I charge an entry fee? Maybe I could charge admission for people to come watch? Does this seem feasible or am I in the clouds? Or would I be better suited milling the logs and selling/using the lumber elsewhere?

I don't know, maybe I'm just crazy, thoughts? discussion?

 

[tbird888]

Cincy has had ice carving competitions (done with chainsaws) in the past that were awesome to watch blocks of ice transform into temporary art. Googled about it and found this so it obviously happens. Maybe you could contact the organizers to see if it would feasible for you to try and do something like this.

Sounds like a great way to make lemonade with the course. Good luck with whatever path you decide to take.

 

[Martin Dewgarita]

**Edit, I just realized that it looks like I have already cut the trees down leaving 15' stumps, I haven't done anything with the trees yet, I just have lots of dead standing trees at the moment...

 

[Martin Dewgarita]

Googled about it and found this so it obviously happens. Maybe you could contact the organizers to see if it would feasible for you to try and do something like this.

Hmm... This takes place just down the road...

 

[Gblambert]

I feel your pain about losing trees to oak wilt. When I bought my property there were a dozen huge oaks that had been killed by oak wilt the year before. The thought of losing any more oaks has made me cautious enough that I only cut them during the hottest and coldest times of the year, I seal every cut with paint, and then keep my fingers crossed that I didn't infect any new trees.

As for the dozen already dead trees, most of them will become chainsaw carvings after the course is complete and I finally have time to carve them. A couple though, just happened to be located where I needed a tee pad on one hole and a basket on another. For the tee pad, we cut the stump off at 10' and built a staircase to the top. Players throw from the deck on top to an island green, making it a fun but challenging hole. For the stump at the basket location, we put a big metal bird on top and hung some bells made out of welding tanks from the only limb we left on the stump.

There's lots of possibilities if left standing, and if you do cut any down then get a chainsaw mill or at least turn them into benches. Anything but firewood.

 

[daniberry]

Artists have very deep sense of making anything from a simple wood. Sculpture is one could be expected when using chainsaw.

 

[Martin Dewgarita]

As an update to this thread, I cut a lot of them down and hired a local traveling sawmill - wood turning projects, benches, shelves and other random wood working projects. So far about 3000 board feet of Oak, about 50/50 Red/White. Still many standing out there, especially if they were integral to hole or completely out of the way, we'll see what ends up to those. I have been working on my own chainsaw carving skills, so maybe.. Also I missed the chainsaw competition in Eau Claire this year, I had planned on going to check it out, but I forgot to add it to my calendar and it slipped my mind.

 

[BCDan]

Chetwynd, British Columbia Canada hosts an international chainsaw carving event. I've inquired carvers about getting their work put on s nearby course, it is expensive.

http://www.gochetwynd.com/visitors/chainsaw-carvings/

 

[Gblambert]

Another bench made from an oak tree killed by oak wilt disease. It's 30+ feet long and sits behind the #9 tee pad at the Flying Armadillo. The tree and two screws were shaped with a chainsaw and then sanded with an angle grinder.

 

[Timber]

What did they seal the log with?

 

[Gblambert]

What did they seal the log with?

We put two coats of semi-gloss helmsman spar urethane on it. The ends of the log got a couple of extra coats to help minimize checking. Not a fan of the shiny look, so we're probably gonna add a third coat of satin finish.

 

[Timeetyo]

Another bench made from an oak tree killed by oak wilt disease. It's 30+ feet long and sits behind the #9 tee pad at the Flying Armadillo. The tree and two screws were shaped with a chainsaw and then sanded with an angle grinder.

That is awesome.

You must have more faith in humanity than I do to allow DGers to mess with that. Someone will find a way to break it and I'd lose my mind.