The annual Mountain Heritage Days festival brought the Bardo Arts Center Lawn to life with the buzzing and roars of the chainsaw competition. Smoke and woodchips filled the air as participants put their machines to the test.
“I grew up around chainsaws. My old man right over there, he started me running a saw when I was about 14 and I’ve been cutting ever since,” said Shelby Davis, first place winner of the E- box class and category, which includes chainsaws with a length of 6 cubic inches and up.
Davis was one of the many winners this year with 19 different classes and categories for participants to compete in. These categories range from traditional two-person crosscutting to “hot saws” where any modification is allowed.
The Grand Champion title, given to the saw with the lowest cutting time, went to Billy Curry. His hot saw earned him a time of 2.94 seconds.
The Timber Cats, WCU’s timber sport team competed in the cross cutting category.
“It’s about getting a rhythm with your partner and sawing with your partner many times,” said club Vice President Morgan Gareity. “We always say, a slow smooth cut is a fast cut, and a fast cut is a smooth cut.”
Gareity competed with Sailor Peele against Katherine Sulzen and Aine Pusateri ending in a statistical wonder by tying with 1/100 of a second. This tie was broken in the second round with Peele and Gariety finishing in 26.53 seconds.
Along with competing the Timber Cats were presenting a cross cutting showcase to teach visitors about the Appalachian history attached to the competition.
“Being in the mountains, in a big forest area, there probably were a lot of lumber jacks, loggers, whose main jobs were to cut down, strip the trees and cut them into sizable pieces.” said Nicole Koskinas, treasurer of Timber Cats.
The practice may be old but there are always new faces, and always the same advice. Chainsaw chaps, eye protection and ear protection are a must.
Davis said “Keep your hands, keep your legs, keep everything away from it.”
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