"Alaska Chainsaw Tree"

"Alaska Chainsaw Tree" AG WORLD 30-5-21 Before retiring a few years ago, Roy Baldwin had used chainsaws or worked on them for more than 30 years. "After all that time working on the darn things, I figured I had to find a good way to get rid of all the ones that no longer worked," he says. So the Sterling, Alaska, man cut a black spruce tree down to 24 ft. and trimmed back the branches. Then he mounted a big chainsaw on top of it. Thirty plus years and 30 saws later, his "chainsaw tree" has become somewhat of a tourist attraction. "People keep bringing saws in, and I keep putting them up. There are about 30 saws on the tree, which is about all it can hold. So now I'm starting on a second tree," says Baldwin. Most of the saws date back to the 1950's, and parts for them are no longer available. However, there are also a few electric chain saws that are only three or four years old. "Once they stop working, it's not worth fixing them," says Baldwin. Baldwin operates a woodworking shop where he uses chain saws to cut support posts for porches and electric saws to carve willow tree wood into canes and walking sticks. Burls from the trees are used to make wooden bowls. An average of about 2,000 people a year stop by his shop. He's had people donate saws from as far away as Minnesota and Oregon. The big McCullough tree on top of the tree is from a guy in Reno, Nevada. Some of the saws came from friends, some from a local welding shop, and some from a local rental company. Five saws came from an old shop that he tore down. "Once in while when I wake up in the morning I'll even find a chain saw sitting on my steps," says Baldwin. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Roy Baldwin, P.O. Box 327, Sterling, Alaska 99672 (ph 907 262-4143).

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