Chainsaw Artist Carves Team Of Horses

Chainsaw Artist Carves Team Of Horses LIVESTOCK Horses/Mules “It was like taking a knife to a gun fight ” laughs Randy Boni about his latest chainsaw-sculpting venture He’s referring to the fact that his 3-ft chainsaw bar looked a little small when he started work on a 5 1/2-ft dia 14 000-lb western red cedar log Still within three weeks the Parrottsville Tenn carver had helped four running horses emerge from the center of the 900-year-old tree Boni was hired in September to create the piece for the Spruce Meadows Equestrian Centre south of Calgary Alta by Alfred Balm who has contracted with Boni for other projects Balm saw the video that went viral of Boni’s horizontal chainsaw creations of turkeys raccoons and other critters FARM SHOW Vol 34 No 4 and was so impressed that he started to commission Boni’s work The horses were his latest project “I planned to just do a foal laying down ” says Boni “But when I saw the log it was just too much of a log for my little idea ” He couldn’t find a longer bar to make plunge cuts through the entire log so he spent a lot of time drawing on the log so both cuts would meet in the middle The carving was so large that he literally crawled under the horses to carve He cut out a lot of wood between the legs and from the center of the log which was soft in places The 13 ½-ft long log was the third section of a tree cut on Vancouver Island To preserve the natural beauty of the wood and reduce checking Boni brushed natural colored Sikken’s preservative over the finished piece He was pleased with the results and credits Balm who is also an artist for “pushing me outside my comfort zone – pretty far!” At 61 Boni says he’s still amazed about the adventure carving and creativity has taken him on Until he was in his late 30’s he and his twin brother were legally blind with congenital cataracts After their surgeries both became chainsaw carvers Boni is based in Tennessee but has traveled extensively to do commissioned carvings Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Randy Boni 490 Trentham Hollow Rd Parrottsville Tenn 37843 ph 865 607-9155; www abundance-acres com

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