If you think of wood carving, the popular image is of highly-skilled craftsmen labouring over intricate, time-consuming work. Patience is a must, as they gently chip away with mallet and chisel to fashion their latest masterpiece. | "I think hares, bears, hawks and owls are my four favourite things that I like to carve" | | Harry Thomas |
Of course, there is a lot of truth in this, but Harry Thomas, from Presteigne is every bit as skilful a craftsman, even if he does adopt a somewhat more radical approach to his woodcarving. Harry's main tool of his trade is a chainsaw: "Fifteen years ago, we were waiting for a lorry in the woods to pick up the last load of timber. "The lorry had a puncture, and we were hanging about, so started messing about with a saw and a piece of timber. It went from there, really" Clearly there has been a lot of work involved in the honing of the skills involved. Examples of Harry's work are dotted around his home-cum-workshop on the end of an industrial estate in the Mid-Wales border town.
 | | Hare carving using a chainsaw |
A half-finished hare squats on his haunches near Harry's lorry, while, near to the front door of his caravan, a giant-sized owl sits on a pile of books. Other owls and a snake are also nearby. Harry's skills are becoming increasingly well known around the world, and specifically in America. He made his first chainsaw carving trip across the pond last year, and is due to return next month: "We went last year to a meeting called the rendez-vous at Ridgeway in Pennsylvania, which is a gathering of chainsaw carvers. "For three days, we all carve as big a piece of wood as we can get hold of and then, on the last day, it gets auctioned for the Make A Wish Foundation for terminally-ill children. "Last year we raised 47 thousand dollars." Wildlife is clearly at the heart of Harry's carvings. While he does take commissions, he admits to being at his happiest when carving an image of a living creature: "I think hares, bears, hawks and owls are my four favourite things that I like to carve. "They fit into the wood well; the hare is a particularly magical animal, and really difficult things to carve, as well. "I'm still not happy with them, so I keep making those, because I'd like to get one right one day!" The rendez-vous in Pensylvania is not really a wood carving competition in the true sense of the expression. Carvers come from far and wide, and the only competitive element comes at the end of the three days, when an auction is held of the finished exhibits. The item that raises the most money is loosely declared the winner, but Harry stresses that this is really a side issue; it is more about making money for the charity.
 | | Profile of hare carved using a chainsaw |
So, will it be hares again for Harry when he gets to Pennsylvania? "You have got to have two or three ideas, and then hope to get a piece of wood that it will fit into, although, in America, most of the wood there is white pine and it tends to be pretty straight and boring; you've just got to have a big enough piece so that you can put something into it." What started out as a bit of fun for Harry is now his main source of income. As the skills develop, so the equipment changes. From the early days when carvers used standard chainsaws, now it's possible to buy specialist equipment for the more intricate aspects of carvings: "There are bars in this country now you can get; they are called Cannon Carving bars; they do a dime tip, which is the size of a new 5p piece which is pretty small on the end." America, then, beckons for Harry, and, assuming he can raise the necessary funding needed to get there, then he will be in Pennsylvania in February. Harry may well be there, but his trusty chainsaws will not. A fellow carver's bitter experience means Harry will be relying on borrowing kit from their American hosts: "One of them took his saw, and that was fine. "When he went to leave, they wouldn't let him put it back on the 'plane, so he hasn't taken one since, and he advised me not to." "There are plenty of saws over there. We stayed with one of the American carvers, and he had twenty-one saws that were actually up and running and there were several others in various states." Whatever chainsaw Harry ends up using, it is a fair bet that his carving reputation will again be enhanced on the world stage, whether it through the "birth" of a new hare, bear or owl!
| 
