"Horizontal" Chainsaw Carvings

Horizontal Chainsaw Carvings FARM HOME Novelty Items Randy Boni does chainsaw carving like no one else His nestled turkeys bears foxes owls and raccoons are lined up across big logs laying flat on the ground What makes his story even more amazing is that Boni was legally blind until just over 20 years ago     He and his twin brother Rick were both born with cataracts They weren t able to have them removed until they were in their 30 s     The 60-year-old Parrottsville Tenn artist has been making chainsaw sculptures ever since He had a good reputation for his work locally but things really took off about a year ago when someone put pictures of his work on the internet      I don t know who took the photos but God bless em Boni laughs An email spread throughout the U S and overseas The phone started ringing and he received so many orders he had to turn some of them down     Boni got started with horizontal carvings when a client wanted two logs on the ground on both sides of his driveway Boni had two 42-in dia 28-ft long Engelmann spruce logs to work with Each log took about 12 days to complete     Carving horizontally creates some challenges      I make sure water has a way to drain off Boni says And although it s impossible to keep the wood from cracking he turns the animal heads with the long grain of the logs so they aren t as fragile     Two big commissioned jobs Boni received from the email were for a fish-themed log for a Florida restaurant and a cougar/deer log for a Calgary businessman     The Tennessee carver creates mostly vertical pieces Much of his past work has been carving support beams and intricate mantels in log homes built in the Smoky Mountain area and he likes to travel at least twice a year to do large commissioned pieces     Boni also does tourist bears starting at about $500 but admits he is happier creating art pieces than carving for production      It s challenging to keep growing with the art form he says There s always what do I do next to outdo this?     Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Randy Boni store at Cobbly Knob Rentals 3722 East Parkway Gatlinburg Tenn 37738 ph 423 613-9673; www abundance-acres com

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