Artist carves out own niche

By AMY SATTERWHITE / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard

Ben King slices through an ordinary piece of wood at Lowe’s Friday with the goal of shaping it into the form of a great horned owl. King’s booking agency, Masters of the Chainsaw, promotes the chainsaws the store carries. (Amy Satterwhite photo)

Ben King knows his way around a chainsaw.

He knows the perfect way to sharpen the chain, has the best angles for cutting, and takes appropriate safety measures. But what makes him stand apart from the average chainsaw user is the end result of his labor.

While most look at wood logs and think of firewood, King looks at the same objects and sees the potential for animals such as birds of prey, dogs and bears. A plain pine stump can be transformed into any living thing, he said while making an appearance at the newly opened Lowe’s Friday.

His booking agency, Masters of the Chainsaw, provides professional representation to chainsaw carvers from across the country and Japan and is associated with Lowe’s. “We promote the chainsaw that they sell and that’s the reason we’re here,” he said.

The chainsaw carving art form, which he said is just as easy for him as drawing on paper, was not what he originally intended. After attending art school in Alabama many years ago, he got sidetracked when art was not offered at a Tennessee university.

King was a professional musician for 25 years and decided to become a chainsaw carver after watching another carver about 12 years ago. He was “picked up” by Masters of the Chainsaw after attending a chainsaw carving contest in Philadelphia in 1994.

In his travels across the country, which include giving demonstrations at store grand openings, store-sponsored events at NASCAR races and even county fairs, his work elicits various reactions.

“When you do a grand opening for a Lowe’s in a small town, you always have a huge crowd. I’ve done them right in the middle of Atlanta, and nobody will ever even glance to the side,” the Fentress County resident said.

In McMinnville, people were indeed drawn to the presentation and the art, which can sell for around $150, but King maintained a humbleness and a sense of humor about his obvious talent.

“I did an Indian powwow one time and they gave me an Indian name,” he said, sounding out a name with a difficult spelling. “I said, ‘What’s that mean?’ And they said, ‘Woodpecker.'”