Mick Burns is a chainsaw sculptor, one of around 40 working in the UK. He's carved himself a career in making offcut wood and single pieces of timber into elegant furniture and ornaments. This is surprising given his choice of less-than-delicate tool.
As Mick says, 'We can do an awful lot with a chainsaw that you actually can't do with conventional tools. We can cut curves, we can scoop out timber, we can smooth with it.' Mick continues by making a somewhat ambitious claim: 'In fact, I could kit out the whole inside of a house without any problem at all.'
No matter what you decide to have carved for yourself, there are plenty of different types of timber to choose from. Even better, every tree is unique which means that your furniture will be, too.
Mick's favourite type of timber is full of character, with lots of knots in the wood. This is actually the type of wood that no one wants - if it goes off to a sawmill the planks they make will warp - in fact, it usually ends up as firewood.
It goes without saying that this is not for beginners. You should only start swinging a chainsaw around after some serious training. Most injuries caused by chainsaws can be attributed to inexperience, so get lots of training or, even better, pay an expert like Mick to do it for you.
If you're keen to do it yourself, a five day training course will set you back around £200, but will pay dividends both in terms of your own safety but also because kitting out your place with home made off cuts could save you an absolute fortune. Mick is pretty confident he could make a whole bench in a day using only a chainsaw, a sander and a little oil. The cost? Less than £500.
Chainsaw carving isn't for the faint hearted and anything that could cost you literally an arm and a leg should be approached with extreme caution. If done properly, you could end up with a truly individual piece of furniture.
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