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Branching Out: The Art of Dave Ferrell
Written By: Donna Rhodes | Issue: April - 2022
Dave Ferrell’s chainsaw wizardry draws magical figures from ordinary blocks of wood.
Dave Ferrell
When you’re a kid in Wisconsin, the materials for winter ice carving are right outside your door. But when you get a little older, you might trade your chisel for a chainsaw and the fun really begins, especially if you are leaning toward culinary arts. Carved swans, lions, mermaids, octopuses birds become the centerpieces for elegant dining.
That was Dave Ferrell’s life early on, but he took one more step, graduating from ice to wood. For the next 20+ years he has carved pine and cedar into bears (oodles of bears), eagles, owls, cardinals, fish – just about anything a customer can imagine.
Occasionally he’s hired to carve an existing tree stump into a front yard welcomer: a wizard, gnome, wildcat, gargoyle, or dog.
Every December he makes a trek to Tallahassee where he demonstrates and sells tropicals – manatees, parrots, palm trees, pelicans, anchors, and seahorses. It’s his last hoorah before winter sets in at his Wisconsin home where he hibernates until March.
This time of year you can find Dave at Hwy. 441 in Dillard, Georgia, or Scaly (Scaly Mountain Crafters, which also helps support the local food bank.
Watch him take a raw log, debark it, block it down, then detail it with his array of 12 chainsaws (48-inch to 12-inch bars). Step back. Chips are flying, but the sound of the saw’s revving and the flying chips are part of the excitement of experiencing Dave weaving his magic. Thanks to his skills and unceasing imagination, a chunk of felled tree becomes a mythical beast or a soaring eagle right before your eyes.
Later, he finishes his sculptures with sanding, wood burning, sealing, and occasionally painting to emphasize features.
If you don’t catch him roadside in Dillard or Scaly (where he’s cranking out inventory all season long), visit him on Facebook: Ferrell’s Custom Chainsaw Carving; or you can email him at [email protected].
