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Watch This Colorado Chainsaw Artist Turn A Log Into A Buffalo

Jim Hill
/
KUNC

In about 20 minutes, Travis Reed of High Country Carvings can turn an ordinary log into something extraordinary. An owl, a grizzly or in this case, a buffalo.

At first blush that may not seem amazing, until you realize that over that 20 minutes Reed's tool of choice is a chainsaw.

http://youtu.be/P8erUnsyz3U

"My grandpa was a logger, so I was always around chainsaws, so I just started carving on my own," Reed said. "Typically its animals but we do all sorts of things."

Based out of Durango, Colorado, Travis Reed and his wife Maggie travel across the nation performing at fairs, festivals and in this case, the National Western Stock Show. Through the course of the annual ode to Denver's roots as a "cow town" Reed has been giving several demonstrations of his near scalpel-like precision with the chainsaw.

On this warm afternoon at the stock show, he pulled the starter cord on his power tool and got to work on the log. When asked how he comes up with his carvings Reed admitted that sometimes he has to look at a picture. Mostly though, it's all from memory.

"This one I got halfway through it and realized I don't really know what a buffalo looks like," Reed said. "But it turned out okay, I think."

Stephanie Paige Ogburn has been reporting from Colorado for more than five years, primarily from the Western Slope.
I’m not a Colorado native (did you know that "I'm from Missouri" means "I'm skeptical of the matter and not easily convinced?") but I have lived here for most of my life and couldn't imagine leaving. After graduating from Colorado State University, I did what everyone wants to do; I moved to the mountains and skied, hiked, and hid from responsibility! Our listeners in the mountains may know me from my time in Steamboat Springs and Vail or as the voice of the Battle Mountain Huskies Hockey team in Vail.
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