CARVING MEMORIES

August W. Birk knew how to use a chainsaw to cut firewood. So he figured if his first attempt at a chainsaw carving didn't go well, the log in his front yard could quickly become another destined for the fireplace.

With careful strokes of a hand-me-down chainsaw, Birk turned the log into an owl. He was a little nervous standing in the front yard of his home on Cape Rock Drive. "The neighbors could see just what I was doing," he said. "But it turned out alright."

That was about 14 years ago. Since that first carving, he has made 20 more -- golfers, an Indian, frontiersmen. Most are in Cape Girardeau.

Birk first saw chainsaw carvings on a trip to Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich. The community had been hit with Dutch Elm Disease, and many trees had died. Four or five of the dead trees have been made into chainsaw carvings. "They looked pretty good," Birk said. He photographed the carvings, brought the pictures home and studied them.

Then an elm tree died in his own yard. "Without any help from me," he explained.

He carved out the owl, then a golfer. Then neighbors across the street asked if he could carve a statue of St. Francis of Assisi.

At the time, he was working full-time at his family plumbing, air conditioning and heating business. He was working 50 to 60 hours a week and had to squeeze carving in a few hours a week. The process was slow, but deliberate.

It remains slow and deliberate today, even after retirement, Birk explained. Using a chainsaw means carvings can be done much faster than using more traditional carving tools like chisels and hammers. At the same time, one missed stroke with a chainsaw can mean disaster.

Before starting any project, he does small sketches and sometimes draws full-size maps of the statues with precise measurements. Depending on the complexity of the project, he sometimes does scale models to help solidify the proportion and design.

Birk has always had an interest in art. As a child, art was his favorite subject in school. "It came easy to me," he said. Just after graduating from high school, Birk served in World War II. At the end of his tour, Birk was headed back to Cape Girardeau to join his father in the family business. "I asked if I could have just a little time at a university before I started work," Birk said. His father agreed and Birk headed to the University of Missouri-Columbia where among his other courses Birk studied art.

He also met a young woman destined to become his bride. When she transferred to another university, Birk followed. He spent an entire semester studying nothing but art. August and Pat Birk headed to Cape Girardeau. He joined the family firm. They started a family, and the art training was mostly unused for years. Then he saw the chainsaw carvings and was inspired to try.

"My art school training comes in very handy all these years later," Birk said. "I studied proportion and the human form and many other things. It all helps."

He also joined the River Valley Carvers Club, a group of wood carvers from Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois.

"Of course, they are what I call whittlers," Birk said. "They do small work, but it's excellent work." And the carvers share secrets about working with wood.

One secret to a good chainsaw carving is a good log, Birk said. He needs one about 30 inches across in order to give the figures the proper perspective. Such a log isn't easy to find. In fact, Birk said, he sometimes ends up with a statue with a short nose. Despite all his planning, not enough tree is available.

Not all the carvings are made "on the stump." Sometimes he buys a log or a fallen tree is donated. He builds a scaffolding around the log so he can get the best angle for his carving.

He has traded in the used chainsaw for six new and reliable ones. One has a specially-designed carving blade with a very narrow tip. "Almost all of the carving is done with the tip," he said. "I chip away a little at a time."

For Birk, one of the biggest challenges has become preserving his work. In fact, some of his earliest carvings require maintenance and repair. He uses a variety of wood preservatives to help seal the carvings, which works pretty well, he explained. For log carvings made on the stump, trouble comes with moisture working up inside the tree. But Birk isn't dissuaded. And he has more business than he can possibly complete. Birk doesn't set a price. He charges $20 an hour, plus expenses. His most recent completions have been between $1,000 and $2,000.

Each statue has a story. The Indian at East Cape Rock Drive and Capaha Trail was a neighborhood beautification project for an empty lot. Neighbors chipped in on the cost. The golfer at Crab Orchard Lake Golf Course depicts a particular man. Birk said it's much different to design an Indian than to carve a specific individual. Birk's likeness matches photos.

He has two projects in the works for this summer, a Civil War soldier at a cabin near Sam A. Baker Park and a statue of Benjamin Franklin outside Franklin Elementary School in Cape Girardeau.

Already, sketches are filling Birk's basement workshop. He has been to the library doing research. "I wonder what artists of the past say Ben Franklin looked like," he said. "These should be an interesting challenge."