To onlookers, the stumps of white pine just looked like, well, large pieces of wood.
But Mark Colp saw a ferocious grizzly bear trapped inside, while Jason Emmons spotted an owl and Bob King saw three eagles perched on a branch.
“Start your engines!” cried the announcer, kicking off an ear-splitting contest Friday in Lake Zurich that featured five wood-carvers armed with chain saws.
All five are members of a carving team sponsored by Echo Inc., a Lake Zurich manufacturer of handheld power equipment. The contest, also sponsored by the company, took place outside its headquarters.
With their saws blasting, the carvers turned the stumps into intricate wooden animals, complete with teeth, wings and talons.
Colp won the contest, creating an eagle sitting atop a snarling grizzly bear.
“We like to refer to it as Extreme Art,” said Colp of Lakeport, Calif., at one point pausing to grab a smaller chain saw to shape the grizzly’s tongue and teeth.
Lake Zurich Mayor James Krischke picked the winner, noting that Colp’s bear resembled Lake Zurich High School’s mascot.
The carvers worked around knots and holes in the wood, each piece between 4 and 10 feet high and about 2 to 3 feet wide. Contestants were assigned their wood through a lottery.
King had planned to carve a golden retriever, but realizing his material was too thin, he switched gears, hacking out a branch with three eagles.
“We adapt to what we have available and go with it,” said King, of Edgewood, Wash.
The two other team members were Mike Bihlmaier of Marengo and R.D. Coonrod of Downstate Quincy.
The winning carving will be donated to the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life; the other four will be raffled for the cancer program.
All five carvings impressed Glori Schramm of McHenry.
She said her husband, Jack, was “good with a chain saw but not like this. Maybe he can cut down a tree.”
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jscohen@tribune.com
