Described by some as ‘Bake Off with chainsaws’, A Cut Above is a reality show pitting chainsaw carvers against one another and which was won, in its first series, by the UK’s own Sam Bowsher. Here he shares his experience.
A CUT Above is a Discovery Channel chainsaw carving competition, which premiered in 2022. The aim of the show, which saw 12 carvers from across the globe compete in a number of challenges, was to determine which carver amongst them was ‘a cut above’ the rest. Scotland-based Sam Bowsher was that carver and Forestry Journal caught up with him after the show completed its run here in the UK on the Sky History Channel.
HOW DID IT FEEL TO WIN THE FIRST SERIES OF A CUT ABOVE?
It was unreal – as you could probably tell from my face when they announced me as the winner! We genuinely had no idea who it was going to be when we walked in for the final verdict, as any three of us could have won and it would not have been wrong.
WHAT DID YOU HAVE TO DO, TO BE JUDGED THE WINNER?
I’m not sure I know! What seemed to work for me was I was able to show I had listened to and learned from whatever I was told by the judges in the previous round. If they said they wanted to see fewer animals, I carved humans. If they said there was too much texture, I sanded the life out of the next one.
CAN YOU EXPLAIN THE SHOW’S FORMAT?
It used a well-recognised format from most competition TV shows. Every episode we began with a ‘quick carve’. This was a two-hour challenge, usually a bit of fun, the winner of which gained a small advantage in the main ‘master carve’. The master carve was then a seven-hour carving on a bigger log. There was a winner and a loser, and the loser was sent home. If you missed the criteria, played it safe, did not finish or left your carving rough, these were all things the judges would pick up on and would likely see you gone. We were all competing to win the last master carve.
HOW WERE YOU SELECTED FOR THE SHOW?
The producers interviewed me along with many others over the course of about a year or so. I guess I said something right in the interview and was lucky enough to be picked. I think what helped me get in was I was the show’s token ‘young gun’. I was the youngest carver on the show by 15 years. I think myself and Ryan Villiers had carved the least amount of time, about six years. But I grew up around it, whereas Ryan was a heavy diesel mechanic.
WHERE WAS IT FILMED?
We made the show a little way out of the town of Squamish in British Columbia, Canada. The town is mostly a mountain bike, hill walking, climbing and, in the winter, a ski town. It’s about an hour north of Vancouver and 45 minutes south of Whistler. The crew built a really cool set in a small woodland area on a big ranch. The scenery was one of the coolest parts. When we were not filming we were usually sat beside a turquoise-blue river watching eagles. All the drone shots throughout the show, of epic mountains and rivers, were taken from above the set.
HOW DID YOU GET ON WITH YOUR FELLOW CARVERS?
As is usually the case with chainsaw carvers, there was a lot of mischief and jokes. I think the producers all expected us to be steely-eyed, chainsaw-wielding art lovers, but we are all pretty laid-back, nice people that just happen to make cool stuff from wood. Obviously we all wanted to win, and as the show went on that desire grew even stronger, but as you see on the show, we were all happy to help when someone needed it. In addition, what isn’t shown is the amount of laughs we had.
What I’ll remember most from the show will be the on- and off-set laughs. Usually at my expense for being the youngest, or Chris Wood for being the oldest. One of the best laughs I can remember was after we had finished carving in the final. Chris, Ryan, and I were stood on the stage killing time, waiting to hear who the winner was, and we just started ripping into each other’s final carvings. All of us had got something very wrong on our carving and I think we were letting off some steam. It was one of those ‘you had to be there’ moments.
HOW DID YOU DECIDE WHAT TO MAKE FOR YOUR MASTER AND QUICK CARVES?
This was what I enjoyed and hated the most. I had never carved to a theme before at an event. When the theme was good, so were the carvings, but some of the themes had me at a total loss. That happened in the second episode, when we were asked to carve our biggest hope or deepest fear. I was having a complete blank, so went for the cheesy route with ‘my biggest hope is that my family grow old, happy and in good health’. Eugh!
I also tried to tick the Scottish box too, so went for a carving that represented ‘Slainte-Mhath’, which translates to ‘good health’. It was a hand holding up a pint glass, featuring a load of thistles around the base. It obviously did not translate well to the Canadian judge Ryan, and it did not help that the carving was crap too. I actually enjoy carving to a theme as I still had a lot of freedom for design, but if you can’t match the theme you lose a big haul of points right away.
WHICH SAWS AND TOOLS COULD YOU USE?
To be honest we were spoilt rotten. There was at least one of every tool for us to use. Echo provided the saws, Aspen supplied the fuel and Makita provided at least one of every angle grinder, power file, drill, die-grinder and impact driver, including corded and cordless versions of each. Meanwhile, Dremel supplied a ton of corded and cordless Dremels.
Saburrtooth supplied every carving burr or attachment they make. We could also use a handful of our own tools, but due to the big sponsorship deals connected to the show they had to be of the same brands. I did use my own sanding belts and a tool called a flap sander, as well as my home-made eye tools, which I use every day at home.
HOW DID YOU FIND CARVING WESTERN RED CEDAR?
The wood we used for every master carve was old-growth western red cedar. We were told this before flying out, so I spent a couple of weeks carving only red cedar to dial myself in before getting there, only to find it was a total waste of time as the old growth is completely different to the cedar we get here. Here it is always soaking wet, the growth rings are normally about 5–8 mm apart, and it cuts so fast it’s a dream, but a pain to sand, because of the moisture content.
Old growth is completely different. In about 5 mm of end grain there would be at least five growth rings, without an ounce of water content. It was dry and hard. It held detail really well and was a dream to sand, and when you oiled it, the wood was art itself. To be honest, we should have just milled it, sanded it, oiled it and then just spent 12 episodes looking at it. On that note, if anyone has some western red cedar in the UK, give me a shout please (07584 253242).
WERE YOU ALLOWED ANY SUPPORT?
We were completely on our own during filming. We had each other (the carvers) for company, but other than that our only support was a video call to home.
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE CARVINGS PRODUCED DURING THE SHOW?
Sadly, as far as I know they are all sat in shipping containers as they are property of the production company. If I could have brought anything home, it probably would have been the humpback whale, as it was a nice carving, and the old man carrying a baby, as a few folk want to buy it.
WHAT DID YOU CARVE IN THE FINALE TO WIN THE SHOW?
The theme for the finale was ‘the hero’s journey’. If you look that up, it is the basic plan for writing a story. In basic terms, the hero emerges, he goes on a journey/quest, people help him along the way, people hinder him, he comes across a great treasure and he returns home a hero. It just so happened that I had been watching a Viking series at night, so it was all fresh in my mind.
That is why I carved a Viking warrior (Odin), with a raven on his shoulder as his helper. He’s standing on a bag of stolen goods (the treasure), with scars on his face (people hindered his journey) and is ready to return home a hero. I think that is probably what bagged me a few extra points, as judges could tick the boxes as they went round it. If I was not shattered and thought about it better, I would have carved Robert the Bruce or William Wallace.
WHAT WAS THE PRIZE?
The main prize was $50,000 Canadian – not to mention the bragging rights!
This is going to sound like rubbish, but throughout the filming, a lot of us kept saying we were totally forgetting about the money. A Cut Above was unlike any other event or competition I have done. With others, you’re known as the winner for a week or so after the event, then when it comes round the following year you are the defending champion. With this one, the 12 of us are going to always be ‘the 12 carvers from the show’ and I guess I will be ‘that guy who won it”’, rightly or wrongly, depending on your opinion.
HOW WOULD YOU SUM UP YOUR EXPERIENCE?
I really do not have any negatives to take away. I know I am seeing it through rose-tinted spectacles because I won, but I have remained really good friends with Ryan Villiers who also made it to the final and he feels the same as me. We were treated well, put up in a great hotel, we were fed well, we did something some people only dream of. I spent eight weeks with people I would never have got the chance to, and I became a better carver because of it.
It also helped get chainsaw carving out to a wider audience and built all of our profiles. In addition, being asked for selfies and signing things is still mind-blowing.
Of the 12 carvers on the show, I knew three of them well before filming and had heard of another three. At first, I thought this meant the six or seven of us would walk it, but that turned out to be complete naïveté.
WILL THERE BE A SECOND SERIES?
I recently competed at a competition in Canada. Ryan Cook, the TV show judge, was also at this event and the TV show was his baby. Talking to him, it sounds as though it is pencilled on the cards and they just need the last few things lined up and it’ll be ready to roll!
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