- All right, here we go.

- It's not exactly a paint paintbrush, but in the right hands this chainsaw becomes an artist's primary tool.

This is the work of Carver and Hartley Harwood's owner Dan Hartley, who's been around wood carving since he was young.

- My dad was a cabinet maker, now worked with chainsaws since I was nine years old.

My first form of art was routing name signs for friends and family in our community at the cabinet shop.

I never knew it would lead to this.

- Dan's love for saw carving has taken him around the world, whether taking part in competitions or just connecting with other passionate carvers.

It's what led him to the north country.

- Dan came up a couple years ago and had an opportunity of staying up in this north country area because there's a really good market for the carvings and stuff that he's doing.

That's stuff that he's creating is there's a good market for it.

So he had a chance to stay here and we helped him with some stuff He carved here in our yard until he got a good yard established - And I would come up and carve inventory and orders for him and just hang out with him because he's a great guy.

- With saw in hand, Dan takes to the chopping block, turning what was once an ordinary wooden log into something extraordinary.

- I'm most known for owls.

It's my favorite thing to carve.

I carve a lot of them.

My most popular bears, eagles, cardinals and owls.

So I can get asked to carve raccoons and all kinds of different wildlife squirrels.

I've even carved a few platypus before.

You are taking a block of wood and creating something just like Divinci or Michelangelo did with stone.

If we're using more modern tools, chainsaws make it very much faster.

I use a lot of die grinders and I have different, various different Saber brand bits, eyes and small details.

Oles we use a lot.

And then we also have weed torches that we burn the sculptures with, which is an important part of the process of drying them and finishing them midnight.

I get excited every time I'm meeting new people, learning experience, the competition part of it fuels me.

I grew up in sports and competition has always been big to me.

And actually just seeing my friends win some as well.

- And it's the competitions where carvers like Dan can share their love with the public competitions like the US Open Chainsaw sculpture.

- When we did these big pieces here at the US Open here, we used the theme, it was inner resilience.

So they're, they did a piece that meant inner resilience to them.

There's no wrong answer to any of this, this, this, this form, but these climbers are crying when they're trying to explain this stuff to us.

They're emotional pieces and that's what we're trying to bring out in this.

So like as Dan's doing his stuff, you do your production pieces and production pieces and production 'cause those are the ones that sell bears, eagles and owls.

But when you can do a masterpiece and do that, like it's a very emotional piece.

I'm getting goosebumps thinking of it.

- I was a support car, which I carved pieces for the auction.

I helped the masterpiece carers when they needed help, just watching them work was phenomenal.

And the crowds there were phenomenal.

There was so many people interested in watching and doing and owing over these carvers and carvings and rightfully so.

They are some of the best in the world.

I'm truly blessed to be part of this chainsaw carbon community.

And with lifelong friends that I've made, everyone is willing to share their thoughts and ideas and techniques and help each other grow.

And that's a great part of the community and that's one of the reasons I love it so much.

- In Dan's time as a carver, he's never stopped admiring the art form and learning from others.

But to get started, he recommends carvers, trust their gut, - Be safe, chainsaw pants I wear here, protection, all that.

That's very important in this.

They're very dangerous tools.

Try it yourself.

See what you're capable of, see if you have a passion for it before you go into it and start spending a whole lot of money on new saws.

Instructions such as that.

- What I admire most about Dan Hartley and the art that he's doing is this freedom of expression he expresses in his work and his stuff that he's doing, what's on his mind and what he's thinking.

And it's, it's an artistry deal he makes.

Some of these pieces are, it's so fun to see, do different pieces.

He made this big bear bar one time, it had a bear on one end and a bar top on it, and it's, it's an expression of the stuff that he enjoys.

- It's loud, it's dirty and dusty and, but it's a lot of fun.

So have fun with it and just see what you can do, see if you're gonna like it, you know, and then go from there.

And then the sky's the limit after that.

- In Watertown for WPBS Weekly, I'm Luke Smith.