Chainsaws are Scott Lepley's carving tools

Don Reid, Coldwater Daily Reporter
·2 min read

COLDWATER — Scott Lepley faced a 4-foot-high log outside the Browne Recreation Center Saturday at Winterfest.

With chainsaws, he cut and trimmed the log. Two hours later, it looked like a bear on its hind legs, and a pile of sawdust and chips covered the asphalt.

Scott Lepley uses his chainsaw to add details to finish the carving.
Scott Lepley uses his chainsaw to add details to finish the carving.
Scott Lepley rough cuts a bear from a pine log Saturday at Winterfest.
Scott Lepley rough cuts a bear from a pine log Saturday at Winterfest.

Scott Lepley's Custom Chainsaw Carvings from Fremont, Indiana, is his full-time business.

The Daily Reporter interviewed Lepley while he worked at Winterfest.

How did you start?  

"I fell in love with running a chainsaw early on. I was looking into getting into logging or tree trimming. A friend invited me to a logger's festival. There were guys doing carvings with chainsaws. I decided I was gonna try it when I got home. That was 26 years ago in 1997."

Was it easy when you began? 

"I wouldn't want you to see (those carvings) today. It's been a gradual progression."

How many carvings do you do? 

"I do one, two, three or four a week. Bigger ones, maybe one a week. Smaller stuff like at fairs. I do three or four of these in an afternoon or evening."

Scott Lepley's second Winterfest carving was an eagle.
Scott Lepley's second Winterfest carving was an eagle.

What wood do you use? 

"This is pine. For demonstration this works good. It cuts a little quicker than the hardwood and still makes a nice carving."

Do you carve just at special events? 

"I do stumps in people's yards. That's a majority of what I do, whatever they have. Somebody's got a tree coming down, they save a stump, and I turn it into something right there in the yard."

Scott Lepley created a fox in a tree from a customer's tree stump.
Scott Lepley created a fox in a tree from a customer's tree stump.

What do you charge? 

"Each job is different. It depends on how far I have to go and how large it is. I've done stuff 34 to 35 foot tall with multiple things in it. So, it just depends. "

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Winterfest held a silent auction for the bear and eagle Lepley created Saturday in his four-hour demonstration.

Lepley can be contacted on Facebook as Scott Lepley 33, via email at slepley8@gmail,com, or by calling (260) 336-4152.

 -- Contact Don Reid: dReid@Gannett.com. 

This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: Scott Lepley carved log animals at Coldwater's Winterfest