Matthew Crabb

Full Name: Matthew Crabb

 

Age: 37

 

Where do you currently live? Somerset

 

Company Name: Matthew Crabb sculpture studio

 

Field of expertise (arboriculture, forestry, carver etc): Chainsaw carver

 

How Long have you worked in this industry?  14 years

 

Favorite carving saw?

My favourite carving saw is the Echo 280wes. The power to weight to stability ratio is amazing. I have it fitted with a 10” dime tip Tsumura carving bar.

 

What is your favorite tree?

My preferred wood to carve is cedar. It grows very big which is great for me as I like to carve big sculptures. It cuts fast and dry’s fast and smells amazing when your working with it. It also lasts very well outside which is pretty essential to what I do.

 

Tallest carving?

The tallest carving I have ever done is an 8.5m Virgin Mary statue. Carved for Lord James Wells at Schochwitz castle in Germany.  I have also carved a 9m skeleton for the artist. Both can been seen on my Facebook page, Matthew Crabb Chainsaw Artist.

 

Have you had any close calls? If yes, what happened?

I have only ever had one chainsaw kick back that scared me. I was ploughing away trying to remove a big section of wood from between the Alice in wonderlands legs with a 562xp. Tricky to do as essentially your cutting out a cave shape. Kick back was bound to happen. Obviously, I was prepared for it though. Body and head in the right place to not get hit. Scary

 

What is your hidden talent?

I think my main strength is my vision. I can process a 2d image into a 3D object that is hidden inside a log very easily. When I combine that with skilful operation of chainsaws, I can carve things faster than most it seems.

 

When you’re not climbing trees what are your other interest/hobbies?

My main passion other than my work is Drum and bass music. I have been mixing dnb vinyl for nearly twenty years and am on the verge of taking this interest into dnb