- I'm Brad Sorgen
The US Stihl Timbersports Series is actually the longest running show on ESPN
other than SportsCenter.
It's very unique, Stihl's relationship
with lumberjack sports.
There's very few organisations in the world
that actually manufacture a product
and own a sporting event.
Examples would be Red Bull,
the Nathan's Hotdog Eating Competition,
the MetRX's World's Strongest Man Competition,
and of course Stihl Timbersports.
We brand ourselves the original extreme sport.
It's very unique where we actually make
the number one selling chainsaw in the world
but actually put on the number one selling
or number one promotional competition in the world.
When it comes to lumberjack sports
everyone in the world knows Timbersports
is the highest production quality,
the best matched wood and I think that all stems
from the fact that Stihl really stands for quality
and so we're happy to make great chainsaws
but also great competitions for some of the best
and amazing individuals who compete in the sport.
So onstage we got a 32 by 64 foot stage
which allows for all the safety concerns
that you may have.
Athletes based around 16 feet apart,
between these chopping stands and a little under
about 14 and a half for the single
stock saw and hot saw stands.
This deck is actually something we've been using
for around 15 to 20 years.
The athletes love it, they have a great place
for their footing, spikes dig in really well,
and they're not worried about slippin' around on the deck
so we're really proud about that.
Prize money goes to all athletes but our top
overall competitor gets himself a brand new
$60,000 Ram 1500.
So you can see we've got some Brute Forge axes up there
provided by Brute Forge out of Australia
as well as our trophy up on the stage.
But also then you've got the Ram truck
that the guys end up taking home.
Historically Matt Cogar has won the last three years
so he's got a nice little fleet vehicle
farm growing in the back of his garage right now.
I think he wants to try to trade in for a truck,
he may end up getting a Fiat at the end of this year
just to have something a little bit smaller
that he can work with.
Move around and be safe and use your stuff and you have also
the ability to pull your vehicles up
and unload your gear but we've got about 28 competitors.
We have 20 pros and eight college guys
who are crammed in around a 40 by 40 space.
Just enough that they can get all their stuff in,
they can work out, but it's also a quick shot
right around the corner and they can actually hear
the crowd cheering for their competitors
and they can watch it on the Jumbo-tron right here.
So they're not gonna miss the action as it occurs
so I try to police this area every now and then
just swing back to make sure
the guys got everything they need.
Always wanna make sure that there's water available
and food for them to eat.
If you don't feed these guys they get a little bit hungry.
I always hear it from the veteran competitors,
Mike Slingerland's terrible.
Whenever he doesn't eat for five minutes
he starts getting a little pale
so we gotta get him food whenever he gets a chance.
This is kind of the behind-the-scenes, behind the curtain.
I would refer to this as almost production land.
Production land is where we actually film the competitions.
We work with a great company called JM Associates.
They actually started producing fishing shows
for a small fledgling company called
ABC's Wide World of Sports back in 1985.
That ABC's Wide World of Sports turned into ESPN
which is the number one sports broadcasting
television show in the world.
Great company to work with,
JM they've been partners of ours for years,
they helped us start the Timbersports Series.
The stuff that they do in this trailer is pretty special.
From Stihl's perspective we wanna make sure
that everyone can see the story that we're trying to build.
So the TV production allows us to show
the individual competitors for who they are.
Allows us to tell a story with some really amazing
and unique competitors to the world
who they may not ordinarily have seen.
We may not be a destination programming
but when you get to know Timbersports
and who these athletes are, you become a fan.
And I've been lucky enough over the last eight years
to become fan and a friend of these guys.
(clacking)
So if you don't like this space,
this is all Slingerland's idea.
- [Man In Black Shirt] It's much closer, it's better.
- [Brad] Okay.
- So we had you in that room and then
Sling said I want to be closer
and I want to be able to get dirty.
And I said fine, whatever.
(mumbling)
We're gettin' you some chairs too.
- Awesome.
- Alright, TV.
Brought up that no matter how hard we try
someone's going to put axe boxes along the row
that you said we probably shouldn't have axe boxes on
so I said okay, let's (clanking).
And they love the fact that you've set up in here
'cause they don't have to worry about the carpet.
- Even better.
- And I don't have to worry about the carpet too.
- They're gonna spend like a thousand.
- [Man With Red Hat] What!
We're gettin' it now.
- [Brad] I know a guy.
- [Man With Red Hat] Ho ho, holy Christmas.
I'm afraid to put an axe in this thing.
(mumbling)
- So this is our media preview event.
It's an opportunity to give you guys
a behind-the-scenes experience and see what these guys
put on for the competitions taking place tomorrow.
Friday is our knockout round, 5:00-9:00 p.m.
And then the College and US Championships
are this Saturday from 5:00-9:00 p.m.
Matt's gonna do the Standing Block Chop,
simulates knocking down a tree like you've seen
many lumberjacks do.
Essentially what he's gonna do,
he's gonna make cuts on the front side of the log.
Then he's gonna make a cut on the backside.
Alright folks, let him hear,
that's a piece of wood he's choppin' through.
(crowd cheering) (thudding)
Matt, a three time US Champion competitor,
representing USA in the World Championships several times
including a second place World Championship finish in 2012.
(crowd cheering)
Got a couple more there, pieces of wood flying off,
one more hit.
Aw, stuck in the wood.
(crowd cheering)
There we go, look at this piece of wood,
see that flat shelf?
That's what you wanna see.
You can tell that it places like a little ridge right here
that's almost a mishit for him.
Usually it's a complete flat shelf.
The goal is when swinging at this
you have a complete surface that's 100% flat.
Any time that you miss, you have to take a rehit
or position another location.
- [Contestant] You want me to stop at all
or just cut right through it?
- [Camerawoman] Uh, just keep going for just a little bit.
- [Contestant] If you want me to stop just say stop.
- [Camerawoman] Otherwise just go ahead.
- [Contestant] Ready?
- [Camerawoman] Yup.
(sawing)
- He's swinging a five pound razor between his toes.
This is called the underhand cut
because, do a bit of shave, the axe is razor sharp.
Now obviously we want to be safe,
let's show 'em what you got under your legs there.
So all the athletes have on a chain mail guard.
Think knights in shining armour.
So even if they do have a glancing blow
they're gonna put a nice little hole in their sneakers
but they're gonna keep all their piggies.
This is your start.
Timer's ready!
Contestant's ready!
Three, two, one, go!
(thunking)
Two hits on one, two hits on the other.
What a big sheet of wood.
(thunking)
One more for good measure and he's around back.
(thunking)
Now it looked like he didn't separate it there
but actually what happened, the wood does separate,
so give it a kick and see.
So sometimes the log doesn't fall off.
When the competitor is actually in competition
he recognises that his block is severed.
Now if you're taking another hit at that
his time would keep going.
- It's part of the project yeah.
- Holy smokes!
- [Man In Black] This is gonna be big time.
I think up to the,
yeah, yeah 'cause they, I assume close to one of the.
(clanking)
- Adrian Flygt here with another episode of Flygt Facts.
Last year we talked about,
how do you get started in Timbersports?
The easiest way is to be born into the sport.
Many competitors come up through the collegiate ranks.
Today we're gonna dive into the,
how do families or how does the family tradition
look like for those people born into Timbersports.
I have joining me Arden Cobar Jr.
Long line of chopping Cobars from West Virginia,
to talk to us a little bit about what the history
of the sport for the families looks like.
- I'll be honest with you Adrian, as we sit here today,
of the 20 athletes who are competing here
there are multiple people in that group
that come from lineage associated sport.
You have myself, my father.
You have Matt and Paul Cobar,
Matt's champion, Paul's his father.
You have Mike and Matt Slingerland,
you have Melvin and Jason Lentz,
you also have Jeff Skirvin and his father Les.
You also have Mike Forrester and his father
and his two sons are now venturing into Timbersports.
And so we have a wonderful lineage of athletes
who come from within their family that progress
and become proficient at the sport
and I'm very happy to be a part of that.
- It's exciting to continue the tradition.
You do not actually work in the woods
but for many of these generational competitors,
Dad, Granddad, were actually falling timber.
- Exactly, of all the people that I just mentioned,
the fathers and the sons in that group
including myself, the fathers all worked in the woods
and most if not all the sons in this second generation
somehow work outside the woods
but we always get brought back.
- [Measurer] Off of this one right here.
12 and a half.
- [Man In Brown] 12 and a half?
- [Measurer] Yeah, 12 and a half.
So B, B.
- [Man In Brown] B, B.
- [Measurer] A, A.
- A, A.
So some of these poles,
only two guys are gonna be on the poles,
others are gonna be three guys on a pole.
And then poles come in you know there's different sizes
'cause they're a natural product.
And then what happens next is we have people chop
left-handed, right-handed.
So some go clockwise, some go counterclockwise
up the pole so you gotta have right-handed guys
all synchronised on that pole.
Left-handed guys on their own pole.
We don't care if there's a knot or two
where they will never put an axe.
So each one of these has to be hand sorted
from the time they're in the woods
when Trevor cuts 'em in Virginia.
In Roanoke, Virginia, by the time these are cut
in Roanoke, Virginia we've already kind of decided
where they're gonna be.
You know oh I'm cuttin' a big pole,
I'm cuttin' a skinnier pole and we have a spare
up there in case something goes wrong.
There's enough room on that, even though
it's got some knots in it it's genetically the same
and it grew in the same what, 70 foot circle.
- These are actually a 40 foot circle of trees.
And seven days ago these things had leaves on 'em so.
- [Man In Brown] And they're waxed Trevor?
- Yeah, they're actually painted with a wax sealant
to keep as much moisture in as you can.
It's kind of hard to see it but if you touch it
with your fingernails it's almost a waxy appearance.
- [Worker On Left] It's in the hole.
- [Worker On Right] It's in there.
(clattering)
- Are these pole B logs?
- [Worker] Yeah.
- The ones that are being set up now?
- [Worker] Yeah we'll have the B guys
mark out their poles in the morning
and then we'll take them down and put up the A
and they'll mark out their stuff and leave 'em up.
- Yup.
(clattering)
Might need to level it up a bit.
(buzzing)
- [Worker] Did you get that level bubble in there?
- I got it.
- [Worker] Thatta boy (laughing).
- 24 years.
(buzzing)
- My name's Trevor Seville.
I work with Granite State Lumberjacks
and I wanna show you a little bit
about the White Pine that we get
brought in from Ohio.
See this right here, the sap ring
and kind of the heart wood of this
is a little bit of a different colour
and the farther you get East in the United States
and the farther you get South,
the darker this ring will get up until
it's almost a rose colour and it gets real glassy.
It's still chippy but it's definitely
a whole lot harder than the wood you'll see here today
and the competitors absolutely enjoy this type of wood
and just because of how easy it is to cut
and a lot of the guys down under enjoy it too
because it's like cuttin' air compared to
some of the Woollybutt and Silvertop that you guys get.
AS far as gettin' this wood, It's probably been,
this wood you can see some of the blue stain on it.
This stuff's been turned a couple months ago
but it's actually wrapped if you wanna look right here.
It's wrapped in plastic wrap after they turn it
and it tends to not dry down.
We usually try and cut it in summertime
when all the sap's up and it's as wet as you know
possibly as wet as you could get.
Wintertime the stuff tends to be dry,
even if it's really light coloured wood
it still doesn't do as well as that summertime.
All the logs come out of one tree for each event
which that really narrows down the amount of trees
that you can get.
The best thing about white pine is that it rings up.
All of the knots and all of the limbs
that are attached to those knots come out
at one centralised location on the tree
and then another 30 or 40 inches
you'll find another set of knots.
And it's cool because you can measure in between it
and like these blocks are 27 inches
and you can make two cuts with a saw
and boom you know you don't have any knots.
And it makes it so much easier because
if you do encounter knots, they're 100 times harder
than the wood that you're cuttin'
and they'll immediately roll an axe.
- So before a competition we got several logs here
and what we're gonna do is try to match 'em all
the best we can.
So what we're gonna look for is consistency
from one end of the log form to the other
so we're gonna throw out the,
what we consider to be the least favourable log
so that all the logs will be comparable throughout the heat
and the pole so that's what we'll do is just
go through 'em and just try to pick out
the most consistent logs for the competition.
Yeah, differences between like say this has got sapwood
and this has very little sapwood
so that means that this is further up the tree,
this is further down the tree.
So if a lot of the logs look like this
then we would throw this log out
'cause it's further up the tree.
But if a lot of the other logs have sapwood on 'em
which means they're further up the tree
and this one didn't have hardly any sapwood at all
we would probably throw this one out
so just sorta lookin' through things
and then get a good idea of what we're lookin' for.
Then eventually we'll throw out that log.
So, I would say probably take out the best one.
I mean that's gonna be the hardest block
but they all look similar.
- Yeah I mean they're all carryin' a red ring too.
(thudding)
- Before you get to the event,
you have an opportunity to put the footholds in,
it gives you a place to stand on
the underhand block here and so trying some axes out
and seeing which one's gonna suit the log the best.
And that gives you an idea of how the wood's gonna respond
but also what axe you might use
for the part of the competition.
So I always try a few axes in it, see how it goes
and picked out a couple good ones
that are runnin' really well so
I'm just gonna make the best of it
and go from there you know.
So this is a 13 inch round block
so what I wanna do is for my face,
I wanna make sure I open up at least what the block is
so that'll give me enough wood in the centre
so when I turn I'm driving into a wall of wood
rather than into a V.
(thudding) (scraping)
- That's the only thing that matters.
Whether you finish over here or finish over there.
- Doesn't matter which way you finish,
as long as you're in line.
(thudding)
- [Man In Hat] There's your line right here right.
So that's the top of your board or the bottom of your board?
- [Man On Left] The bottom.
- [Man In Hat] Okay, so you can go anywhere,
there's a knot right here so.
- [Man On Left] Right there?
Sugar hands.
(upbeat music)
- Tomorrow, starting five central,
we are going to be seeing the top 20 lumberjacks
as determined by their placements
in the five regional qualifiers.
20 people racing tomorrow in two fields of 10,
trying to get down to the top eight.
Top eight racing for a chance for a new Ram pickup,
some John Deere gear, and the chance to be
the 2016 Stihl Timbersports US Champion.
- From my understanding we've got
some collegiate athletes here as well.
What's the breakdown on that?
- We've got some of the finest college competitors
all vying for a chance at the Stihl Timbersports
Professional Ranks for 2017.
They'll be competing on Sunday,
four disciplines instead of the usual six.
And representing their school,
trying to do right by the sport,
trying to get a little bit ahead, put down some fast cuts.
- Awesome, and for those that haven't seen Timbersports
what events are we going to see here tomorrow afternoon?
- Full compliment of chopping and sawing.
Three chops, three saws.
We're gonna start out with the springboard
and we're gonna go through the underhand and the single.
Little bit of stock saw action,
finish it up with a rowdy hot saw.
Collegiate competitors, not cutting the springboard,
not cutting the hot saw.
You gotta get your permission slip for those disciplines.
(laughing)
- Sounds like a good time.
Lots going on here tomorrow, we've got a full house here.
Adrian and myself will be emceeing tomorrow
with all of our competitors.
Follow us live online at stihltimbersports.com.
(hammering) (soft instrumental music)
For more infomation >> Autoboy Blackbox : Dashcam App - 2017-07-28 14:07:07 US-51, Wausau, WI 54401, USA - Duration: 5:02.
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