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display the history of logging at Forest Festival
By NATALIE JOHNSON included six competitors, Sirguy, a forester himself,
Dave Moses Sr., Dave Moses got into the sport when he
Mason County's Forest Jr., Branden Sirguy, Brian was in college, is now one of
Festival was first created to Bartow, Trevor Baker, and the top competitors in tim-
keep the area's logging his- Jeff Skirvin. They competed bersports. He plans to travel
tory alive, in events including speed to Salem, Ore. in August to
The festival's logging climb, obstacle pole race, compete in the Stihl Timber-
show took place at Loopsingle and double buck saw sports Series along with two
Field in Shelton on Saturday races, hot saws, spring beard of his teammates from the
and featured six competitors chops, horizontal chop and Saturday competition, David
with the same goal - to cele- burling, or log rolling. Moses Jr. and Brian Bartow.
brate and keep alive logging An activity rapidly grow- While timbersports are
traditions, ing in popularity, timbers- particularly relevant in the
"Absolutely, it keeps ports originated in logging Pacific Northwest, with its
the history alive - it really camps with men who corn- long history of logging, the
wasn't that long ago," said peted with each other to test sports are gaining fame
competitor Branden Sirguy. their skills, Sirguy said. worldwide, Sirguy said.
"It was 1940when the chain- "Whenever you get a "It is really picking up
saw took over and many peo- bunch of guys together some- globally," he said. "In the
pie fought against it."body wants to be the best," last 10 years it's been really
This year's exhibition he said. getting popular in Europe."
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Sirguy competed with
five other timbersports com-
petitors, or lumberjacks, at
Saturday's competitive exhi-
bition, one of whom was 67
year-old David Moses Sr.,
who, according to his grand-
daughter Kristina Cooper,
is a retired logger, and has
competed in logging exhibi-
tions for 40 years.
"He's a retired logger ...
his father was a logger ...
he's been competing since
1972," she said.
While Cooper sat on the
sidelines Saturday, she is
an experienced competitor
in her own right, and of-
ten competes alongside her
grandfather, who raised her,
and her uncle, Dave Moses
Jr.
"I do six different events -
crosscut, women's stock Saw,
axe throwing..." she said.
Logging competitions
were once overwhelmingly
dominated by men, but in
recent years more and more
women have started slinging
axes too, Cooper said.
~/~nere's more women
competing than before," she
said. "Women used to have
to compete with men - they
didn't really have a chance
at most events."
Now, women can choose
between their own individu-
al events, or u Jack and Jill"
competitions where they can
compete in teams alongside
male competitors.
While these events are
now considered sports, cut-
ting a log with an axe or a
cross-saw is just as danger-
ous today as it was when log-
gers used it as a day-to-day
skill.
"My granddad chopped off
two of his toes once," Cooper
said. "I've heard of somebody
who fell 30 feet off a pole -
he's fine now, but things
happen."
On Saturday, as well as
in all modem timbersports,
competitors used old tech-
nology to chop wood, but new
technology to protect them-
selves, she said.
The lumberjacks at Sat-
urdayJs exld]~ition all wore
chainmail socks, cork shoes
and when working with
chainsaws, Kevlar chaps
to protect their legs from a
stray saw blades throughout
the competition. They also
used oil to lubricate saws
during cross saw events, to
prevent the dangerous in-
struments from jumping out
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Journal photos by Natalie Johnson
At left, Dave Moses
Jr., left, and Branden
Sirguy compete in
the springboard chop
event. Above, Brian
Bartow takes a tumble
while competing
against Jeff Skinvin in
the burling event.
of the log and injuring a com-
petiter.
The lumberjacks needed
protection when handling
the ridiculously dangerous
"Hot Saws," which Dave Mo-
ses Jr. described as, "Chain-
saws on 'roids."
These saws are often
made from snowmobile mo-
tors, but one at Saturday's
exhibition required to men to
handle it, and was powered
by a six-cylinder car engine.
"They're just for fun," Coo-
per said. "There are some
that are so big they take four
people to lift them."
Though the competition
can be brutal, Cooper said
that the world of timbers-
ports is like a big family that
always supports each of its
members.
Page A-8 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, June. 9, 2011
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