Sculpture you can sit on.

Hey all, in this post I'll be sharing a piece of functional art. A bear bench. Carved from repurposed white pine using a chainsaw mostly.

The only part I didn't cut with the saw are the seat and backrest, those were cut on a sawmill. I'm not good at cutting a straight line with the saw.
Here is the bench in the raw stage, just blocked out.

Before I fully carve the ends, I'll make sure the bench sits right(has to be comfortable)and will stay together strong.

I will cut slots in the bench ends for the slabs to fit snug. Slides right in, no hardware needed.

Here it is with the saw work done...all chainsaw with the exception of the bears eyes. For those I use a 7/16 spade drill bit.

Only a little bit of detail work was needed before paint.

Here it is with paint, before varnish.

A couple close ups of the bears...

They look happy to be there.

Here it is after varnish, complete...
This particular bench was carved for my annual Power-Carve Invitational. A carving competition I founded 8 years ago.

Every year, I'll make a bench to raffle off at the event.

Tickets are always $5 or 5 for $20. Sold only at the event in person.
We use the money raised to pay event expenses as well as prizes for the carvers.

At the end of the event just before the auction starts, we pick a young one out of the crowd to reach in the box of raffle tickets and pick the winner. It always goes well.

A great event with a huge crowd that comes just to watch the carvers, buy their work and bid in the auctions. I have tons of footage of the event and will be sharing in a post on its own in the near future.

I hope you enjoy seeing what I "saw"
If so feel free to upvote and resteem
I love what I do and I'm happy to share
Thanks for looking, steem on