The roar of chainsaws grinding against the grain of wood, along with the faint sound of reggae music, thump from a house located in a neighborhood in Murray, Utah.
Although some might find the noise a nuisance, neighbors have become accustomed to it. Most weekdays between the hours of 5 p.m. and 8 p.m., Craig Kalfaolu and Johnny Doyle create chainsaw art in the back yard of the home located on Susquehanna Drive.
“We both work with tools every day. Fixing things has become a form of muscle memory. That’s why we’ve been able to grasp chainsaw art so easily,” says Kalfaolu. “We’ve been able to mix our artistic side with our mechanical side.”
A year ago, Kalfaolu’s mother asked him to cut down a 25-foot pine tree. The tree was about 30-years-old and rotting.
“After cutting down the tree, I was left to figure out what to do with the wood. Instead of wasting it, I decided to create something,” says Kalfaolu.
With the help of a torch, a palm sander and a Sawzall, a reciprocating saw with a four inch blade, Kalfaolu created art with the rotting corpse of the pine tree.
“By the time I was finished, I had built an owl, giraffe and a bench. I realized I hadn’t used the right tools and decided that a chainsaw would have been easier,” says Kalfaolu.
A month later, Kalfaolu was given a chainsaw as a birthday present, and has been creating chainsaw art ever since.
Doyle witnessed the progression of Kalfaolu’s art first hand, and purchased a chainsaw to join his friend.
“I just picked up a chainsaw and started carving with little instruction or knowledge,” says Doyle.
The two friends have always been artistic. Doyle recalls that they would paint and sketch in order to pass time. Both men have read chainsaw carving books and have spent a handful of hours watching chainsaw carving tutorials on YouTube, but that’s as far as their training has gone.
“With painting and sketching, you constantly add, you don’t take away. With carving, the negative space creates the piece,” says Doyle.
In the beginning, Kalfaolu and Doyle created chainsaw art for personal enjoyment.
Their artistic abilities began developing rapidly after the completion of several pieces. Family and friends noticed the progression of their art and suggested that the two sell their creations.
Kalfaolu and Doyle named their business, Against the Grain Chainsaw Art.
“The term, ‘against the grain’ means to be different. I’ve always been rebellious, and I’ve wanted to separate myself from the masses of people that live their lives exactly the same,” says Kalfaolu. “Against the Grain is a fitting name because chainsaw carving isn’t something you see every day. It also relates to wood carving.”
When the two artists hit the market, they focused on creating carvings that would sell.
“We started making the standards of chainsaw carvings, which include little bears, owls and basically anything that you find in wildlife,” says Doyle. “After that, orders started rolling in.”
Bears are the most common request they receive from customers. The carving of bears has become so habitual that the artists no longer have to prepare.
Kalfaolu and Doyle have also received challenging requests from customers that require them to think outside of the box.
“An avid cigar smoker came to me and requested a six-foot tall Indian chief. It took about a month and a half to complete,” says Doyle.
One of the most challenging carvings for Kalfaolu was a three-and-half-foot tall statue of Buddha, which ended up weighing over 200 pounds.
Kalfaolu and Doyle worked independently on the statue of Buddha and the Indian Chief, but they recently collaborated to transform a 12-foot-tall tree stump into Captain E-Z, the mascot for a business located in Vernal, Utah.
Against the Grain Chainsaw Art has been successful for Kalfaolu and Doyle, but both say they’d like to devote more time to creating art and promoting their business.
Doyle works for the Tinder Box, which is a retail store that specializes in tobacco products, and Kalfaolu is a maintenance worker for an apartment complex.
Although their artistic abilities for creating chainsaw art have been self-taught, their experience in business and marketing is limited.
“We haven’t really tried that hard to become a business. It’s all just fallen together,” says Kalfaolu.
Kalfaolu and Doyle plan on taking business and marketing classes at Salt Lake Community College because of the low tuition cost and flexible class schedules.
The customer base for Against the Grain Chainsaw Art is growing rapidly. Kalfaolu and Doyle say business and marketing classes will provide knowledge that is vital to building upon the success that they’ve found with their artistic abilities.
“One of the things that intrigued us about wood carvings is that they’ll probably outlive us. It’s almost like leaving a piece of you behind. Paintings will deteriorate over time. Wood is substantial,” says Doyle.
