The Woodmen's Field Days that is held in Boonvile every third weekend in August is one of the country's predominant lumberjack contests. Founded in 1948 by the Rev. Frank Reed, the primary goal of this nonprofit organization is the "promotion of the forest industry in general, and the lumberjack in particular, a vanishing breed." This year's event in supposedly the biggest yet, with more than 250 concession stands.
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| Two-women Cross Cut |
We had a chance to attend the event last Saturday. We passed by the industry displays and headed straight for the grandstand where the World's Open Lumberjill Championship Contest was being held. This is claimed to be the premier lumberjill contest in the country and participation is by invitation only.
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| Log Roll |
The log roll is a timed competition where two partners roll a log to a point between 2 stakes using their own peaveys (instrument with a wooden shaft with a metal point and a hinged hook near the end, used to handle logs). At the other end, the log should rest between the stakes with wood visible on both ends. Otherwise, they have to move the wood into position And does that log look heavy! Then, they have to roll it back to the starting point.
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| One-woman Cross Cut |
In the single cross cut, the competitor uses a huge saw to cut a piece off a piece of wood. We learned that the cross-cut saws used by competitors are hand-made, extremely sharp and quite expensive, averaging $1500 each.
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| Jack & Jill Cross Cut |
A two-person cross cut competition followed, with a man and a woman team(Jack and Jill) and later with 2-women team. Cross-cut sawing relies not just on strength but on
proper technique.
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| Bow-saw competition |
In the bow-saw competition, the competitor has to make two cuts through the shorter end of the log.
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| Chain Saw competition | |
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There were two chain-saw competitions. In the first, the women used the same stock chain saw provided by the contest organizers. They had to make several cuts (can't remember if it was 2 or 3) within a 6inch section of the log. In the second set, the competitors used their own chain saws which they have modified to improve their performance. These saws looked like nothing we've seen before. Using non-standard fuel (could be aviation fuel), they had huge mufflers which looked like rocket launchers. And were they noisy.
In the vertical log chop, the competitor uses an axe to chop a log in half. Because of the danger of this sport, the competitor is supposed to start with an upward chop to prevent hitting their foot in case of a miss. The event also has a two-minute time limit to prevent injury due to exhaustion.
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| Vertical Chop |
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| Horizontal Log Chop |
In the horizontal log chop or underhand chop, the competitor stands on the log which has to be chopped in half within a 2 1/2 minute time limit. If it looks dangerous, it surely is. According to another
blogger, some years ago, a competitor supposedly chopped off 3/4 of her big toe during this event but went on to finish the chore and win the event before heading off to the hospital.
We were not able to see the axe-throwing competition which was held at another (probably safer) site.
The competition was so exciting that we did not notice that it lasted more than 3 hours. Even the clean-up and setting up between the events by the volunteer crew was interesting. We were not able to wait for the announcement of the winners but in our minds, all these ladies were.
