A chat with Ray Murphy the "Wild Mountain Man"

Driving home from Schoodic Peninsula it was nearing 6pm when we came to what appeared to be a cross between a junk yard and wood carving old barn/studio.  I love browsing unique craft galleries so we stopped for a minute to quickly check it out.

Ray Murphy, famous "chainsaw artist" at work.  I was corrected when I mistakenly called him a "wood carver".  Sorry, Ray- didn't know better.  

There was a man totally absorbed carving a bear with his chainsaw outside.  I watched for a while, taking a video of the process.  We saw his shop, so ventured in.  Hanging and sitting on tables were wood carvings of bears, fish and eagles.  Some were unattractively varnished, some painted and others left bare.  Norm and I agreed that these rough cut works of art were not our taste. At all.

Just as we were making our exit, the “artist” outside came in.  I hated to take him away from his work because there was no way we were a potential customer.  It felt like we were bugs caught in his web of friendliness and storytelling, with a dash of bragging (which is undoubtedly deserved).

Ray Murphy, likes to tell anyone about his lifelong exploits.

During the next hour Norm and I learned all about Ray Murphy “The Chainsaw Sawyer Artist,” as I wondered how he worked with so many pieces of his fingers missing.

This wooden sign outside listed his accomplishments

He proudly spoke of all his accomplishments, and has them listed on a large board outside. Inside he proudly displays his copy of the magazine “Great American Roadtrip” where he was featured.  Some of the more interesting major accomplishments are:

1976 Set Three World Records
1979 Sawed Alphabet on Pencil for the First Time
1980 Did his first Saw sculpture Stage show
1981 Features in “ Ripley’s Believe it or Not”
1982 ABC Wide World of Sports
1983 Won All National-World Championships
1985-87 Completed work in 50 States and 7 Continents
1988 -Set new World Record making Chair in 10 seconds
2000 Filmed sawing 10 numbers on a toothpick – Ripleys
2002 Featured in Tim Sample’s Book “Maine Curiousities
July 28th 2003 completed his 50,000th piece in 50 years

Ray had the personally and smile as big as the statues he creates.  He obviously hated to see us leave, as one story rolled into another. He proudly showed us a book of his orders that will take him 8 years to complete, plus new orders are coming in every day.  If he talks to everyone as much as he did to Norm and I, it will take him 20, I am sure.

This internet photo is only one of many depicting Ray's quirky personality. How did he ever carve the alphabet into a pencil with a chainsaw?

 Really needing to get back, we inched our way to the door as I finally excused myself to go find a ladies room ( It really had become an emergency ).  After receiving a heart-felt grizzly bear hug filled with sawdust and sweat, we slipped away.

Wanting to know the real story about this most unusual of characters, I went on line.  By just Googling his name I found many articles and videos . There I discovered that he invested a quarter million dollars to build a building to create a chainsaw artist show that sounds like it would have been very entertaining.  I wish I knew 10 days earlier!  Maybe next time.