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Wapwallopen’s Dennis Beach was half of a two-man chain-saw sculpture team that recently won a competition in Germany

Carver ‘wows’ panel

By Sheena Delazio sdelazio@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

When the sawdust settled, Luzerne County’s Dennis Beach and his partner from Mississippi had bested 16 other competitors in the sixth annual Husky Cup chain saw carving competition, held May 29-June 1 in Dresden, Germany.

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Wood carver Dennis Beach stands outside his shop in Wapwallopen. Beach and his partner from Mississippi bested 16 other competitors in the Husky Cup chain-saw carving competition, held May 29-June 1, in Dresden, Germany.

Pete G. Wilcox photos/the times leader

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Wood-carving sculpture artist Dennis Beach has won several awards in events held in America and overseas.

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Like all the participants, Beach, 49, of Wapwallopen, was invited to the event and received payments to offset travel costs.

“The competition is hard work, but it’s more like play. It’s kind of a work-vacation because you don’t win enough money to make a living,” Beach said. “We stayed an extra two weeks and toured Germany, Austria and France.”

Beach said he found out last winter that Dayton Scoggins, of Mississippi, would be his partner. Beach went to Mississippi and the two practiced their elaborate wood carvings, done with chain saws of their choice.

First, Beach started his 9-foot-by-3-foot sculpture by carving a tree trunk within the oak log. The theme was “the soul of the forest.” He carved a flying eagle – with a wingspan of 8 feet – at the top, carrying a salmon.

Beneath the eagle came a mother bear reaching for the fish, while her cub looked in a hollow spot of the tree and a squirrel peaked out the other side.

Next came another cub with his nose in a hole in the ground, where a rabbit looked up. A mother fox with her two cubs lay in a den beneath the tree, with roots hanging down over it.

Beach said it took the entire three days to carve his sculpture, which he estimates would cost nearly $10,000 if it were being purchased by a customer.

Beach said Scoggins crafted a similar-in-size design, which included a flying goose, blue heron, owl, raccoon, beaver, two otters, alligator and several fish.

“We each carved separate pieces, but they were judged together. We could help each other, but we didn’t. We gave each other advice and support,” Beach said.

The two carvings will be used for support posts in a lodge in Germany, called Blockhausen, which features dozens of carved items, including tables and decorations.

Beach and Scoggins shared the 4,000 euros first prize, which translates to approximately $5,600 in U.S. dollars at Monday’s exchange rate.

Their pieces were judged on “wow” factor, design and artistic impact, difficulty of cuts, complexity of the sculpture, and several other criteria.

According to the Husky Cup Web site, Beach and Scoggins scored 10 percent higher than a second U.S team. Two competitors from Europe came in third.

“I always try to talk myself into thinking we do not have first place wrapped up, it’s not good luck,” Beach said. “But when the smoke cleared, we gave them a royal spanking.”

Beach said his competitors had good pieces, too, but it seemed other teams didn’t work well together with their individual pieces.

For more than 25 years, Beach has been carving, which started out as a hobby.

Beach thought he could earn a little extra money, and soon the tree trimmer took on carving full-time, and taught himself to make art from wood.

Beach has competed in several competitions in Pennsylvania, Washington state, Japan and Europe. He placed second in two international competitions in England and Japan and first in Washington state and Pennsylvania.

To learn more about Beach and his work, visit http://www.hardwoodcarvers.com/.