PORTLAND, Maine — If you've ever taken a trip through the town of Hancock by way of Route One, chances are you've driven by Ray Murphy's chainsaw art shop and performance stage.
The now 80-year-old has spent his life transforming logs with a chainsaw into different works of art. It's a skill that's taken him all over the country, and Murphy said his artwork can be found on all seven continents.
"It's 100-percent real chainsaw art, not that artificial stuff with grinders and sanders and crap," Murphy said. "Genuine, authentic, true, whatever you want to get to."
Murphy said he first picked up a saw when he was nine years old and claims he invented what is known as chainsaw art back in 1952.
"It was kind of strange. I sawed my name on a piece of firewood," Murphy said. "The chainsaw outweighed me. It was just one of those things that happened. I said, 'Well, we'll see what I can do with it, with this thing.' You know, a new toy."
That new toy would lead to a lifelong career on the road. Ray would travel around the country creating a variety of artwork with his chainsaw in front of a live audience. The bus he used to get around is now parked on his property in Hancock.
"That bus there has been in every state except one," Murphy said. "That's how I traveled for 1,120,000 miles on that baby, and I went through four engines on it."
Wherever he went, Murphy said his show would almost always sell out. Sometimes there were hundreds in the audience. Sometimes there were thousands, according to Murphy. They were all there to see what the self-proclaimed Wild Mountain Man could bring to life with his chainsaw.
"Everybody wants to have the biggest and the largest and the tallest and all that," Murphy said. "I went the other way. Go small, small, small. My smallest piece of chainsaw art is a mustard seed with three 'ones' on it done in three seconds."
Over the years, Murphy said he has sawed out more than 85,960 pieces. He's been able to keep track over the years because of the records his mother would keep.
He has sawed everything from bears and owls to full-size fishermen and even wizards. Those pieces can still be found in his shop in Hancock. The art is all very impressive, but it's his ability to carve the alphabet into a Number Two pencil that captured the attention of Ripley's Believe It Or Not.
"I was making pencils for all Ripley's museums worldwide, and that's the fastest one I ever sawed out," Murphy said, pointing to a pencil sitting on display behind glass. "[I sawed it] in 13 minutes, and I'll tell you that's moving a chainsaw so fast it's just a blur."
Up until recently, Murphy was still putting on shows for locals at his shop. This fall, he even had a 70th-anniversary show. Murphy isn't showing any signs of slowing down, and his deep sense of pride isn't going anywhere either.
"Chainsaw carvers, as they call themselves, they've got grinders, sanders, hammers and chisels and drills, and dremels and all that. Why don't they call that grinder art or dremel art?" Murphy said. "But try a chainsaw 100 percent. Then you'll find out who the hell the best sawyer is."