MANAWA – A local chainsaw artist Ben Buschke was recently commissioned to create a statue of Vince Lombardi ahead of the NFL draft in Green Bay.
He was asked to create a statue of Vince Lombardi for the owners of a condo that is located on the west side of Lambeau Field. They live in Florida for most of the year, but stay in Green Bay through summer and the Packer season.
Buschke said once he got off a bulk of the wood from Lombardi, he started in on the finer details using smaller chainsaws and sanders.
After the carving was completed, he burned the wood, and used a transparent stain in order to fully view the wood grain, which is what the buyers asked for. The statue was then sealed to protect it from sun and mold.
Buschke delivered Lombardi to its new residence the Wednesday prior to the draft.
Early cuts
Buschke started the art of chainsaw carving in 2017 when he was at a campground and saw some carvings throughout the grounds. When he saw the carvings he thought it was something he would be able to do, so he gave the art form a shot.
Teaming up with local tree service companies, namely BEK Tree Service out of Weyauwega, he is able to get logs to carve. He likes to work with pine logs, being they are softer and therefore easier to carve and they are also more pure in the middle.
Picking out the right log as well as roughing out the design is where Buschke said he starts the carving process.
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