Side Hustle School Ep. 3375 - STORY: Firefighter Uses Chainsaw for Jumbo-Sized Woodworking
6 snips
Mar 29, 2026 A firefighter turns downtime into jumbo-sized chainsaw carvings, creating life-size wooden bears and moai from large logs. He lands commissions from universities, restaurants, and local festivals. Marketing pivots from Instagram to YouTube and clever pitches to designers and lumberyards help grow sales. He charges by project and plans ambitious builds like a documented log cabin.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Firefighter Turns Training Logs Into Art
- Cameron Vilsack, an Alberta helitack firefighter, salvaged two big logs from training and carved a standing bear with a chainsaw during downtime.
- The bear drew attention at the firebase, led to a moai carving, Instagram posts, a festival display, and an $800 sale.
Bigger Tools Make Woodworking More Accessible
- Chainsaw carving leverages firefighting skills and larger tools to make woodwork more forgiving and faster than micro-carving.
- Cameron found machine power gives greater room for error and scales weekend whittling into life-size sculptures.
Social Share Led To Festival Sale
- After posting a moai and bear on Instagram, a friend displayed them in his store, an art director invited Cameron to a festival, and he sold both pieces that night.
- Local press coverage followed and validated the new side hustle.