Achi news desk-
With a driveway full of various creatures and sawdust permanently covering his clothes, Liam Tromans is a chainsaw carver by every definition.
“I do it like seven days a week, 8-10 hours a day almost every day. I want to make up for lost time I think because I still have a lot of art in me,” he said.
Although he spent much of his childhood drawing and sometimes painting, Tromans followed in his father’s footsteps at the start of his career and went into the forestry sector.
The well-known carver didn’t take up the craft until 2000 and, even then, only did it part-time at first.
“In the back of my mind, I always wanted to make some kind of art,” he said.
“The reason I quit forestry was I saw a show on TV, I think it was Saw Dogs, and these guys were carving full time every day and I said ‘Man, I wish I could do that someday’… The next morning I had to go into the forest and it was pouring rain and I put my rucksack, my chainsaw, gas, oil, 60 to 70 pounds of gear going into the woods and I was thinking ‘Oh man, I wish I could go carving full time instead of doing this every day.’ It took about two years after that, but I finally did it.”
Pictured is a wooden carving of a fisherman by artist Liam Tromans.
After honing his skills in British Columbia for a few years, the Cape Bretoner and his wife moved back to Nova Scotia last September. They now call Tidnish, NS, home.
It is not uncommon to see Tromans out in his driveway with his headphones on and his chainsaw in hand. It is also not uncommon for people to stop in to see his work.
He says almost everything is for sale, but admits there are a few pieces he plans to hang on to.
“Back east, it’s more drawn to fishermen and some Maritime stuff, but overall the bears are probably the best seller right now. I get more requests for bears than anything else and I would say eagles here are also a close second,” he said.
However, his favorites are the sasquatches and the elephant sculptures he creates.
“I’ll start with the biggest saw I have, sketch it out first, and I’ll get the basic shape. Then I take a medium flow, like a 50 cc flow, and shape it down. Then, I will finish with a small flow. Most of the time I’m using a battery electric saw right now for detail,” says Tromans.
Pictured is a wooden carving of an elephant by artist Liam Tromans.
While his final creations speak for themselves, the carver also won the Hope World Class Championship in 2019 and regularly participates in carving competitions.
“It was two eagles fighting, never done it before and I carved the base of a rock and they looked like a rock and I carved a shadow box from a mountain in the foreground and put some bears on trees. I put a light in it, and it went straight to the wires, like 27 hours to finish it and it was like 11 to 12 feet tall, but I did it at the last minute and I won first place with it. So I worked like crazy to get it done and I was proud of that one,” Tromans said of his 2019 win.
Although he started his carving career a little later than he would have liked, he says he has made thousands and thousands of sculptures and some days he can complete as many as 10.
“If you love what you do, give it a shot,” he said.
“I’m approaching 60 now, but I still had 20 years of carving hopefully.”
Click here for a gallery of Tromans’ work.
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