The flying wood came courtesy of multi-world Timbersports champion Jack Jordan whose razor sharp axes deftly sliced through the standing and underarm logs during a display of his talents.
Over 50 people gathered to watch him cut logs in only a few seconds using what he describes as long stokes, accuracy and timing.
‘‘It’s all about intuition, you can feel it when the blade hits a knot or gets pinched, so you adjust your swing, because once you start cutting you have to keep going,’’ he said.
Jack, a 26-year-old sheep and beef farm manager from Taumarunui and current World Stihl Timbersports champion, was in North Canterbury over the weekend training with the New Zealand Stihl Timbersports team.
The team were training at a Fernside farm as they worked in preparation for their tilt at the world champs in late October.
‘‘It was good to get everyone together, the five team members cut their way through over 80 blocks during the weekend as we worked on timing and the co-ordinations of everyone strengths for the teams racing events.’’
Jack says it’s off-season here in New Zealand compared to the rest of the timbersports world, and many hadn’t cut too many blocks, but they all worked hard and quickly built up their confidence as they prepared to meet traditional foes - the Australians and northern European axemen in the champs which are being held in Sweden.
