Wood-chopping: Hard road to being a cut above world competition

Jason Wynyard trains up to eight hours a day, seven days a week to win top events. Picture / Paul Estcourt

Jason Wynyard doesn't like telling yarns. "Memory like a sieve," says this great saw and axeman.

There is one story, though. As a teenager, Wynyard was battling a legend of the blade in the standing chop, with both making life a misery for 375mm logs.

It was just another carnival in another small town. But the young Wynyard proudly claimed the first prize, a flax kit, knowing the few bills inside would add a shine to the day. You win maybe $20, maybe a bit more, for a title.

Looked inside. Nothing there.

First prize: one flax kit.

"Won't say which town," he says with a slow smile, "but we'd busted ourselves to win that."

You may not have heard of Jason Wynyard because you don't get paid much in his sport here, in money or attention. But in the axe and saw world, and in America they get crowds and regular TV coverage, he is a star.

His CV includes six American Stihl lumberjack titles, where the winner prevails over three axe, one manual saw and two chainsaw events requiring rare power, skill and dexterity. And courage you might add, with sharp edges flying about.

Wynyard holds world records, and has won 70 times in a sport with more world titles than boxing. His victories include the prized underhand and standing chops at the Sydney Royal Easter Show - the "Wimbledon of wood-chopping".

The 31-year-old is back in Auckland after his latest lumberjack victory, preparing for new territory - an endurance event in Spain.

This son of a world champion, Pae Wynyard, grew up in Northland and Bay of Plenty towns, travelling with the family around wood-chopping circuits.

Pae, a roading contractor, is a six-footer who had a uniquely short swing. Jason was always big, and believe me, remains that way. At 130kg and 1.95m he turns a couch into a chair, easy. So he swings a lot longer than his dad, another leftie, who has retired to Northland.

Wynyard is a suburbanite, however, living in Massey with wife Karmyn - a top junior basketballer who dabbles in the family sport of wood destruction - and kids Tai, 7, and Tautoko, 1.

"Some people are surprised to find me living here I suppose," says Wynyard.

He trains up to eight hours a day, seven days a week, chopping and sawing away in forests such as Riverhead. A sponsor pays for the 40 tonnes of offcuts he shreds every year but in the past he relied on windfall.

With Karmyn's brother Dion Lane, Wynyard is a fulltime sporting woodsman which cuts deep, financially.

On one hand, the latest lumberjack win netted $15,000 and a Dodge truck - which he may import - worth $130,000. He's won five other trucks, and plenty of prizemoney.

But on the other hand ... spending three months a year in America has been expensive, there are nine other months to worry about, and he faces unusual costs and financial insecurity.

Try this for size.

While Wynyard was sorting out his 320cc hot saw, he wrecked eight chains which flew off the machine, a screaming 30kg monster that started life as a snowmobile engine. These loops of half-inch chisel chain don't grow on trees - they were last made in the 1950s.

The hotsaw is an adrenaline-charged ride clouded in smoke. Vibrations rip to the eyeballs, as the sawyer makes three cuts - spread over just 15cm - in a 48cm log. Down, up, down in a tad over five seconds.

This thrilling ride rattles the wallet as well - the chains are $500 each.

Now, he faces an even greater challenge: spending less time in America.

"I've travelled the world pretty much, made a little bit of money, and can feed our family and put a roof over our heads. I love the sport but you struggle to make a living," he says.

Wynyard wishes wood-chopping was more interesting for spectators in New Zealand with shorter events, as in America.

His career plans include making ace axes, an area of expertise given that he has more than 60 of them stashed around the world. And he is hoping a rare sponsorship deal is about to be confirmed. It's called scraping a living.

Not that Wynyard is complaining. His chips aren't down.

But this champion is still kind of looking in that flax kit.

JASON WYNYARD

First competed

* As an 11-year-old, in Mamaku near Rotorua, finishing last "by five minutes".

Is a righthander

* Who chops as a leftie because it lets the right hand guide the axe. "I know a lot of people who don't agree with my theory though."

Greatest moment

* Winning the 1997 Sydney 375mm standing block title in world record time against a premium field, including the 160kg Aussie superstar David Foster. Fellow choppers had cried fluke when the unheralded Wynyard won it by half a blow the previous year. "I was really determined to prove I was good enough. It was really quite an achievement and we beat the Aussies in the teams event for the first time in 18 years."

Strange moment

* Coming second in a handicap chop where the winner got such a start, he'd finished before Wynyard started.