As you approach the front porch of Mitchell Phillips’ rustic log cabin in the remote White Oak Community of Haywood County, you get the eerie feeling you’re being watched.

A quick glance over the shoulder reveals two imposing figures standing nearly seven feet tall and armed with flintlock rifles. Their expressions are stoic, any hint of emotion concealed by the thick beards that cover their face, and their gaze is cold and piercing. These two mountain men present no danger, however, as they are just two of Phillips’ many chainsaw-carving creations.

Phillips, 53, bears a definite resemblance to the two sculptures and in many ways is as hard and weathered as the black walnut from which he carved them. Born and raised in White Oak, Phillips grew up with 12 siblings in a modest 1850s-era log cabin. His father was a logger, and Phillips found himself working in that dangerous and physically demanding industry at an early age. At 18, he began a career putting up power line poles for utility companies, a profession also known for its life-threatening risks and back-breaking labor.

He continued his career as a lineman until 1987, when he was diagnosed with Spasmodic Torticollis, a rare and little-understood neurological disorder that left him with uncontrollable and sustained contractions of his neck muscles as well as constant and extreme pain. Unable to continue working as a lineman, Phillip’s soon found himself with little to do. To a man who had known and appreciated hard work all his life, it was an unbearable state of affairs and one that would lead him to the art he currently practices.

About four years after he had quit working, Phillips was intrigued by a chain-saw sculpture of a Native American he found at a feed store in Waynesville. No stranger to chainsaws, Phillips decided to give it a try.

“I brought that Indian head home and studied it awhile and then got my saw out and did one like it in about 15 minutes. My wife said it was better than the original and I’ve been doing them ever since,” said Phillips.

Over the last 14 years, Phillips has honed his sculpturing skills, and the results are impressive. In addition to the mountain men and Native American mentioned earlier, Phillips also carves eagles spreading their wings, howling wolves, and bears (a creature Phillips is very familiar with as they constituted a substantial portion of his childhood diet). The level of detail he achieves using an instrument as blunt and violent as a chainsaw is impressive as one can see individual feathers on the wings of his eagles. His sculptures are also monumental in scale with most of his pieces ranging from four to seven feet in height and so heavy that some require a tractor to move.

“I like doing the big ones,” Phillips said. “It’s just a bigger canvas. I mean, a chainsaw is a pretty big-sized tool, bigger than a chisel or a pocket knife.”

While his skills as a chainsaw sculptor have steadily improved over the years, Phillips remains modest about his talents and has found that sometimes he can be overly critical of his own work.

“I don’t know anything about it compared to what I need to know to really do it,” he said. “It’s an art, so you learn something every time you do it. But you can’t get too picky. I’ve touched up and touched up a piece until I’ve ended up with a tooth pick. You’ve got to walk away from it if it’s not coming to you or you’ll just mess it up.”

It is Phillips’ modesty that is probably most responsible for his works’ lack of exposure. He does not display his sculptures in galleries and does not actively advertise them. However, this has not stopped the word of mouth of his friends and neighbors from attracting admirers from as far away as Texas and Florida.

“A lot of people have company, and I guess we’re a stop on the tour,” he said. “They come to see Mitchell’s stuff and sometimes it gets pretty busy here at the cabin on weekends. My daughter asked if we had tour buses coming through.”

One thing Phillips is not modest about, however, is the importance of his art to his own psychological well being.

“It probably saved my life,” said Phillips.

Anyone interested in viewing Mitchell Phillips’ sculptures can reach him at 828.627.3414.