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The annual carnival is New Zealand’s largest woodchopping event.
The underhand open.
Despite a lack of international entrants, the splinters are set to fly at the Puhoi Woodchopping Carnival, with top axeman keen to sink their blades into the competition following a disrupted season.
Puhoi Axemen Club secretary Cassandra Brown said all 45 available spots for the competition on Saturday, January 9, had already been filled by the start of December.
There will be axemen representing each of the major northern woodchopping centres including Whangarei, Waiuku and Hamilton.
Big names include the return of last year’s underhand open champion, Jesse Whitehead of Waiuku.
For the first time in some years, West Auckland’s Jason Wynyard will compete at Puhoi.
Wynyard is a fourteen-time world champion winner of the Stihl Timbersport Series.
His last world championship title was won in 2017. In 2003, he recorded a time of 12.11 seconds to annihilate a log.
Northland legend Jason Semenoff and his two boys, Tytan and Johnson, will also compete.
Cassandra says in addition there will be three young lads from Puhoi who will be participating in their first ever competitive chop event.
Club stalwart John Sanderson says the Puhoi Axemen Club is in good shape with a mix of experienced choppers and up and coming young blood.
It has 15 members and will be represented at each of the seven northern competitive wood chopping events this season.
Thomas takes a swing at open
Jordon Thomas, Photo Anna Schollum Photography
Puhoi Axeman Jordon Thomas, 17, is taking aim at the open underhand and standing divisions after having graduated from novice.
Thomas won an open competition in Helensville last season and was performing well until Covid-19 struck.
This season he is pushing even harder, training with chopping champion Jesse Whitehead and entering as many competitions as possible leading up to the Puhoi event.
At the Whangarei A&P show this month, Thomas made it to the final and placed fourth in the eleven-inch division.
Thomas, and Puhoi teammates Richard Morton, Troy Hopkins and Cam Hastie, also won the team race.
The Whangarei competition used pine blocks, which are harder to chop than Puhoi’s poplars and have greater variance in the wood grain.
Other than the prize money, Thomas says it is the camaraderie of the club and the historical connection to the area that drives him to compete in the sport.
His goal is to make the New Zealand under-21 team.
Plenty to chomp into at the pub
The new owners of the Puhoi Pub Hotel & Stables have been encouraged by the incredible support from community for the annual event, despite the tough year.
Manager Jena Murtagh says she has had no problem gaining sponsorship for the $10,000 prize pool that keeps punters coming to the competition each year.
The pub has built a beer and wine shack on the lawn, behind the Puhoi General Store, to help take the pressure off lines at the bar.
There will be both cash and Eftpos options. Pub food will be on offer as well as the usual sausage sizzle and mussel fritters.
Meanwhile, Puhoi has gained its very own brew of beer just in time for the event.
Former Puhoi resident Scott Rice has worked with brewer Sam White to put together a batch-brewed Bohemian beer made from Czech and New Zealand hops.
The Puhoi Pils has floral, citrusy and spicy flavours on a light malt base with subtle bready and toasty characters.
“You could call it a craft beer, but it’s not too chewy. It is a good session drinking beer,” Scott says.
What makes a good axe?
Axes are carefully selected on competition day.
You won’t catch a competitive axeman with a wood splitting axe from a run-of-the-mill hardware store.
A typical axeman’s kit might contain 12 specialised axes, and they might take a box of five axes with them on competition day.
Puhoi’s Richard Morton says an axeman will inspect a log, and ideally take a swing before race time, to help him judge which axe to use.
An attuned axeman knows that trees from different parts of the country chop differently.
“A poplar will even vary depending on what valley it was grown in, what breed it is and whether it has been beaten by the wind.”
The density of the rings on a log provides some clue as to how thick the wood might be.
A log from the top of a tree will be softer than a log from the base.
An axeman will typically choose from axes with blades that vary in length from six to eight inches, from top to bottom.
A shorter blade is better for thicker wood because more force is applied to a smaller area, allowing it to dive deeper into the wood.
But if a block is soft and “peachy”, a long blade edge will cut through it in fewer strokes.
Most competitive axemen use Tuatahi axes from Masterton.
How they are made is a trade secret, but Richard understands they have a soft steel centre with a hardened outer shell.
On a microscopic level, the axe head squeezes as it enters the log and bounces out slightly after it lands, making it easier to remove.
Instead of a triangular grinded edge, the blades are contoured to hold a split open.
Richard says one could handle a thousand racing axes and each would be different, because they are handmade.
Axes cost about $800 each and it might cost a competitive axeman $5000 for a full kit to get started.
“They are a bit like golf clubs in that way,” he says.
