A Cut Above, airing on Discovery, features 'unexpected twists', says judge Ryan Cook.

Picture someone holding a chainsaw aloft, ready to get to work. That person is likely a carpenter cutting wood for utilitarian purposes, or someone with far more sinister intentions. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre films come to mind.

But on Discovery’s new competition series A Cut Above, chainsaws are instruments of art and those wielding them are creative masters. The show, debuting Monday, puts 12 chainsaw carvers through a series of challenges as they vie for a $50,000 prize. Actor Adam Beach is the host, while the judges are award-winning chainsaw carver Ryan Cook and U.K. sculptor Katharine Dowson.

“This show is about artists who are exposing themselves to the world through sculpture and telling stories … You’re going to see a lot of funny things, a lot of emotion, quite a bit of tears, maybe a few accidents here and there, and some unexpected twists that even shocked me,” says Cook.

Judging A Cut Above marks a full-circle moment for the Vancouver-based carver, who got his start 12 years ago on the Discovery Velocity series Saw Dogs. On that show, a look into the world of commissioned wood carvings, he was a newbie hired to be, as he puts it, “the butt of all jokes.”

After Saw Dogs ended, carving veterans from the series helped Cook hone his craft and five years later he landed on a series similar to Saw Dogs, HGTV’s Carver Kings — but this time he was a pro. Along the way, he also took top spots in chainsaw carving competitions around the world and started his own business, Saw Valley Carvings Inc.

“It’s not about me making art for myself, it’s about bringing joy to someone else,” says Cook. “A lot of the carvings I do, they mean something to the person who commissioned me to do it. Whether it’s a memorial piece for someone they’ve lost, or a dog, or cat, or lizard, or anything, it’s such an adventure in art.”

That said, chainsaw carving is obviously dangerous. It’s loud, physically taxing work. Plus, carvers also work with power tools, which can sometimes prove even more hazardous.

“The power tools have been the ones that have got me the worst. I’ve lost a few fingernails over the years, a couple of burns here and there, but you have to be very aware,” says Cook. “It’s not as dangerous as people think, but in a competition where carvers are going as fast as they can, they don’t have time to think and accidents definitely can happen.”

Still, for Cook, it’s a risk worth taking. He hopes that A Cut Above inspires would-be carvers to explore the craft, and broadens the idea of who can practice it.

“You look at Sylvia Itzen, who’s on our show. She’s not a big woman, but my gosh, can she ever run a chainsaw,” he says. “And same with Brigette Lochhead from Vancouver.”

Cook also wants viewers to realize how just how complex and diverse chainsaw art can be.

“When people see this, they’re not just going to see the clichés of bears and eagles and owls that you see from carvers on the side of the road or at the competitions … This is just going to blow the lid off the cliché of what you think chainsaw carving is, and how it’s growing.”

A Cut Above debuts Monday, Aug. 8, on Discovery

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