Chris Rust started carving when his mother asked him to carve a bear for her. Chris was always creative and had done many different forms of art including painting and drawing. The first attempts at chainsaw carving were not very good and only one or two examples of the first attempts still exist. Chris starting carving again while building trails in a local park. Highland Hills Park is located in Fort Thomas Kentucky. The park is open to the public and is also used by the local high school cross country team. The practice trails were being expanded to add more distance. In the process dying ash trees had to be removed for safety. The trees were devastated by the emerald ash bore. This was a tremendous loss being that most of the trees were large in diameter. The remaining stumps became the canvas for the occasional carving. As the number of carvings grew, so did the interest in people wanting carvings of their own. At that point the hobby became a business.