A Wareham man armed with a saw is set to take on the world in an extreme sports competition this weekend.

Tom Redmond will travel to Stuttgart as a part of Team GB to compete at the Stihl Timbersports World Championships.

The event sees individuals and teams compete in a range of disciplines, sawing, chopping and chainsawing in a bid for the fastest time.

Tom first got into the sport thanks to a friend, who introduced him to it through demonstrations at country fairs.

He said: “It’s something that once you’ve watched it, you’ll be hooked.

“If you’ve never watched it and you have no interest in anything to do with axes or saws, you would watch the whole thing.

“It really is impressive.”

Bournemouth Echo: Tom Redmond and Knighton's Jack Morris.

The team event is a relay race that is split into four disciplines using chain saws, axes and hand saws.

Tom’s 'specialism' is the 'single buck', using a six-foot handsaw to cut a 'cookie' from a log.

The 38-year-old building inspector is optimistic that his team stands a good chance to improve on their seventh-place finish from last year.

Team GB will go up against 18 other nations including the global elite of the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Bournemouth Echo: Team GB for the Stihl Timbersports.

“Anything that we can improve on or match this year, would be great. We do have a very strong team this year,” he said.

“If everything goes right, and goes as we’ve been training, we’ll have quite a good shot of being in the top five or six.”

Tom sawed and chopped his way to third position in the British Championships in June, setting a British record of just 14.66 seconds to complete a series of challenges.

“If I can replicate that, during the competition, then that would be nice to do and hopefully it would set the rest of the team up to go through,” he said.

“It is such a close competition, if anybody makes a mistake then it throws off the whole team.

“There’s quite a bit of pressure on you, so any infringements on the rules during the actual race itself is a 15-second time penalty.

“It’s quite intense stuff.”

Tom’s wife, Laura, and his four-year-old son Archie will be cheering him on this Friday night as they tune in to the Stihl YouTube livestream. 

Coverage of the team event will begin at 6pm on the Official Stihl Timbersports Series YouTube, Facebook and Twitch.