“Buckin'” Billy Ray is an old-school ax man from the land of big timber—Vancouver Island, and he’s not a fan of logging with big machines. Instead he uses axes he crafts by hand, as well as vintage chainsaws from his massive collection of nearly 67 different saws. According to Billy, nothing tops a chainsaw from the 1950s. A few years back, a logging accident nearly took his life, crushing his spine and snapping his leg. But the accident didn’t hurt his logging ambitions, and he continues tackling smaller-scale jobs on private properties that require precision.

Billy has passed on his passion and grit to his 19-year-old son, Hogan, who he’s currently training to take down massive timber while fastened to the tree tops from as high up as 100 feet in the air. Though Billy can’t stand to see his son involved in such a dangerous line of work, he’s glad he’s the one who gets to train him. As Billy likes to say, “You can’t stop a man from doing what he wants to do.”