I just received a new order from Three Finger Juggling. They are one of my absolute favourite juggling shops!

Not surprisingly they sell mostly “danger” props. This time I got 3 sickles, 3 axes, a rat trap and on the safe side a cowbell.

The cowbell is perhaps the most annoying thing I own, which is saying something.

Check out these awesome props!

I have a bunch of my other Three Finger Juggling props on one of my promo shots on my website as well. https://chainsawjuggling.com/wp-content/uploads/IMG_8291.jpg

The customer service from this shop can’t be beat! Seriously they are the best! Neil, is simply the best to deal with.

On one order I had a small issue. It wasn’t big, but Neil was more than willing to help in every way he possibly could! He arranged a replacement and had it shipped fast!

They package everything very well. I could see my package had been subject to some serious drop kick practice at the post office, and everything inside was still in great shape!

I have to say, the Reaper is my favourite thing from them so far. It’s a sickle with a nice shiny blade. There used to be juggling sickles from renegade juggling, but I like these better. They even fold down by removing a few bolts to make them easy to transport!

They are a bit tricky to juggle as well, which is a nice surprise. If you are an accomplished juggler and want a challenge I recommend these! http://www.threefingerjuggling.com/threefingerjuggling_024.htm

They also bring out new props on a regular basis, which is not something I see most juggling shops doing!

One more thing, their t-shirts are awesome! I actually lol’ed when I saw them!

I recommend you check out their site at http://www.threefingerjuggling.com

I recently had the chance have an interview with Ana Almeida On CTV.

She came to Truro to interview several people as part of the coverage of Hub Fest, a 9 day festival that happens in Truro, Nova Scotia every August.

I was there to Juggle Chainsaws, of course. I had never met Ana before and she seemed a bit intimidated by the saws. You can watch the clip here:

This was part of my warmup to attempt to get back the chainsaw juggling record for juggling 3 chainsaws the longest. The record was held by me from 2011 to 2019, and I’ll have it back by the end of September. This is legit, I broke it within 3 months of finding out it was broken. Good times.

I was very happy they sent Ana Almeida to interview me. I’ve worked with many of the reporters before, and the reaction is always better if the reporter doesn’t know what to expect.

Ana admitted after the bit that she was nervous for the segment, which is not something that happens often.

If you watch the clip you see a plad shirt. This shirt is no more. It got burned by a pyro effect in the show a few days later. #funfact

If you follow my work you would know I have several Guinness World Records already. Here is a link to my most recent one: https://chainsawjuggling.com/chainsaw-juggling-world-record-for-distance/

It’s always great to be on CTV. They have been generous enough to have me on many times.

More Guinness Records on the way!

I’m heavily training for a few more Guinness Records. Next up isn’t even juggling. It involves a chainsaw and a lot of beer. Training is going well, and is a lot of fun! This one should be broken in a few months.

I finally had the chance to meet Mad Chad Taylor! Back around 2002 I was just beginning my career in juggling and I had the chance to see Mad Chad Taylor performing at the Halifax Buskerfest.

He was already an established professional, and while performing in Halifax he was also shooting video of other street performers for a documentary. Check that out here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077BKF3W9?ref_=imdbref_tt_wbr_piv&tag=imdbtag_tt_wbr_piv-20

He closed the show by juggling a chainsaw and 2 balls while standing on a Rowla Bowla. A Rola Bowla is a balance device kinda like a teeter-totter. Here’s a YouTube clip of me doing a similar trick: https://youtu.be/SHvXyF4cNw8

We met at the time and he was a super cool guy, not to mention a great show!

I found out later that he had broken the Guinness World record in Juggling 3 Chainsaws. The record had before been held, if memory is correct, by a juggler named Tom Comet.

I had already been playing with 3 chainsaws and breaking the record was my goal. I was super excited to have met the guy who had broken the 3 chainsaw record.

Over time A juggler named Aaron Gregg broke the record which is the record I broke before my first record in juggling 3 saws.

Back on to Mad Chad: I had no idea he was returning to do the Buskerfest until a friend told me he was on his plane. So I got to meet Chad as soon as he landed in Halifax. His show is still fantastic, and he’s even cooler in person than I remembered.

I finally had a chance to get a pic of us as well

Chad’s show is fun for everyone! Also, at the end of the show he juggled 3 saws. An interesting thing occurred to me. I’ve been juggling 3 saws for years, and have held the Guinness record for 8 of those years (My records have been talked about enough, but why not one more time: https://chainsawjuggling.com/chainsaw-juggling-world-record-for-distance/). But I’d never seen anyone juggle 3 saws before! I’d seen it on video, but never in person. It was awesome to see how cool it looks from an audiences perspective.

If you ever get the chance to see Mad Chad I highly recommend it. He does some really difficult juggling (he juggled 5 baseball bats!), but more importantly he’s hilarious. Check out his website: http://madchadtaylor.com

I’m putting a lot of my effort toward training for Guinness World Records these days. I have plans to break 3 records this summer!

The first record I’m hoping to break is the axe juggling record. I held this record for several years. Then Josh Horton came along and broke it, followed by another juggler I forget the name of breaking it again! Josh Horton made a great video of him breaking the record: https://youtu.be/CxYL9B-t1Iw

My record was 580 throws and catches of the axes. This may not sound like a lot, but one of the rules is the axes must weigh at least albs each!!! This is a heavy axe!

The current record to beat is 839 throws and catches. According to the Guinness Website it’s not official. It claims my record is still the official. I’m guessing it’s a glitch as Josh did break it.

So I’m now training to break it again. I must admit, these days I have very sore arms on a regular basis! It;s a fun goal!

I still have the Guinness Record for the most throws and catches with mauls, which are axes over 6lbs. This picture is of me when I broke that record at the Timber Lounge in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

I’m also working on new records

I am training for Guinness World Records in other areas of juggling. One I’m very excited about requires me to juggle, no breaks or drops, for over an hour. This will be a challenge as if I happen to fumble one throw the record attempt will end and I must start again.

I also have my eyes two records that have no juggling at all! One involves a crossbow, and one beer! No, it’s not consumption of beer…

Here is a link to my brief story about the last record i broke: https://chainsawjuggling.com/chainsaw-juggling-world-record-for-distance/

I’m so excited to get a few more records, I love a goal!

On March 15th Justin Flom did a fantastic show in Saint John at the Imperial Theatre.

When I booked a ticket I had no idea what to expect. I had heard the name before, but never seen any of his work. I asked several other people and sadly none of them had heard of him either.

Although he was an unknown to me I still bought a ticket and showed up. I was glad I did!

I saw a performer that was very good at communicating with a crowd! He was likeable, had fun tricks, and in my brief after the show meet and greet I discovered he was a really nice guy!

This picture is of various members of the Saint John Magic Circle and Justin Flom, and me. I’m not a member of this magic club, but I’ve become friends with most of the members and they are very supportive!

What do I remember?

One part of Justin Flom’s show that I particularly enjoyed was his use of a video screen. I’ve seen shows use a video screen before, usually for a closeup bit of magic that couldn’t be seen at a far distance.

Justin’s show had a lot of close up magic. A lot of card tricks. So the show used the screen a lot so everyone in the theatre could see the magic!

The screen made the magic appear as if he was doing it right infant of me!

His closing routine was a neat card trick with various songs being played over the speakers as he deals corresponding cards from the deck. A lot of time went into developing this one!

Also, the Imperial theatre is amazing! It was built in early 1900’s, and after being used as a theatre it was converted to a church. When the church left they put it back to a theatre, and it’s restored beautify! Check out the theatre here: https://imperialtheatre.ca

Justin Flom website: https://www.justinflom.com

I know Justin Flom performs at many churches. It reminded me of the time I performed at the James River Church in Missouri. You can read about that here: https://chainsawjuggling.com/james-river-church/

I was back in Las Vegas last week and as part of my visit ended up going to see Piff the Magic Dragon again. Of course I also saw Mr. Piffles and Jade the showgirl.

The last time I saw the Piff show was in March, while I was in Vegas shooting Penn & Teller Fool Us. You can read about that here: https://chainsawjuggling.com/ian-stewart-on-fool-us/

Even though I saw the show relatively recently, I’m glad I went again!

The show of course had excellent magic! The level of comedy was equally as high! But what I personally found to be the most interesting part was that the entire show was completely different from when I saw it in March!

The only small thing that was repeated, was a part of a card trick! And it was worth seeing twice!

The show had everything! Comedy, audience participation, a small dog in a costume and great videos. It’s worth going early so you don’t miss any of the hilarious videos that are played while you’re being seated.

I put this show at the same level as Mac King, who is also a favourite of mine (and everyone that has seen him that also has good taste).

A lot of magic shows have come and gone from Vegas over the years, but I hope this one is here to stay! He just had the theatre renamed after him as the Piff Theatre https://www.reviewjournal.com/entertainment/entertainment-columns/kats/las-vegas-strip-theater-renamed-for-agt-loser-piff-the-magic-dragon-1575340/

I’ve been a fan of Piff for a long time. He’s also won the audiences over on Americas Got Talent and many other shows. He has “Loser Of Anericas Got Talent” on his posters.

Just a couple of weeks ago he competed on “AGT: The Champions” where they brought back people from other season of AGT and had them compete again. I understand many good things were said about him by Simon.

To learn more about Piff visit him on the web at https://piffthemagicdragon.com

I’m excited to be performing my delightfully dangerous show at the deCoste Centre of the Performing Arts in Pictou, Nova Scotia on April 4th, 2019!

I’ve visited the deCoste many times over the years. It’s a great venue in a small, but beautiful Nova Scotian community. But this will be the first time headlining my own show at this location!

I’m bringing the full theatre show to the deCoste! The crossbows, the lawnmower and of course the chainsaws. There will be two new bits in the show as well, involving throwing eggs and bowling balls!

The deCoste features mostly musical acts, so being able to visit with my show of variety entertainment is very special. The show is for all ages and I look forward to having children to seniors in attendance.

In the past I was able to attend the deCoste for a show by the amazing Ted and Marion Outerbridge. Their magic show is amazing and great for all ages! Website: https://www.tedouterbridge.com

I also saw the Mud Bay jugglers there just last year. A juggling group from the states with a very unique show. I wrote of that experience here: https://chainsawjuggling.com/mud-bay-jugglers/

The deCoste is located in Picuou, Nova Scotia. Back in the 1700’s a ship called the Hector landed in Nova Scotia with immigrants from oversees. Some of my ancestors were on that boat! There is now a museum just up the road from the deCoste with a replica of the Hector in the water outside. I’ve never been, but I hear it’s neat!

The deCoste Centre itself is a beautiful theatre in a beautiful location. If you walk out the back door you’re right on the water. If you went another 50 feet, you’d be in the water.

deCoste Centre website: https://decostecentre.ca

Solving a 7X7 Rubiks Cube has been on my list of projects for a while now.  I finally solved it last week for the first time and have been solving it a few times a day since.  I even made this cool pattern

Learning to solve a 3X3 cube took me a few days.  I worked on it for many hours and got my average time down to around a minute.  A lot of people can do it faster than this, but I’m very happy with my progress so far!

But, then the same thing happened that happens when I learned to juggle. I learned to juggle three balls and then wanted to learn four.  Then five.

So after solving a 3X3 for a long time I was given a 5X5 as a gift, and went about learning how to solve it.  I played with it from time to time for 9 months.  I found it very difficult.  But I finally found myself on bed rest for a week and was able to devote some time to it.  Even being quite good at a 3X3 cube it took me three or four days to get the hang of a 5X5.  This may also have been partially due to the high number of pain meds I was on.

The most difficult part of solving a 5X5 was what is called a “parody”.  It’s when pieces are in the wrong place and normal methods can’t solve them.  Once I got those figured out it was much easier!  Here’s a post about when I learned this:  https://chainsawjuggling.com/5×5-rubiks-cube-parody-solve/

So, naturally soon I wanted to learn to solve a 7×7 Rubik’s cube.  I was given one for Christmas last year.  Again it sat around occasionally being played with for months.  10 months.  Finally i went looking for how too solve it.

Overall, I found the 7X7 to be roughly the same as the 5X5.  The parody is solved the same, except that you sometimes need to turn more parts than in a 5X5.  But if you understand the 5X5 it shouldn’t be too difficult to figure it out.

Oddly, the most difficult part of solving the 7X7 for me was doing the centres.  So, I made a quick video of me showing how I move pieces of the centres.

So, you solve the centres this way, then solve the edges like in a 5X5, and then solve like a 3X3.

Easier said than done, but that’s what worked for me!

I went through many websites to try and figure this out.  Here’s a link to the page that helped the most:  https://www.jaapsch.net/puzzles/cube7.htm

I’ve had the Guinness World Record for most throws and catches with 3 chainsaws for several years, but I also recently broke the Chainsaw Juggling World Record for distance.

What is this?  I had no idea either.

When I broke the Guinness World record for Most throws and catches while juggling 3 chainsaws, that was the only Guinness Record involving chainsaw juggling.  But they started adding more.  Not sure why.

Next came most throws and catches while juggling a chainsaw and 2 balls,  I broke that record at the Atlantic Outdoor Sports and RV Show.

Then more records came…

Then more came including most throws and catches of a chainsaw while juggling on a unicycle, on roller skates, on an electric unicycle, greatest height while juggling 3 chainsaws, greatest height while juggling a chainsaw and 2 balls, most pirouette while juggling a chainsaw, most throws while on a rola bowla and more.

I personally believe that the only one that really matters is the 3 chainsaws throws and catches.  But they also added a new record for longest duration in time for 3 chainsaws.

I thought I should collect a few other records to supplement the first one.  So I recently went for greatest distance while juggling 3 chainsaws.  The rules stipulated I had to walk, no running.

It had to be done on a certified running track.  2 time keepers must keep time, and the distance must be measured by 2 people with knowledge of proper measuring techniques.

It was a fun record to break, and I’m happy to say i smashed the old record of 30 feet, by going 167 feet.

Ian Stewart Juggling Chainsaws

I’ll go back and break the record for juggling one chainsaw and 2 balls for distance soon!  I went almost twice the distance of the one chainsaw and 2 balls record in my attempt with 3, so I should do very well with one!

Guinness World Records

I appeared on Penn & Teller Fool Us on August 6th!

Penn & Teller have been a huge influence on my career.  When I was a kid I would watch their special “Don’t Try This At Home” over and over again.

The last few years I’ve watched their show “Fool Us” with my son.  It’s been fun to watch all the incredibly talented magicians do their thing.  My son started to ask me if I could go on.  I figured I may as well!

This was my first big TV spot since last summer when I appeared on Germany’s “Das Supertalent”.  https://chainsawjuggling.com/das-supertalent/ tells more about that adventure.

I created a trick I thought would go well for them.  It was very complicated.  In fact,  it took me many days, a lot of cash, and a few times thinking it simply wouldn’t work to make it happen.

Here’s the clip:

Sure, I may not have “fooled them”, but that was never my goal.  I was hopeful it would happen as a bonus, but the main goal was to appear on their show and do a piece I was proud of.  I accomplished my goal!

How it’s done:

The show is called “Fool Us” and the point of the show is to see if you can fool Penn & Teller.  Well,  I think the point is actually to get good magic on television, but the hook that makes it appealing to most people is the “how it’s done” element.

I’ve read many comments on YouTube about how I did it.  Most people seemed pretty confident they knew.  So far, no one has put a correct guess in the YouTube comments that was correct.  At least not that I have read.

Penn & Teller got it.  They knew enough that I feel I didn’t fool them.  But for the people that guessed in YouTube comments here’s a few things I can say about my method.

• There were 3 methods used.  One classic, one modern, and one I made up myself.
• The crossbows were real.
• It was safe.
• The cover over the chosen box had nothing to do with the method.
• I did the act myself, no assistants or backstage help
• Alyson fired the crossbows by pressing the buttons, I did not fire them.
• There was no “programming” the buttons.
• Each box had a power cord that ran to a crossbow and that wire is what caused the crossbow to fire when the button was pushed.
• There was no “remote” on the knife.  The knife was just a knife.

I did enjoy reading all the guesses on how it was done!  Thanks for all the interest in the trick!

Fool Us Airs on The CW Network.