From Chainsaws to Sleight of Hand In the high-stakes world of performance arts, Ian Stewart has long been synonymous with the roar of chainsaws. As the "Chainsaw Juggler," this Nova Scotia-based entertainer has captivated audiences with death-defying feats, including multiple Guinness World Records for juggling live chainsaws—such as 105 consecutive catches in 2019 and an astonishing 1,185 catches while incorporating two balls in 2020. While those buzzing blades remain a staple of his act, Ian is sharpening his image in a new direction: magic. With a fresh website at www.worldrecordmagician.com and a growing tally of over 20 Guinness, he's proving there's more to this daredevil than just dodging disaster. Ian's expansion into magic feels like a natural evolution for a performer who's always blurred the lines between stunt and sorcery. His roots in juggling trace back to childhood, sparked by…

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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! 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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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