The trees, appropriately enough, brought Jeffrey Samudosky to Gig Harbor. The adventurer, traveler and now master wood carver arrived in town five years ago in search of Western Red Cedar.

“It’s one of the better woods in the country to carve,” said Samudosky, sitting in his JMS Wood Sculpture showroom, just off Highway 16, surrounded by cedar creations. “And after all the time and effort you put into a carving, you want it to last a long time.”

Samudosky has achieved some renown in the woodcarving community for his work, and was featured on the Discovery Channel series “Saw Dogs.” Earlier this year, Samudosky earned a first-place finish in the Husky Cup international woodcarving competition in Germany.

But his career, and his Gig Harbor business, might never have happened if not for a snowboarding accident 15 years ago. Samudosky, who hails from Connecticut, was working as an adventure guide traveling around the country when he broke his back while on a snowboarding run.

“I picked up a chainsaw a year later,” Samudosky said.

He was on his way to go snowboarding again, he said, when he saw a wood sculpture by the side of the road. Something in him registered, at that moment after his recovery. “I thought, ‘I could do that,’” he remembered.

Samudosky’s first shop was in Purdy, and year later he moved into the current expansive space where he works with his brother Dave. He’d always wanted his own permanent shop, and the space includes a showroom with over 200 pieces featured.

JMS does custom furniture in addition to carvings, and Samudosky also handles on-site carvings, if a property owner has a tree or stump they’d like to see carved. He said that he believes he brings his own style to his work, a style that may not be found elsewhere in a region full of roadside wood sculpture shops.

“I have a different style, coming from the East Coast and being self-taught,” Samudosky said.

Part of the style comes from an appreciation of wood carving as art.

“Everybody wants to focus on the chainsaw,” he said. “But it’s just a giant rough-out tool. Everything else is done with precise tools. We’re doing wood sculpture.”

Woodcarving has moved beyond chainsaw stereotypes, according to Samudosky, in part due to the increased communication between international artists brought about by the Internet.

Samudosky has attended an annual woodcarver’s convention in Ridgeway, Pa., where he hobnobs with fellow craftsmen and teaches classes on his technique.

“It’s not just somebody taking a piece of firewood and carving a bear,” Samudosky said of his craft.

The artisanship of his products and his relative fame within his industry, however, doesn’t mean that JMS caters to an exclusive clientele. Samudosky said that he’s had people assume that because he’s been on TV, his wares must be all worth thousands of dollars.

“I try to make products in everyone’s price range,” he said.

But he always remembers the advice of an old man he encountered years ago in New Hampshire, when Samudosky was just starting out in his new trade. The man was sitting by the side of the road, whittling, and Samudosky asked his advice on making it in the woodcarving business.

“‘Son,’” Samudosky remembers the man saying, “‘if you have carving in your heart, you don’t have to worry about your wallet.’”