Railroad ties used to be all hewn with an axe also, very much like log cabins were built.
I’ve seen some of these ties still in use when I have “walked the tracks”.
Often, because these railroad ties were short in length, men could skip the step chopping the wood into sections and rather split out an entire side in one large piece as seen in these photos.
Originally posted 2015-08-07 19:04:50.
If you want to take a rough hewn beam or log and make it smooth the tool to use is an adze. I have seen men who were talented with this tool smooth out a rough piece of wood so nicely you would think it was machined and sanded.
In this crazy world that we live in today the adze is used by log cabin kit manufacturers not to create a smoother surface but to roughen up their previously smooth “logs”. Go figure.
An adze is also a dangerous tool, one that I prefer to operate as little as possible. It needs to be razor sharp and swung through a complete overhead motion between your legs. The famous woodworker Roy Underhill operates his by ending his swing under his boot… no thank you Roy!
This sketch is from Eric Sloane’s book “Museum of Early American Tools” which is one the books on my recommended reading list that I offered a few weeks ago. I’d like to share a few more of Sloane’s sketches with you in the coming day or two… I think you’ll enjoy them.
BTW… I have four duplicate copies of four different books of Sloane’s (one that is out of print) that I’m giving away to four different people that sign up by Monday. I’m going to do a random drawing of those on the list… I’ll shoot the winners an email and ask for an address. (The sign up button is at the top of my FB page or on my blog handmadehouses.com OR… if you get my free list of the books I recommend reading you will be automatically signed up. Oh… one last thing… those that signed up to get the free guide prior to this last weekend, there was a technical issue… you did receive your guide, but you weren’t signed up… sorry about that… please, try again, thanks… I’m afraid that I am a much better builder than I am a techie. Noah
Originally posted 2015-08-07 18:11:40.
Today, with the help of artist/writer Eric Sloane, I’d like to share with you the process of starting with a tree and then making a home out of it… with just a few basic tools… no manufacturing facility necessary!
There are two things about this drawing that I’d like to comment on…
One is that we have improved upon this antique version of a chalk line. This device marks the length of the log with a line that will be our guide in hewing the log (creating a flat surface on the inside and out). This diagram envisions this log to be hewn with an axe on all four sides which would create a floor joist (or ceiling beam).
My experience in working with old logs, and in performing this same technique today on fresh cut logs, is that rarely is the complete log de-barked. That’s a lot of work that will only be discarded by next phase of the work anyway. (I and most log workers of the past would just remove the bark where the line would be snapped)
The next step would be the axe work. First you stand on the log and cut away the wood at regular intervals down the length of the log, cutting back to your marked line with each finishing cut.
Then you go back down the length of the log with this same axe knocking out the chunks of wood left in between your knotches.
Next, you come back with a special axe… a broad axe… an axe with a large head and is beveled only on one side, which smooths the log down to the finish we see on old log cabins.
The process, for me at least, is labor intensive, but I have witnesses men who can swing an axe with more ease than a carpenter swings a hammer, men who could do this type of work all day long. It’s amazing to watch.
These hewn logs would then be used to create a log home or outbuilding.
Eric Sloane does an incredible job of displaying the beauty of a half dovetail notch doesn’t he? But the notches he drew on the second log corner, (which I would call a half-lap joint), must be a New England method of notching. Here in Virginia we have a square notch also, which is always used on outbuildings and barns, where the ends of the logs are squared and large pegs are driven down through each log end, once it is laid.
Another exception that I would take note of is that it appears the logs in this drawing have been all been hewn on all four sides, which I have never seen on any cabin. Maybe again, it’s a New England feature? I find that log cabins are much more attractive with the natural curves and unique shape of the original log. (this is a major failing in so many log cabin kits)
This sketch is from Eric Sloane’s book “Museum of Early American Tools” which is one the books on my recommended reading list that I offered a few weeks ago. I’d like to share a few more of Sloane’s sketches with you in the coming day or two… I think you’ll enjoy them.
BTW… I have four duplicate copies of four different books of Sloane’s (one that is out of print) that I’m giving away to four different people that sign up by Monday. I’m going to do a random drawing of those on the list… I’ll shoot the winners an email and ask for an address. … if you get my free list of the books I recommend reading you will be automatically signed up. Oh… one last thing… those that signed up to get the free guide prior to this last weekend, there was a technical issue… you did receive your guide, but you weren’t signed up… sorry about that… please, try again, thanks… I’m afraid that I am a much better builder than I am a techie. Noah
Originally posted 2015-08-07 14:35:19.
I’d be hard pressed to come up with a more attractive design for an outbuilding where one can practice their craft out back… complete with a fireplace!
This sketch of a Forge Barn above is within Sloane’s book “American Barns and Bridges”.
When I look at these drawings above and below by Eric Sloane that he made of existing historic outbuildings I am overwhelmed at the variety and the beauty of these structures.
How is it that we lost this ability put up something attractive in your back yards?
I don’t know about you but I’d like to have one of each! I used to tell people that I was going to have a bumper sticker made that read… “He who dies with the greatest number of outbuildings wins” lol
Here’s an outbuilding that I once built that was inspired by one of these drawings.
These sketches of are within Sloane’s book “Our Vanishing Landscape” which is one the books on my recommended reading list that I offered a few weeks ago. I’d like to share a few more of Sloane’s sketches with you in the coming day or two… I think you’ll enjoy them.
BTW… I have four duplicate copies of four different books of Sloane’s (one that is out of print) that I’m giving away to four different people that sign up by Monday. I’m going to do a random drawing of those on the list… I’ll shoot the winners an email and ask for an address. (The sign up button is at the top of my FB page or on my blog handmadehouses.com OR… if you get my free list of the books I recommend reading you will be automatically signed up. Oh… one last thing… those that signed up to get the free guide prior to this last weekend, there was a technical issue… you did receive your guide, but you weren’t signed up… sorry about that… please, try again, thanks… I’m afraid that I am a much better builder than I am a techie. Noah
Originally posted 2015-08-06 13:47:19.
Isn’t this a precious Sugar House”?
Whenever I view an attractive building I ask myself… “What makes it so?”
There are some lessons to be learned upon careful examination of this wonderful pen and ink drawing by Eric Sloane. The author/artist lays the answer out there for us, so plain, simple, and easy to understand.
This is one of the many sketches within Sloane’s book “American Barns and Bridges” which is one the books on my recommended reading list that I offered a few weeks ago. I’d like to share a few more of Sloane’s sketches with you in the coming day or two… I think you’ll enjoy them.
BTW… I have four duplicate copies of four different books of Sloane’s (one that is out of print) that I’m giving away to four different people that sign up by Monday. I’m going to do a random drawing of those on the list… I’ll shoot the winners an email and ask for an address. ( If you get my free list of the books I recommend reading you will be automatically signed up… the button to get this free guide is to the right on this page… and oh… one last thing… those that signed up to get the free guide prior to this last weekend, there was a technical issue… you did receive your guide, but you weren’t automatically signed up… sorry about that… please, try again, thanks… I’m afraid that I am a much better builder than I am a techie. Noah
Originally posted 2015-08-06 13:17:28.
Here is a replica of Abraham Lincoln’s childhood cabin where he spent most of his childhood, along with his parents and brother. This cabin is built on the site of the original cabin and as authentic to the original as it could be made.
Abraham Lincoln was born in the log cabin seen in the post card above, but his family moved a year or two later, so he had no memory of this first cabin in his life.
This birthplace cabin, according to the website that keeps track of all the cabins that Lincoln lived in, later “disappeared”.
Here is a log cabin that Lincoln built with his father. According to this post card it was taken down and moved for display at the Chicago Worlds Fair.
Originally posted 2015-08-05 13:08:37.
Families who live in log cabins are always happy.
The men where hats and smoke pipes.
All is well with the world.
Living in a log cabin instills peace in one’s soul, and often inspires creativity.
And living in a log cabin has long been known as a cure for infertility issues.
And finally… Log cabins were the original man cave.
Originally posted 2015-08-04 17:12:14.
A log cabin on an old postcard.
(notice the Model T in the left side of this image)
This cabin looked good when it was built… 1820’s.
It looked good in when the photo was taken.. 1920’s
And, it looks good today.
I guess that makes it timeless?
Originally posted 2015-08-04 13:01:56.
Several years before I built my first log cabin, long before I ever thought of building them for a living, log structures fascinated me.
If I saw one I couldn’t help but climb them and give them a hug!
I should have seen what was coming. sigh.
I guess I’ve built fifty of them since this photo was taken and performed some degree of restoration on a couple hundred more, and, I have explored and studied well over a thousand. I know cabins.
I wish I could go back in time and tell that young man in the photo what I know today. But, I can’t. So… you all are stuck with hearing me ramble on. lol
Have a great day everybody!
Originally posted 2015-08-04 12:23:20.
Here’s one of the two log cabins that make up this home. There are some interesting details to be seen on this home.
Overall she is very appealing, although there are some features that I would have done differently, such as the stove pipe and the odd window in the gable end… but you know architects. 😉
* (there is an unwritten rule that all builders must make a subtle jab towards architects at least once a week lol)
Originally posted 2015-08-01 14:25:34.
