Just look at all those cute little logs laying on the plywood decking… they are all notched, numbered, and ready to be set into place. They are so short because a window is close to the that corner.
I call these logs… “bragging logs”. It never fails that the man who gets to lay a corner like this will do so quickly and then brag about how great he is because he once set three courses of logs in five minutes… by himself.
Originally posted 2015-07-08 13:48:04.
No one will ever call me a purist.
Now, I have done my share of historic restorations, but my preference is building new homes that are traditionally designed while also incorporating antique and locally available materials wherever I can.
Here we see in this photo huge 19th century oak logs, nearly eight inches thick and each well over a foot in height. And, you can see plenty of new lumber as well. I use the best of materials that are available, from whatever era they were made.
And, the same strategy holds true for the tools we use. If you look closely you will see a modern chainsaw, and next to it a Japanese hand saw, then on top of a log you will see a large antique chisel known as a slick, for the fine shaving of large pieces of wood such as the notching of a log cabin. And next to that slick, is a large sledge hammer for those times when a log needs convincing who is the boss.
Originally posted 2015-07-07 21:50:13.
Here you can see a temporary layer of plywood has been laid down over top of the old floor joists. This gives the crew a floor to work off of while they set the second floor logs into place.
Notice the vertical two-by-fours which are nailed to the logs temporarily while the logs are being set to hold these massive pieces of wood in place. Once the logs are all up we will do a final alignment on them, then install the permanent window and door jambs, and then, remove these “sticker” boards.
One final detail that I notice in this photo is the tool belt which is seen in the bottom right of the image. That tells me that the photo was taken at lunch-time. It seems that when lunch is called these heavy belts just drop to the ground right where the carpenter once stood… almost as if he had been raptured.
Originally posted 2015-07-07 21:30:00.
Here’s one of the corner posts. Commonly referred to as a “hog trough” (as it is one piece of wood that was carved out in a similar manner).
Notice the massive corner bracing going down to the floor (typical of the Mid-Atlantic States). Also notice the white horizontal stripes, created by the plaster strips of long ago. It fascinates me that amazing woodwork like this was quickly covered over and then for the next two hundred years it was never seen, until now.
This corner post is a great example of mankind reaching perfection and then throwing it all away. It took men centuries to get to this level of skill and function in order to create the perfect corner of a house. And then, the focus switched to “reducing cost and increasing speed”.
Originally posted 2015-07-07 14:27:31.
An unbeatable combination…
Log.
Stone.
Timber Frame.
And, a big beautiful sky.
It just doesn’t get any better than this.
Here we see the front of the home.
The log cabin is now ready for the first floor ceiling joists to be installed and then we can continue with the next floor of log walls which will create a bedroom above the family room.
The stone foundation work is completed just enough for us to erect the cabin and will be filled in at a later time.
The timber framing is slowly going up on this side which will create two future bedrooms, one above the other.
Originally posted 2015-07-06 18:30:55.
It’s a wondrous world out there in the mountains, building a home.
Originally posted 2015-07-06 16:10:42.
The stone masons began their work in building the chimney.
They start in the basement in by creating a “wood-stove enclave” … which is basically an attractive area where one can place a wood-stove… something beyond a blank wall with a hole in it.
Originally posted 2015-07-06 16:03:30.
The log guys worked on “dry fitting” the cabin’s logs.
My favorite notch is a half-dovetail. It’s attractive and easy to make. The half-dovetail, and the V-notch, are the most common notches found on old old cabins. One other great advantage of the half-dovetail is that any water that might find its way into the joint is pulled back outside due to the slope of the notch.
This cabin is made from logs that were salvaged from an old barn. I really like barn logs, they are generally more massive in size than house logs and in better condition… they have not experienced any “home improvements” over the years.
Originally posted 2015-07-06 14:28:59.
The crew worked on “dry fitting” the timber-frame sections together in the comfort of a new barn that was on the property.
This vintage frame was salvaged from an old home by a professional salvager. He used the interior details of this salvaged home to build an exact replica for himself, but did not want to reuse the house’s frame.
Originally posted 2015-07-06 13:16:58.
All of this joinery, and the timbers themselves, were produced over two hundred years ago, from standing trees, by men using nothing more than their muscles and a few hand tools.
Originally posted 2015-07-05 19:30:12.
