Building the Traditional Hewn-Log Home

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Now stand the log on edge and measure back 4" along the top and make a mark. Next, use a straightedge to extend the lines from the end of the log along the top (parallel to the sides), then roll the log over 180° and repeat the procedure to establish the notch outline on the bottom.

To cut the spline notch, work from the top of the log and saw down just inside the guidelines. Now roll the log over on its side and—being careful to avoid kickback—cut the bottom of the notch by holding your chain saw vertically and plunging the tip of the bar into the wood at the bottom mark. (It doesn't matter that the bottom cut will be a little wider than the notch.) To avoid coming out at the wrong place on the opposite side, stop the plunge cut halfway through, remove the bar, and finish the cut from the other side. Finally, check the fit with a 2 X 4—you should be able to slide it up and down in the notch—and use a slick or chisel to widen and dress up the slot as necessary.

Once the logs are in place on the wall, insert wooden chocks between rounds to keep the short sections of timber level from corner to corner. These chocks will be left in place even after window and door frames are nailed to the 2 X 4 splines, so they should be sturdy enough to support the load of the wall above them, and short enough not to protrude from the chinking after the mortar is troweled on.

SPLICING LOGS

Occasionally, you'll be faced with the necessity of "making" a wall-length log by splicing two shorter logs together. This is acceptable—so long as you don't allow splices in two consecutive rounds to fall one directly above the other. The simplest splice—and a very good

one—is the lap splice, wherein the two logs to be joined are notched to half thickness so that they overlap, then spiked together with four large nails or pegged with 3/4"—diameter hardwood dowels. (If you're more concerned with strength than appearance, you can join the splice with countersunk bolts rather than nails.) The overlapping legs of the splice should be at least a foot long; Peter usually goes for 16".

To illustrate, let's call the two short logs to be spliced A and B. To cut a lap splice in A (after the corner notch is laid out), measure the desired log length, mark, and saw off the end to be spliced, undercutting slightly. After checking that the log is still propped level, measure 3" down the end from the inside face and draw a horizontal line, using a level as a straightedge. Now turn the log over 180°, hook a square over the end, and make a mark 16" back along the outside face from the end. Draw a square (perpendicular) line across the log and snap chalk lines along the top and bottom edges, extending them slightly beyond the 16" mark. The rectangular block of wood that lies inside these lines will be cut out to create one leg of the splice.

1st pict. In this vintage photo from the Gott family scrapbook, Peter uses pole skids to raise the walls of their homestead cabin. Today
2nd A crew and a hoist make quick work of setting ceiling joists.
3rd In single-story structures without lofts, ceiling joists are set in cup notches and sandwiched between the top wall logs and the plates.
4th he prefers this mobile winch and derrick that collapses for transport atop his van.

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