Building the Traditional Hewn-Log Home

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For those owner-builders who have neither the time nor the inclination to hew by hand, and who are too short on cash to have the logs commercially milled, a third possibility is to use a chain saw milling attachment—such as the Haddon Lumbermaker or the Beam Machine (both under $50), or the more efficient (and more expensive) Alaskan Lumber Mill. But be forewarned that milling with a chain saw requires a saw with a large power head and, preferably, a special ripping chain—plus lots of hard work.

PEELING

There are several good reasons to skin a log before hewing or otherwise working it. For one thing, the bark will fall off eventually anyhow. Meanwhile, its uneven texture will make snapping clearly visible chalk lines all but impossible, bugs will burrow under it to gnaw on the sapwood and deposit eggs, moisture will become trapped beneath it to prompt mold and rot, and the folds and pockets in the bark are likely to contain grit picked up during felling and hauling—grit that will dull and damage edged tools.

Trees cut in summer, when the sap is moving, can be barked with a long-handled, spadelike instrument called a peeling spud. But Peter recommends harvesting your building timbers in late fall or early winter, when the sap is dormant, and peeling them with a draw knife. Here's how it's done:

Alter a couple of sturdy sawhorses for log work by cutting shallow Vs into their tops to keep round timbers from rolling. (You can further steady the works by using log dogs.) With a log in place on the horses, fetch your draw knife.

To peel, stand to one side of the timber and draw the tool toward you while holding the blade at a slight angle to the log's length. Slice deep enough to get through the bark and the soft, wet, yellowish layer that lies just beneath it, down to the harder, lighter-colored wood. Rotate the log as you work, removing any projecting knots with an ax or chain saw. Once you master the peeling technique, the bark will come off easily in long strips. As you peel the logs, stack them on scrap wood so that none touch the ground.

MEASURE TWICE, CUT ONCE

For the next several operations you'll need a couple of lengths of short, fat scrap log to serve as hewing supports—their bottoms sawn fiat for stability, their tops notched to hold the project log a few inches off the ground. Position a peeled timber on the supports so that the crown (bowed side), if there is one, faces down. (The crown will face up when the log is notched and placed on the wall.)

Now you're going to determine the log's centerline. It's a matter of eyeballing—you're looking for an imaginary line that represents the center of the log along its full length, not just at the end you're sighting from. (This line rarely passes through the exact center of the heartwood.) Peter hangs a plumb bob at one end of the log and uses it as a sight.

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