We Built This Six-Sided Oak Cabin For Just $120

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Cheryl and I are lucky," says Bushrod James of Witter, Arkansas. "We've not only been able to move back to the land . . . we've also managed-with a little help from our friends-to build the kind of home we've always dreamed about: a beautiful, comfortable, multi-sided log cabin made entirely of Quercus alba . . . white oak! And the whole house cost us just 17d a square foot!"

It's a gray and rainy day today in the "holler". Everything-including the mosscovered fieldstones, the mist that hangs like a blanket over the trees, and the slumbering, silent forest itself-is gray and wet and quiet. And we're viewing it all from within our warm, comfortable log cabin fortress . . . the cabin that Cheryl and I and our two sons built ourselves using that superlative all-purpose construction material of the Ozarks, white oak.

As a cabin log, oak has no superior: I know of several oak cabins close by that are well over 100 years old, and their logs are still in perfect condition. (If anything, the lodges are more stonelike now than they were when they were built.) The oldtimers in this area have a saying about oak logs: "Keep 'em dry and they'll last ya forever!"

Perhaps when you move to the country you'll find (as we did) that you have oak on your property. If so, rejoice! It means that you, too, can construct a solid oak fortress in the wilderness.

Meanwhile, here's how we built ours.

ILLUSTRATIONS BASED ON DRAWINGS BY BUSHROD JAMES

IN THE BEGINNING

We began felling trees for our cabin in early June to take advantage of the spring sap flow, which makes for easier-to-peel logs. (If you intend to put your timbers up round, as we did, you'll most certainly want to peel them. De-barked logs are much less vulnerable to insect attackand season more quickly-than those left unpeeled.)

We stripped most of our trees right where they had fallen. To make our job easier, though, we did support one or both end(s) of each log on nearby stones or tree stumps. This meant less stooping over and fewer backaches at the end of the day.

Everyone seems to have his or her favorite peeling tool and you'll just have to experiment until you find the implement that suits you best. My wife likes to sit astraddle the log she's working on and de-bark it with a drawknife. I prefer to use a pole (or "chopping") axe with a broad blade, partly because the added weight of the axe can break through those stubborn places where the bark wants to stick.

If you intend to let your logs dry for several months, you needn't de-bark each tree trunk entirely . . . just peel a few large strips away and set the partially exposed log aside. As the wood dries, it'll pull away from the remaining bark, which can then be removed easily.

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