CHAINSAW PALACE

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To solve the problem, we located a poplar tree 15 inches in diameter at the large end and 20 feet long. I ripped the log down the center and leaned the two halves, sawed side up, against the foundation wall. Then we used the pickup truck to drag the logs into position alongside the house.

I cut 18-inch squared chunks of wood from the leftover part of a log. Leaving one end straight cut, I slanted the other end gently and drove a 20d nail downward through the slope until the point had started to emerge on the flat bottom side. Then we used pry bars to push one end of the house log up the ripped log to a height of about three feet. I held the log in place while my wife or son nailed the chock block in place.

Starting the cost cutting:

When the sawing was finished, we had a total of $132.64 tied up in the log walls.

Then we did the same on the other side, and we continued to work first one end and then the other up the log halves until the entire log was lying on the subflooring. We then used short sections of round tree limbs (Broomsticks are wonderful for this!) as rollers under the log, pulled it into position and spiked it down.

Spiking the Wall Logs

For spiking we used foot-long fluted spikes (which turn like a screw as they are driven into the wood and will not work loose no matter how hard you try to free them). First we drilled a quarter-inch pilot hole through the top of the log and out the bottom, then I used a five-eighths drill bit to enlarge the first five inches of the hole. Using a four-pound hammer, we drove the spikes through the log and into the sills. We used a spike every two feet, and this pattern remained true throughout the rest of the log-stacking operation.

We did the long sides first, spiking all the logs into place. When it was time for the end logs, we chose to use a butt-and-pass corner style rather than the more traditional dovetail joining. The butt-and-pass is very easy and saves on logs because there is no overhang on every other log—a savings of about four feet per course on each end or eight feet for the entire house for each course. To install the end logs, we cut the end log eight inches longer than needed and worked the log into place and then laid it so that the ends of the log rested atop the along-side wall logs. Then we undercut the log by placing the chainsaw bar flush against the inside face of the long-wall log and cut upward until the log was cut through. It then fell into place at exactly the proper length.

In the second course, the end logs lapped over the tops of the long-wall logs; in the third course the long logs lapped over the end logs, so that every other log butts into the log going the other direction. We drove spikes through all four corners of the outside of the overhanging log and into the end of the butting log.

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