Just seeing the huge pile of debarked logs makes us proud, but also makes us question if and how we’re going to get all of them set up in time before winter comes? As we wanted to have nice smooth logs, we decided to sand them before setting and scribing.
Good we didn’t know that it would take about 7 hours just to sand down one log! And as Frank thought that trees with nice knots and curves would look really nice in a log home and he had picked a lot of those! This made the job a lot harder, not only sanding but scribing and cutting too and is definitely something we’d never do again — even the nice and strait ones without a lot of branches make really nice and easy to work with logs!
All about Bugs
But no matter whether curved or strait, a freshly sanded log is an invitation for “lunch” to all kinds of bugs.
The last thing you want is for them to get into your wood and although we soaked each log in a boracol solution twice, Frank spend hours at night picking them off the logs.
And you wouldn’t believe how many you can pick in 20 minutes.
Scribing Logs
But no matter what we had to keep on going and start setting the log first to measure distance.
And then scribe lines.
And after that you take the log off again, take it over to the workstation and cut out between the scribed lines.
In the old days you did that by hand with an axe, but we just roughed it out with the chainsaw and then worked with a “Lancelot” and the “Woodcarver.”
And if you’re really picky as Frank is, you chisel the edges one more time.
We then took the logs back over and set them to see how they fit or if there might be any hang ups at spots we didn’t cut out deeply enough. Then the log went back to the workstation and we put in the insulation.
Once that was done, we hooked it up to the crane again and back it went were we could finally set it and get ready for the next one.
Considering all the work it takes us about 2 – 3 days to get one log set. So we really have to step it up a notch if we want this to work out before winter! But for right now we’re quite happy with what it’s starting to look like!
Next time: Ups and downs while building our log home.
Manuela and Frank Mueller packed a container in 2016, grabbed their four-legged companion and not even 1 ½ years after leaving Nova Scotia, arrived at their new home: a wooded 50-acre lot with nothing on it but trees and 1.6-kilometer waterfront. They are building their DIY log home themselves and living off the grid. Follow Manuela and Frank on Restless Roots and Facebook.
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