The cost of building your own log home can be reduced if you can supply your own logs. Looking for suitable logs, called cruising, takes into account the taper ratio, the bottom of the tree’s girth to further up. Choosing trees with a low taper ratio and fewer limbs makes it easier to work the logs. Cribbing prevents the newly cut logs from rotting by stacking the logs to dry to allow for air circulation.
Log Sources and Felling a Tree Safely
Wood is a natural insulator. Spruce and pine wood are log home favorites. Sources of logs include the building site, forest service standing timber, kits, log brokers, logging companies, and lumber mills. To gauge the girth for twelve inch logs, add two inches for bark, fourteen, then multiply by Pi, 3.14. Measure trees for the approximate girth of forty-four inches. Fell trees in fall and winter when there is less sap and allow time for seasoning.
Felling a tree is dangerous. Be sure to plan a “get away path” before starting. Wear a safety helmet, goggles and gloves. Have a firm footing before making any cuts. Start a chain saw on a firm surface. To fell a tree, chop a notch in one side of the tree at a forty-five degree angle. To test the direction of a fall, push the head of a double-bit axe into the crotch of the undercut. The handle should point in the direction in which the tree is to fall.
Cut from the other side, the back cut, with a chain saw or a crosscut saw. This cut is approximately two inches higher and parallel to the bottom of the undercut. Don’t saw to less than 1 inch of the holding wood, this serves as a hinge that guides the tree as it falls. Carefully watch the tree as it falls.
Preparing Logs for Building
Once the tree has been felled, limbing, removing the limbs, is done with an ax or chain saw. Bucking is cutting the felled tree into logs, sixteen feet is a standard size. Place similar size logs for a base and cross layer the logs for cribbing to allow space for air circulation. Use a “spud” to remove bark off when it has dried, and finish taking the bark off with a drawknife, this is pulled towards you to shave and smooth the log. Hand hew the two sides of the logs with a hand ax, then hewn flat with a broad axe, and smooth with an adze. You can also draw a chain saw across the log to rip off both faces to flatten.
Building with Logs
Groove the log for inserting a wood spline to fit and seal to the next log. Use ramp logs to roll up the logs into position and join at the logs center. Butt-and-pass the corners to fit. Coat fitted logs with exterior stain to prevent bleaching.
Resources:
Ramsey, Dan, Building a Log Home from Scratch or Kit, 2nd Edition, 1987
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