I have started work a small cabin.  I am estimating this project will take most of the summer and maybe part of the fall.  I will be using only the most basic tools.  I will be working on it mostly by myself with occasional help from a friend.

It will primarily serve as a learning experience for me.

It will be a secondary living structure at my BOL.  I will be used to for an occasionally stay and store some backup supplies.  

I plan on building this very cheap.  I will try to provide enough information if anyone else would like to try to build one.   I am estimating the total cost of less than $1000.

I still am trying to decide what to use for a "foundation".  Foundation is a very loose term for what I am thinking of right now.  

I have decided on using hard maple for my logs.  In my area of the country it is the most readily available tree that is long enough and quite straight.  

I haven't decided on what size the cabin will be yet.  I have to measure the logs I have so far and see what I have to work with.  I am leaning towards one of the following sizes:  8'x12', 12'x12', or 16'x16'.  I also need to do some measurements of what I want to have room for.  I am currently planning on having enough room for 2 cots, wood stove, and supplies.





This is my progress as of 6/22/06

Some of the logs I have cut so far.  They should be about 20 feet long (I am not really sure , I still need to measure them) .  I am guessing the weight of the logs is between 60 - 100 lbs depending on the size.  They are all very green and cut within the last week which adds to the weight.  Notice the helmet for scale which was used to keep the damn deer flies off my head.




My work horse.  I have been using it to skid out the logs with great success.  I usually skid 3 logs at a time but I did skid 6 at once.   It is a 2005 Honda Rancher 350cc with 4x4.  




Here is a picture of the saw bucks I made several years ago.  I use them to hold the log while I debark it.  I am using a draw knife to remove the bark which can be seen hanging from the closest post of the saw buck. The bark strips are as long as 6 feet but average about 4 feet long.




Large picture of the debarked logs.  So far I have completed 10 logs.  It takes about 30 minutes per log to debark and treat.





Close up of the some of the logs I have debarked.  When the pic was taken, they were not yet treated with linseed oil.  





Update 6/24/06

Here is a the draw knife that I am using to remove the bark from the logs.  It is probably 70 years old or more. I had to regrind the edge on it before I started.  It had unfortunately rusted pretty badly, but looks good as new now.  




I love my axe.  It is a Fiskars 28" handle pro chopping model.  I have been primarily using this to fell the trees and delimbing.  You can buy it at Lowes for $30 and is by far the best axe I have ever used.  I have had this more for 4 years and have used it for more than 200 hours.  I just recently resharpened it.  It literally will shave the hair off my arm.




This is the planned location of the cabin.  I haven't done much site work yet.  




When I got to my work area yesterday I noticed the logs looked weird.  After a closer look, I realized they actually had mold growing on them.  About half of the logs had mold even though they had been treated with linseed oil.  It has been extremely wet and cloudy here this week, and I am sure that contributed to the problem.  I will keep a close eye on them is see if it gets worse.



Closer picture of the mold.  It looks almost exactly like bread mold.  



I was carrying a log to the saw bucks when I slipped on the bark laying on the ground.  After a lot of  cursing I decided it was a good time you clean up the bark.  Here is the pile of bark out of the way with axe for scale.




I learned to keep my work area cleaner.  




I ended up getting 4 more logs done.  I spent most of my time working on removing standing dead trees from the site.   I spaced the logs out evenly so they will hopefully get better air flow around them and dry out.  The closest 4 logs are the ones that I did yesterday.  I have 15 logs completed so far.  The average length of the logs is 18', but some in the picture are as long as 25 feet.  I have the helmet for scale again.  




The next update probably won't be for a few weeks.  It is supposed to rain here all this
week.


Update 7/4/06

It has been raining here almost every day for the past week.  I haven't been able to get much work done on the cabin because of the weather.  

There were a few days that I did some work inbetween the rain.  Mostly I was preparing the site.   I cut down four apple trees.  Three of the trees were mostly dead and the 4th was in the way.  There was also a lot of fallen dead trees and limbs on the ground that I cleaned up.  

Here is a picture after I everything was cleaned up.




Because of all the rain my logs are almost completely green from the mold.  I bought some thomspons deck wash which was mostly bleach.  




The green log was untreated and the other logs were treat with several coats of the deck wash.  I was actually very impressed with how well in worked.  




I decieded that I was going to build the cabin 12' x 16'.  I laid out a couple of small poles so you can get an idea of where the cabin will be.



Because the inside dimension will be 12' x 16', I had to cut the logs 18' and 14' long.  This will give me enough room for the notch and overhang.  Here are the logs I cut to length.



To cut the logs to length I am using my Stihl MS361 saw.  It has a 20" bar and makes quick work of trimming logs.  

pyro6988
Great Post: love to see the pics:

Good Luck, I spent several years growing up in a log cabin that I helped build, Its a little drafty ( Michigan Winters) But the wood stove gave lots of heat.

Question?

On the corners are you going to notch out the logs and overlap them  or stand vertical 2X8 and spike them together.? then cap them
We found that when we notched and overlapped then they tended to rot out faster from the roof water getting into them.
Good Luck
SM

Looking forward to seeing the pics and posts :)

Best of luck,

Blair

Get the Dick Proenneke videos...

been planning on doing the same thing myself look forward to seeing pics

pyro,

I have never been sorry for making a building a building bigger.  On the other hand I have been sorry for not.

David

wow, there are a lot of cabinet makers around here that pay top dollar for maple. Your cabin would be $$$$ in my neck of the woods

Quoted: Question? On the corners are you going to notch out the logs and overlap them  or stand vertical 2X8 and spike them together.? then cap them We found that when we notched and overlapped then they tended to rot out faster from the roof water getting into them.

Did you debark the logs?   What kind of wood and notch method were you using?

My current plan is to notch them in the inverted saddle notch.  Hopefully with the fact that I am using hard maple and treating them with linseed oil will prevent this.  I am also going to hopefully incorporate enough roof overhang to prevent dampness and rot.

Don't go cheap on the roof. It will keep everything together.

Remember to CAULK the chinks with clay or mud.

Quoted: wow, there are a lot of cabinet makers around here that pay top dollar for maple. Your cabin would be $$$$ in my neck of the woods

I bet they really would have had a fit I would have used my second choice, black cherry. The reason I didn't use black cherry is because it rots quicker than maple here, and it is harder to find the size logs I was looking for.

The 15 miles from where I am building the cabin is the black cherry capitol of the world.  

* Kane is known as the Black Cherry Capital of the World because of its logging industry.    * Due to cold winters, Kane was and is known as the Icebox of Pennsylvania.

Source


ETA:  I shouldn't meniton that I primarily use black cherry as firewood.

tagged for some kewl future updates.

tag

Quoted: Quoted: Question? On the corners are you going to notch out the logs and overlap them  or stand vertical 2X8 and spike them together.? then cap them We found that when we notched and overlapped then they tended to rot out faster from the roof water getting into them. Did you debark the logs?   What kind of wood and notch method were you using? My current plan is to notch them in the inverted saddle notch.  Hopefully with the fact that I am using hard maple and treating them with linseed oil will prevent this.  I am also going to hopefully incorporate enough roof overhang to prevent dampness and rot.

Yes we did de-barked the logs
We had lots of Cedar swamps on the property, So we used cedar logs.
We went through and picked out the big ones and cut and de-barked them.

I was just a kid when we did this (1967) and I was working with an old guy that had been building log houses all his life.
The only thing I see different about squaring up the ends and building the 2/8s  inverted corner pieces, would be it would seal up the ends so no moisture would be able to get into it at all.

Also it would give you more usable log, maybe add two or three feet of usable log to each one.
To make the place a little larger. No waste in the notching and crossing of the logs.

We used motor oil(used) and creosote to seal them with.    It was the 60s I guess we could not do than now.
I don't have any pic's here in the city with me or I would post one. But if you are interested I can take some when I go up in a week or two.

Good Luck and Have fun.
SM

PS  nice pics I see in them the  wood is nice and straight, ( that’s Good) It was amazing how many big holes we ended up with between the logs. Before we filled it with the 1/4 round chinking.
this is the only one I could find: I think it is too far away

I have not built a cabin before but Scoutmaster's post and the comment about notching and debarking the logs reminded me to suggest that the Foxfire books have some great old school information in them.  

I bought the series recently and the Foxfire - (the first of a series)) covers cabins with some super ideas, pictures, and discussion (including pics on chinking the logs, making notches - different types, setting the first level up - keeping out bugs, foundations, etc).  

Something to consider.  Could be $11 bucks well spent.

Blair

Can't wait to see this progress.

Pyro6988

I found another couple pics of a barn that we build some years later than the house.
It is built out of poplar trees off the property as well. As you can see they are not very straight it leaves large holes in the walls, Ok for a barn but it would be very hard to heat.

Check out the corners, the logs are cut flat flush and spiked into the corner vertical 2x8s and then capped with a vertical post.
Not trying to hijack your thread just trying to give you some Ideas before you start nailing.
SM





Hope it gives Ideas
good luck

scoutmaster:

Thanks for the posts and pics.

Blair

Good luck, stay safe, and have fun.

Good luck and keep them pic's coming!

Quoted: pyro, I have never been sorry for making a building a building bigger.  On the other hand I have been sorry for not. David

Good advice here. You can ALWAYS use the extra room.

FWIW, about 12 years ago, a buddy and I did a lot of camping in the woods behind my Parent's home. We built a cabin, probably 15'x15', similar to what you are doing. It was on the top of a ridge owned by the railroad. We did all the woodworking by hand, like you are, and we bought some used tin siding for the roof from a farmer who was tearing down one of his sheds. The land was bought by a hunting club from 100 miles away about 9 years ago, and the cabin is still there.

bump for the update.


I think I am going to go with 12' x 16' feet for the size.  It should make the best use of the logs I have, and hopefully fit well in the location I am planning.

When I got to my work area yesterday I noticed the logs looked wierd.  After a closer look, I realized they actually had mold growing on them.  About half of the logs had mold even though they had been treated with linseed oil.  It has been extremely wet and cloudy here this week, and I am sure that contributed to the problem.  I will keep a close eye on them is see if it gets worse.

After peeling, you have to treat the wood with an anti-fungal (mildewcide/biocide) treatment.  This will prevent the mold and discourage insects from moving into your new home.   Linseed oil is more of a finish treatment, something that's used to prevent water infiltration.  

For commerial product names look for Penetreat, Mitrol PQ-8, or Tim-bor.   You can also use regular old "Borax" from the grocery store (laundry detergent aisle) mixed with water and brushed on with a large "scrubing" type brush.  It'll certainly take care of the mold, don't know how the insects respond to it.

Nice start.  I'd try to bring in some stone and put it on about a two foot  deep footer
I'd go with 16x20 with the legnth faceing south. higher in the frount than the back. maybe a 5 pitch.
I would build a cord wood structure. much easier if your working alone most of the time.
It will stop a rifle round much better than a traditional log structure with that size log.

any water near by?  how nice would it be built next to or over  a dug well.

Tag out of the sheer awesomeness of this project.

Thanks for the update :)

Nice pics and good work :)

Blair

Looks like you are off to a good start

Quoted: Nice start.  I'd try to bring in some stone and put it on about a two foot  deep footer I'd go with 16x20 with the legnth faceing south. higher in the frount than the back. maybe a 5 pitch. I would build a cord wood structure. much easier if your working alone most of the time. It will stop a rifle round much better than a traditional log structure with that size log. any water near by?  how nice would it be built next to or over  a dug well.

Cord wood structure?

Quoted: Nice start.  I'd try to bring in some stone and put it on about a two foot  deep footer I'd go with 16x20 with the legnth faceing south. higher in the frount than the back. maybe a 5 pitch. I would build a cord wood structure. much easier if your working alone most of the time. It will stop a rifle round much better than a traditional log structure with that size log. any water near by?  how nice would it be built next to or over  a dug well.

I did consider building a cord wood structure, I guess it will be the next on I build.  

my friend, you need to change your screen name.  Ditch "pyro" and become "Paul Bunyon"

Great to see things start to take shape, isn't it. Have some fun with it.

TAG! for future updates.

TAG

Wow, that's a nice start you got there.  Cool pics and details.  Can't wait to see future updates.

Very nice, cant wait to see it copleted.

Two observations: you're felling awfully small trees for a cabin, and I'm not seeing a chainsaw in the pics. Tell me you're not cutting these trees with an axe?

Cool project. I look forward to more pics.

Neat, can't wait to see it progress.

I'd like to do this myself someday....got the wood, just need the time and $$.

Looks peaceful out there.  Have fun!

Update 7/4/06 Part 2

For the foundation, I have decied to use concrete pillars.  There will be one pillar in each corner.  I am planning on making the pillars 1 foot in diameter, 3 feet deep, and 18 inches above ground.  

I laid out the small poles I had cut to get an idea of where I wanted the cabin to sit.  It only took an hour of adjusting the positions of cabin until I was happy.    I cut very small stakes about 1/2" in diameter and 1' long to mark the center of the pillar.  I wanted the pillars to be at the center of the corners.  I drew a diagram and decided that the center of the pillars should be 12'6" and 16'6" apart.  I measured the distances between my stakes several times to insure that I didn't make a mistake.  

I then used some white spray paint draw a 18" circle with the stake in the ceneter.  To make sure I drew a circle instead of an oval, I used 4 sticks that I cut to 9" long.  I laid them out to form and X.  

It was time to start digging.  This was the part of the project that I was most concerned with.  I was concerned that I would hit lots of roots making the progess slow and painful.  Turns out I hardly hit any roots.  I had a bigger problem.  

I used my shovel to work the whole way around the spray painted circle.  I remove the top soild and first 5" of dirt.  I did this with all 4 holes quite easily.  Once this was out of the way I just need to work on making the holes deeper with my shovel.  The first hole I hit shale at 8" deep. It was fairly loose and I thought it was just a pile of tailings from a nerby mine.  I decied to try the other holes.  2 other holes had loose shale 8" deep.     On the 4th hole, I hit a coal seem 10" deep that lasted for 6", then I hit loose shale.  

I started removing the loose shale.  After 2" of loose shale, I hit solid shale as seen below.





I hit solid shale on 3 holes and 10" deep and 16" deep on the 4th hole.    Because of the angle depth and width of the hole I couldn't use a pick.  I came up with the idea of useing a large pry bar as a manual jack hammer.  The bar I have is 5' long, made out of 1" diameter solid steel, and has a rough chisel shaped end.   It also weighs 35 pounds. I used the pry bar to carve out around the edge of the hole.  This would break up the shale throughout the bottom of the hole, and I could shovel it out.  I could only remove about 2" of shale at a time.  

Here is one of the piles of the shale I am removeing from the holes.





After 6 hours of extremely hard work, I have all 4 holes at 20" deep.  




A close up of the one of the holes with the shovel for scale.





On the positive side, I know the pillars will be on really solid ground.  I am considering not going down 3 feet for the holes.  I was thinking of just going down to 24".  Any opinions on this idea?  

That is a great setup, when's the BBQ shoot?

 Looks like you're doing a good job.  I might be able to help you some tonight.  (Ignoring the boss's calls today.)

Can’t really comment on the depth. But I did kind of the same thing with mine, I went down 48 inches to stay under the frost.

The thing I was going to comment on is I picked up Card board tubes at Home-depot they where 4 feet long and 8 inches in diameter. They worked perfect to make forms or pillars of cement  ( did not waste any )  and then when I finished I placed a 8 inch cement block on top. It put my sub floor 20 inches off the ground.  Very nice project look forward to seeing the pics.
SM

Coming along very well.  

The only concern that I would have is the frost line in your area.  The goal would be to get below the frost line so you don't have any shifting of the cabin.  While it is a huge PIA to get deeper with all your shale, it's probably your best bet in the long run.

Keep us updated - it looks great!

As the others have said nice work so far but I would be verry concerned with being WELL below the Frost line we built a Quanson hut used as a hunting cav\bon th central NY with that being at 48" we dug the collums down to 72" just to be shure it don't move.

This is by far, the coolest thread I have read in a real long time.
Best of luck to you and this awesome adventure that you are on.
Thanks for sharing it with us.

Question: What are you going to use for the flooring materials?

Coolness tag.

UPDATE 8/9


I know it has been a while since I have done an update.

There have been a lot of changes in my plan.


First, I have changed the location.    My BOL is bordered on two sides by 70,000 acres of forest for logging.  The land is owned by a corporation.  Where I was planning on building was 40 feet off my property, and I didn’t realize this until recently.  The new location is about 100 yards away.  

The next big change is my plan for the foundation.  As several people pointed out my depth for the concrete pillars was not adequate for this part of the country.  The depth of the holes must be below the frost line to keep the pillars stable over the years.  The frost could cause the pillars to work their way out of the ground or cause them to lean.

After talking with a friend who has been doing construction for 30 years he gave me some guidance.  Digging holes in the very high clay content soil around here has a tendency to trap water.  Enemy of any foundation in the Northeast is water and cold.  If I wanted to dig holes, I would need to have water drainage for each hole.  I am not about to dig drainage lines by hand all over the place, and I am against using heavy equipment in this project.  

I have decided to build "on the ground”.  I will be using a dirt/gravel material called pipe bending to build up mounds in the corners and the middle of the long sides.  The pipe bending will be compacted to form an impermeable ground layer that will allow for water to run off.  The pipe bedding will be about 3-5” think and topped with 3-5” of washed gravel.  I am getting the pipe bedding and gravel for free from a friend who owns a gravel pit.

On top of the gravel I will be placing what we call “9 hole tile”.  These are a kiln fired and made from the clay found in the area.  The ones I will be using are 30-60 years old and came from and old foundation on our property.  It is fairly common in the area to see them used as foundations or for use as walls.  They weigh 100-120 pounds apiece.  I have no idea what they were original manufactured for.  

I have cut another 30 logs that need debarking.  I am still having a problem with mold.  I am researching different treatments for logs.  

I am trying to come up with a plan for the floor.  

Fall is fast approaching too.  


The new location with the pipe bedding mounds in place.  




Here is a elevated view of the new location.




Here are 5 of the 6 "nine hole tile" I will be using.




Here is an end view of one of the tiles.

Just a thought, but as far as the mold problem, you may consider letting the logs dry out for a while before de-barking them. There is a significant amount of water in  a green tree which may be contributing to your mold problem. Just a thought. BTW is that a house in the background of your last pic?

Quoted: Just a thought, but as far as the mold problem, you may consider letting the logs dry out for a while before de-barking them. There is a significant amount of water in  a green tree which may be contributing to your mold problem. Just a thought. BTW is that a house in the background of your last pic?

I have been letting the logs sit for 1-2 months before I debark them.  I even tried debarking them and letting them dry out without putting linseed oil on them and they still got moldy.  Log homes are treated with a perservitive that prevents mold, fungus, and insects.  I just need to do some research on what I should get and where to get it.  The manager of the local hardware store is supposed to be seeing what he can get for me.  

Good eyes.  That is actually our garage in the picture.  

Cool project. I've been collecting materials for something similar. So far I have Metal-bestos stove pipe, shingles, drip edge and a kitchen cabinet with a stainless-steel counter-top.