Hopefully our new project will look something like this. . . . .

Tools to build a log home. . . .

Source

And nobody says it better than Eric Sloane

Another set of plans . . . .

A little work done on the new project. . .

My assitant working on one of the four peers we did this weekend on the new Adirondack Shelters project.
Logs will be going up soon.

Getting the air bubbles out of the mix.

Carpenters Marks

I found this nice illustration at this blog and a piece on Roman Numeral Carpenters Marks.

I have found these Roman Numeral marking where rafters go on several log buildings I have worked on.
Usually the Roman Numerals were used in log buildings to mark rafter positions if a log building was going to be moved.

Unlike timber framed buildings, log homes were not pre-fabbed then put up again.

Regular numbers, 1,2,3,4 etc. would be to hard for a pioneer craftsman to make with the limited tools available. But with Roman Numerals you could get all the way up to 89 using just an axe, or an axe, hammer and chisel.

Just thought you would like to know.

These two old images remind me of a couple of the Post Cards from an earlier post.

And so it begins again. . . .

I still have the logs from one more log building under tin.
I started going through them this past weekend with thoughts of the project I have next in mind.
There are not enough good logs left to rebuild the building the way it was. But there are enough logs
to do one or two special 'builds' for daughters Girl Scout troop.

 So. . .  here is the pile of logs.
For the most part they have been covered for about 20+ years.
The weight has made the pile sink a little so the bottom logs probably aren't in to good a shape.

 Covered with the tin that use to be the roof of the same building.

 Here is the old peavey hook (A peavey or peavey hook is a logging tool consisting of a handle, generally from 30 to 50 inches long (0.75 to 1.25 m), with a metal spike protruding from the end. The spike is rammed into a log, then a hook (at the end of an arm attached to a pivot a short distance up the handle) grabs the log at a second location.) that I have used on all my log work.




This picture is one of the second floor joist logs with the peavey hooked on.

I already have a couple of stone pillars made from another project which I will use on this one.




















So, what is the project you ask?
I plan on building at least one, hopefully two log Adirondack Shelters to sleep in around the fire.
Although they are not usually built with logs that require chinking I think it will turn out just fine.

I will keep you posted on how the project is coming along. Along with the little cabin work this summer.

Under 'Log cabins I have known' - In Maine

Many years ago, back in the 70's (1970's) I had the pleasure of working in a remote location in Maine, at a place that at one time had been an old logging camp. After that it become a hunting/fishing camp. And by the time I got there it was a Scout High Adventure Base.

It was located on Grand Lake Matagamon near Baxter State Park.

This is the main building at the base. To the left of the red building you can see one of the two log buildings on the base (not one we are talking about here).









On the same lake was the log home of a well known outdoor sports writer named Edmund Ware Smith. Many of his stories were about this area of Maine.

His cabin was just a short walk from where I worked and I would pass it often when visiting the couple who use to run the sporting camp before it became the Scout Camp I worked at.

The writer used his cabin as a home for many years and eventually it also became a meeting place for a group of sportsmen called 'Jakes Rangers', named after Maine artist and one time Disney cartoonist name Maurice 'Jake' Day.

Surrounding Mr. Smiths main cabin was smaller ones used by Jakes Rangers.
By the time I worked in Maine Mr. Smith had been gone for a few years. His relatives, as well as relatives of Jakes Rangers still used the place.
(I did get a chance to meet 'Jake' when I visited his studio a few years later.)
Well at the end of our Scout summer I stayed on for an extra month to help with a few projects and give the wintering-over caretakers a vacation.
While there for the extra month I got to see the inside of the writers old cabin.
While doing some research with the Portland Maine Library I met a very helpful librarian who has passed on several great articles to me about that area of Maine.
In one piece was the below photo of the writers cabin at the time he and his wife lived there.

In this photo you can see Mr. Smith and his wife working in the yard.

When I worked there the cabin was usually closed up and did not have this lively feel to it. That was to be expected of course.

I have grown very fond of Mr Smiths books and have most of them.

One of my favorites is of course 'A Treasury of the Maine Woods'.

The cover and inside illustrations are done by Maurice 'Jake' Day.

Here is one of the illustrations from the book.

I am also proud owner of two of Mr. Days watercolors.

If you like well written outdoor yarns, check out Mr. Smiths books.