Blast from the past . . .

 Once again, going through old slides. . . .

. . . I came across a couple old log barns from St. Charles County. Pictures taken about 1981.

I for the life of me can not remember where this one is/was.

 In this photo you can see it is a nice two crib log barn.

The logs have never been hewn, so it was always intended as a barn. (Why do I say that? Well my main cabin, although built as a house, had a cow living in it when I got it.)

It doesn't appear to have ever been chinked, but some boards have been placed over a few of the openings between logs.

 A little closer look and you can easily see the two cribs and lack of hewing.

 This one I do remember.

It is not to far from Daniel Boone's home. Along the same river plain and same valley.

We would always visit this property, my log mentor and me, to see the barn that is hidden to the right by the trees.
He called it an 'apple barn', made for the packing and processing of apples from near by.

 It was a giant barn with incredible joist work and beams inside.

The little one crib log barn is in the back ground on the left.

Even back in 1981 the log barn was pretty far gone.

I will have to go by and see if anything remains.

A little more about 'Red Tail' - my first build.

Over the years I have tried to explain the history of this cabin, my first build, and how it came about.

I don't always I do a very good job of explaining where all the logs came from.

So . . . over the last few nights I have been sorting old slides that I have and I have come up with a few more of 'Red Tail'.

 What I usually try to say is, "We had decided to build a small A-frame out of the lumber from the old house we were taking down, but once we saw all the logs (about 100) that had been placed 'fort' like in the walls, we decided to build a log cabin instead."

Well, here you can see how close the logs were placed and why we ended up with so many logs.

 The following are just some more of the building process.

Logs going up around the windows.

 And around the door.

 Above the window.

Because the logs were all so short, we framed the windows as we went up instead of cutting out the holes once the walls were so big.

Saved us some piecing together of short logs, just to then cut them out.

One for cuteness.

At home we couldn't keep this dog in the yard.
Working at the cabin, he wouldn't leave our side.

 Back door.

Again, back door.

 Front door, looking where the back door will go.

 We had no power on the property, so if the chain saw wouldn't do it, we had to do it by hand.

 Front door and two windows framed in.

Back door looking at fire place.

In the background you can see the chimney that was surronded by the logs in the first couple of photos.

We never did us this chimney again.
Instead we just left it as kind of a monument to the original builder.

 Starting on the roof.

 Almost all the rafters up.

Before windows and chinking.

Wow! Lots of great memories.

"We started after the last snow in April, and finished before the first snow in November."

I am sure I will have more pictures as I explore more slides.

Great weekend on the Project!

We headed out as soon as my assistant got out of school on Friday and got some key work done that would help us determine how much total lumber we would need for the decking.

Here she is helping attach the first couple of rows on the west side of the roof.

It didn't take her long to get the hang of the big drill.

A really good position on the drill.

 Like I said, we didn't get a lot done Friday night, but we got all the plans figured out.

Assistant helping make dinner by the fire.

Ready for bed on the deck after a good start.

 After a trip to Home Depot for the rest of the wood ( and time to build a first Saturday craft ) we got back at it Saturday morning.

Here near the top and almost finished with the west decking.

Ta DA! One side done, and time for steak and chicken.

 Sunday found us back at it and getting the front (east) side finished.

Looking a little tired after three busy days and lots of new skills learned.

Time to celebrate!

Next weekend hopefully the shingles and it will be ready for fall and winter.

 A couple of pano's of the whole project.

Imagine . . .

. . . if you will, hewing a log this thick.

And look how smooth the face of the log is, using an axe!

One more - holding logs - Log dog

No, this is not a Log Dog, but a dog on a log.















This is a log dog. Used to hold logs still while they are scribbed, or marked.
Or if you need to keep a log from rolling while it is hewn they can do that.

Moving logs - Cant Hooks or Peavey's?

 I have used a Cant Hook a lot moving logs around over the years.
The little tooth or hook on the end bites into logs really well for rolling and moving.

Peaveys can be used the same way but does not bite as well, but the point comes in handy if you have to move a log on a log drive.

I have two Cant Hooks and have used them for many years.
Both are in need of new handles.

 A. Cant hook

B. Peavey

C. log carrier

Now a couple just for fun.

I have posted many times here the history of the first Log Cabin I built, which, by the way, the owner called Red Tail after seeing a Red Tail Hawk land on the gate post when he first came out to see his new property.

The above photo is of my first (and only) British sports car in front of my first log cabin.
1962 Austin Healey Sprite.

Loved that car!

This one is of my second Saint Bernard (as a puppy), Sherlock.

Boy I loved that dog.