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Ad Rates / Articles / Classified Ads / Editorial / Home / Links / Showtime   Time to build a log home or barn   List Jim Ross Next   Tool collector reviews methods to build homes and barns   By Jim Ross Okay, so you have cut yourself a pile of logs to build a home or barn. What now?   If you are not a purist (I am, to a certain degree), there are many labour-saving tools available for log building.   You are going to need some special tools, whether it is for a traditional round-log cabin, a more elaborate square-timber cabin or a post-and-beam cabin.   And before you begin, think about our early settlers and what they received from the government in addition to a gun and ammunition: a felling axe for each male inhabitant over 14, three chisels, three gimlets and a gouge, hand saw, nail hammer, drawing knife, shingle splitter and broad axe. Pit saws, large crosscuts and grind stones had to be shared by three or more families.   Most newcomers were as green as I was when I built my log cabin, but theirs was a case of survival, not fun.   Round-log cabins If building a round-log cabin, the first task is to remove the bark from the logs (cedar) so you will need a barking spud. This is a dull, spoon-shaped two-foot long chisel that gets under the bark and peels it away.   You can also use a partially sharp car leafspring, a rotary lawn mower blade or a square-mouth spade (as I did, despite the fact that I have five or six antique spuds in my collection). Next comes a crosscut saw to cut the logs to length and an axe to trim them up.   Crosscut saws are the backbone of any big tool collection and I have a few - as well as axes too. The notching of the logs where they intersect at the corners can be complicated or simple. I chose simple: a half-moon cut out of the bottom of the log to overlap the other. After setting the log, you secure it with hammer and nails to the door and window frames.   I should mention that my logs were set on a stone wall foundation, which, along with a large 8-by-4-foot stone fireplace, took up a lot of space and time. The rafters were thin logs cut to length and notched to fit over the top plate on the top log. The roof boards, floorboards and other lumber were a mix of new lumber, used lumber and lumber sawn up locally from the extra trees cut.   Don't you just love the smell of fresh cut cedar? I could go on and on about the joys and frustrations of the project and the sense of accomplishment when it was completed, but let's move on to the two other types of cabins which require more specialized tools.   Square-timber building Okay! You have decided to build a square-timber building. You will require a broad axe, a carpenter's adze and a carpenter's slick. These tools make a round log square or oblong. In rougher buildings, sometimes only two sides were squared.   The broad axe gives you a rough surface, the adze gives you a better surface and a slick the best surface. The adze is basically an axe on its side, like a hoe, and can be very dangerous if used improperly. The slick is an oversize chisel, about 2 ½ feet long, with a blade of two to four inches. It's a two-hander pushed from the shoulder. The outside of the building is usually rough, while in the interior you may want the walls smoother.   Putting the squared logs together is the same as the round-log construction, although the joining at the corners can involve elaborate notching if you want to be authentic. As in all log buildings, there is the dilemma of authenticity versus practicality. For instance, in either type of log building, you have to fill in the space between the logs.   The early settlers used moss, oakum, rags and even stones and small limbs covered with mud or clay. I used fiberglass insulation cut in strips, held in by roofing nails with the heads exposed and covered with commercial mortar (using bricklayers' tools). It has worked well and I haven't had to replace the mortar in 80% of the building (almost 30 years.)   Post-and-beam buildings Now, in post-and-beam construction, you will need some wonderful, special tools that are very collectible. The posts and the beams are squared as before but are held together by a variety of mortise and tenon joints. What you want now is a barn beam boring machine, augur, mortise axe, mortising chisels (straight, corner and gooseneck), a heavy mallet and a handsaw.   The barn beam-boring machine is an oversized drill press with an extended bottom board on which the operator sits straddling the post. He turns a double-handled crank, which drives the drilling bit to a desired depth at a prescribed angle. Usually, several holes are drilled side by side and then squared by the mortising axe and chisels to form the mortise. A corresponding tenon is then cut with your handsaw, in the end of a beam. The two are joined and secured by a hand-carved wooden peg called a trunnel (tree nail) pounded through the holes in the mortise and the tenon with a barn mallet or its big brother, a beetle.   One of the holes is slightly offset so that the joint will be extremely tight and won't come apart. The posts and beams are then marked with the race knife and laid out on the ground awaiting more pieces and eventual raising. The studs, braces and trusses are similarly treated, although if the owner is fortunate, he has sawn timber to work with.   The "boss" supervises the organization of all the pieces and on the great day you and your neighbours hoist the sides into place aided by pike poles and such and a wee bit of whiskey.   For real authenticity, cover your roof with hand-made shakes. Shakes are monster shingles from two to three feet long, as wide as can be cut out of a log one inch thick. Cutting is done with a riving tool called a froe, which is a long, heavy knife with a short handle at right angles to the blade.   Usually, the material is the butt end of a cedar log, which is split by hitting the froe with a mallet, going with the grain. The handle is wiggled back and forth (shaking) and a slab comes off. I think the phrase "labour-intensive" was invented by a shake maker as each slab has to be thinned down from one inch at the bottom to a quarter inch at the top by using a draw knife, the slab being held tight by a shaving horse.   I started this process and had a few shakes in place on my roof, but seeing the time and labour involved and watching the sparks from the fireplace land on my untreated efforts, I soon abandoned the idea.   There is more to it than I have described, as you will discover if you do it yourself. I had some experience in basic frame building and I confess I read a number of books from the library. But it is a great way to learn about and appreciate the old tools which now decorate the inside walls of my cabin.   Recommended reading: "Building with Wood and other aspects of 19th century building in Ontario," by John I. Rempel, published by the University of Toronto Press. It is profusely sprinkled with photographs, diagrams, sketches and contains many explanations and a great deal of history.   Jim Ross is an unrepentant collector. He admits to collecting antique tools of many trades and occupations of yesteryear. He is now past president of a tool collectors' club, the Tool Group of Canada; was president for six years. Also a past member of the legal profession for 40 years. He lives in Toronto for most of the week, then retreats to his country property       Return to top of page   This Is Livin' Publishing © 2010 581 8th Line West, RR1 Hastings, ON, K0L 1Y0 Phone/Fax: 705-696-1833   webmaster