Ten Rows High – Three More to Go
by Todd Walker
This is my Field of Dreams. I’ve long dreamed of moving back to the land where I cut my teeth. Each day, each long, hot or cold day on this patch of Georgia dirt brings the dream closer.
This past Memorial Day weekend, a few of the Fuel the Fires crew and family joined in to raise more logs. This kind of work ain’t easy. It’s hard and dangerous at times. But they roll up their sleeves anyway.
This whole log cabin thing is like building a house with a sack of carrots. Nothing is uniform. Logs have big ends and little ends, bows and curves and bends. The goal is to stack them in place so the walls are relatively level.
We started Saturday morning with six and a half rows of logs from our last stacking party in November 2022 (pictured below).
Donny is a smooth operator on the boom truck even with stitches in his shoulder.
After setting a log, we tack both ends to the log below by driving a stick of 1/2 inch rebar vertically through the top log into the log underneath. This holds the log in place while holes are drilled along the length of the log where more rebar stakes are pounded in to fully secure the log wall.
As holes are being drilled, we grab and drag the next log with the tractor to be rigged and lifted.
I wasn’t prepared for the loss of sledge hammer heads. One of the short handled sledge hammers snapped and left me scrambling for tools. Mel took off at lunch break and found two at Ace – 5 and 8 pound hammers. J.J. cut the handles down to accommodate short swings in tight places.
We worked up an appetite on a long day and finish up with a meal fit for log home builders!
By the end of day two, the 10th row was perched 15 feet off the ground in places. I decided the practice of straddling logs to drive metal stakes through logs had to be remedied.
Scaffold System
Over the past five years of research, I’ve come across some great log cabin builds online. One which is similar in size to my build is located in the state of Washington. I adopted his scaffold system as it seemed sturdy and movable as needed. Building with no mortgage, I’m always cutting corners on costs and doing it as safe as possible.
The brackets are easy to build, lightweight, and adjustable. I used scrap 2×4’s, 1×6’s, and other scavenged material from construction dumpsters over the years. I did have to purchase a few 2×10’s for walk boards – which shocked my senses and wallet!
Why is the all thread so long for the brackets? Well these all tread pieces were already cut to be used to secure the vertical ridge pole support logs to the wall logs (more on that process once the walls are complete).
Shown in the picture above is a piece of 2×4 and 1×4 wedged and screwed to the bracket, not the log, which levels the top of the bracket. Of course you’ll want to do this before walk-boards are on the brackets. You have to be creative when building with a bunch of carrot-shaped logs.
With the scaffolding complete, we’re ready to add the remaining three rows of logs to complete the walls. There may still be log-straddling required to pin these logs, but the scaffolding will offer a stable landing if needed.
As always, Keep Doing the Stuff of Self-Reliance!
~ Todd
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Source: https://survivalsherpa.wordpress.com/2023/06/12/ten-rows-high-three-more-to-go/
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