MtMan-List: Re Log Cabin

["Pat Quilter" <pat_quilter@qscaudio.com>]

                      Re Log Cabin
I have sat on this reply for a couple of days hoping to remember to look up the
two issues of T & LR which published my journal of the cabin, which I helped
Gary Sweany build on the Granny Martin ranch east of San Diego. In brief:
We build one 10 x 10 room, of a planned 2-room structure, before exhausting the
donated logs. We also built a lean-to nearby to represent the "quickie" shelter
that one would make to live in while doing a nice cabin. We didn't fell the
logs, and used an old tractor to drag them to the site, but all other work was
by hand using period-type tools. I wish I had my exact account with me, but I
remember concluding that a pair of active men could have constructed a good
cabin over a several month period. We were trying to fit the logs perhaps a
little better than average for the sake of the museum display, so we can offset
this against our having to learn as we went. 
   Our method was the single notch -- we cut notches about halfway thru the
bottom of the new log, setting on top of the last layer of logs, which didn't
have a notch on top. Oaccasionally we notched the lower log a little to get a
fit. We used an ax for notching at first, and as we got higher where the logs
were harder to take up and down, we used a chisel and maul. 
The cabin plan was two small rooms separated by a breezeway, and backed up against
a hill, into which we dug a root celler. The side away from the hill had a
veranda stretching across the rooms. ie:
              
                       ROOT CELLER

ROOM #1            BREEZEWAY         ROOM #2
 
--------------VERANDA ACROSS FRONT ------------

We split cedar poles and shaved the two halves into planks for the door and
shutters for the one window. We didn't have enough logs to do the most common
roof structure, as described before, a series of logs running parallel to the
ridgepole, staircasing up to the apex, so we used cedar poles to make ordinary
rafters reaching up to a ridgepole. We were going to install split spilings to
carry cedar shakes. Each of the two rooms had a stone fireplace. We furnished
ourselves with a bunk bed, a table, a couple of benches, an iron crane for the
fireplace, mantel and shelves, and a little cupboard we made one rainy weekend out
of thick cedar shakes which I planed down to resectable planks. 
The lean-to was a simple  8 x 8 foot platform dug into the hillside, to a depth
of maybe 2 feet, with a slant roof and three walls. The roof barely cleared my
head at the opening and slanted down to about 3-4 feet in the back. We put all
the small cedar poles on the roof, threw all the bark we had from stripping logs,
and were going to try sodding over that, but didn't get that far. 
On an average weekend we laid about four logs, comprising dragging in, barking,
humping into position, marking notches, taking down, chopping notches (you can't
chop while resting on the structure, it slowly shifts around), testing notches
several times, cleaning up any knots and other protrusions, and finally getting
a fit within about 1/4 inch. If we had just wanted a quicky with bark still on
and lots of chinking between the logs, it could have gone several times quicker.
We also spent a lot of time on the grounds, making trails, bridges, etc for the
visitors. It was a great couple of years, during which I learned most of my
skills from Sweany. 
I will try to retrieve the issue dates for the full journal. I really enjoyed
the other postings of the historical cabins.  I remain yr ob't S'vt
Pat Quilter   AMM #1658