Roman Campbell

Here it is so far

Well I got a lot done since I last posted. I broke down and bought a gransfors Bruks broad axe,  worth every penny.  I have run into sort of a bad situation.  I set my logs down on big oak stumps,  but as Ive been working,  I think it might have been a bad idea.  Problem is I can't take my logs down and redo it.  Would it be possible to shove some stones under the logs to provide a better foundation? They all are nailed into 6x6 treated pine posts so maybe that will suffice?

I had a question about types of wood for log cabin building. I have tons of sweet gum trees, all of em are pretty dang straight. Anyone have experience with hewing them? I'm reluctant to use them cause I have it engraved in my head that sweet gum trees are trash trees.

Making headway on my cabin style shop. Things are going a lot slower than I hoped but getting there, not sure I'll make my August deadline on finishing. Got a feeling those poles are gonna cause some heartburn as I go up.

I think I finally understood what you meant by relief cut. I decided to try this technique out and it was extremely easier to use the broadaxe like this. Is this what you meant by relief cuts?

Thanks for the pm, since drilling 1 1/2 holes into the poles won't hurt the integrity of the 6x6 poles, I believe I'll use pegs to fasten them to the poles and also at the joints to give extra stability because at 0.50 cents a pop, those spikes get pretty darn expensive, and I have all the peg making material I can handle. As far as stones, in my neck of the woods in NW LA, all we have is clay. So I'll either need to buy some stones, brick or I had thought about using that cord wood cob method but it being on the ground, pretty sure thatd melt pretty quick. I did get my first bottom row of logs completed, took all of 5 days, was pretty tired today so didn't get much done other than setting the last log. It did take quite a bit of figuring trying to figure out what I was doing, I'd work an hour research an hour but now that I'm rolling, maybe on my next set of days off will see more workin and less figurin. I am using the saddle notch method although they aren't fitted just perfectly but I only have a week of experience. Ole Dan proenneke and them Finnish log builders sure make it look easy.

I'm liking that idea I appreciate, as you can tell I have no experience so any advice I'm greatly appreciative. Only problem with your idea is the batch of logs I have are not long enough for that, fortunately I only got enough logs to make 2 rows to work out the kinks, so guess I'll just spike them into the pole and crib them so their level until I go get a new batch. As far as notching goes, what do you recommend? I've been trying saddle notching with decent results, they actually look more like one log is just a square notch laid on the other.

As far as flooring, what is normally done? I was just going to have m door at the front and step over the bottom long onto the ground. Are they normally raised?

Wish I had thought more on the design of this barn before I tried out several different styles and having to work around a previous design ha-ha.

Pondering about it, someone earlier mentioned a cross wall, well this is my sketch of what I had in mind. Have a log going vertically against that pole, resting on the oak below (and later brick, haven't decided on what to use to close the gap between ground and logs) and bolt it all the way up. Does that sounds like a viable plan?

This is the main issue I'm going to run into while building this. These logs meeting in the middle. What should I do here? Just cut them flush, butt their ends and spike into the post or some sort of mortise and tenon joint? And the way I'm looking at it, looks like depending on the diameter of logs I set in place one side will be taller than the other. I just did it this way cause 30ft long logs would be a bear to handle, if not impossible.

Oh and the posts I was going to drill into are 6 x 6 posts and was going to drill 1 1/2 holes on each end of the log all the way to the top.