Hary Shelton

I got a reply from Project Highlander off of youtube, the guy I was mentioning in my original post.
The material he uses and others seem to use as well is...FLAX. Seems like a great product I would love to have,
but alas I see nowhere to get it in North America...if anybody knows a supplier, let me know....and then I hope the
shipping won't be insane...

Traditionally, here in Finland, Ash was used for pegs but nowadays people use pretty much anything they can get, It is better that it is a harder wood than the logs themselves as they will then shrink less than the logs. The material between the logs is Flax. I get it from a company called Isolina (https://www.isolina.com/). The website seems to be in 13 languages so it looks to be quite international...Though I don't see an american flag on there. Hope this helps and good luck with your build. If you film it and upload to You Tube or somewhere then send me a link!

I am quickly running out of options here in Canada. I mean there is nothing available. It's rather pathetic. My best option here in Canada would have been 1" rockwool...or thinner. But it has to be a roll, because you cannot really separate a bat into smaller layers...at least I don't see how. But although bat rockwool are available, rolls are not!

Some suggested just using regular fiberglass. Cheap and you can separate the bats into smaller layers. I am thinking I may have no choice. But a concern I have is that if water from side rain for instance were to get on the logs and go dawn between the logs, the fiberglass would get wet and even though it would dry up, it would utterly fail at that point as insulator...So I would need to protect it...which now seems almost same job as chinking...

So now I am looking into chinking as well, even though that takes more work...but not sure if I can find anything locally and shipping costs will kill me again. And I would definitely go for the elastic kind; don't feel like redoing it all in 7-10 years

Again, any thoughts would be great.

Cristobal Cristo wrote:For a natural house I would only use natural materials.
The traditional method of using knotless spruce shavings to fill the gaps of a log house:

I love this! I did not know about it.

I will have to consider it, however I am alone building the cabin and it is my first build, so I will make mistakes and this is much longer than insulation. I am on the fence.
As well, any idea how you can generate so many shavings relatively easily?
And does it have to be spruce or can it be any coniferous tree?

Thank you!

R Scott wrote:And be very careful with big augers and power drills! The new cordless drills have clutches and safeties so they don’t throw you as hard, but they can still thump you good when (not if, when) it binds.

Thank you, this a very valid and wrist saving advice. Luckily I am aware of it and have a long handle on my new dewalt cordless and also brace it against my thigh.

Cheers

R Scott wrote:I agree that rock wool would be a better product, but there is no way to split it into thinner sheets. Not consistently, anyway.

Good idea on the cut your own pegs. Definitely cheaper.

Thanks on the pegs.

As for rockwool, thanks for the links, I am actively looking into it.
I know this is totally different, but what do you think about undercarpet sheets? I know it is more of a foam, but it can be cut into widths easily and it has just about the right thickness, and if not, I could put it double...

Thank you again for the various answers, very useful. I did find the augur bit I needed and ordered it. The book looks interesting too, but I wish I could see some sample pages online to see if it is worth getting. I am considering it.

As for the insulation, fiberglass is an interesting tip. From some videos I watched, I would venture that rockwool might be better than fiberglass, but there I fear it might be very difficult to separate into an inch thick layer. Thoughts on that?

As for the dovels, I've seen videos - and this makes sense to me - to simply cut on table saw square dovels and hammer them in. It seems to work great and will greatly reduce costs, as dovels seem to be quite pricey...I mean these logs will already be in groves on both sides, so this technique ought to be just fine in my opinion (happy to be corrected).

Thank you so so much everyone for all the great tips!

Thank you everyone for your thoughtful answers. I am going through the various posts and links and advice.

I realized I failed to say that I am looking for a bit to go in my dewalt cordless drill. I am alone building and don't object to a blend of traditional techniques and modern tools. Too many holes to drill.

I know how drilling such deep holes can get the bit stuck and it can break your wrist...that is why I use only high end cordless tools, not the weekend warrior type they sell in Home Depot :). I have the drill with 16" or so side handle to precisely prevent wrist breaking.

Still I realize the bit is important to get the right one and your answers pointed me in the right direction - thank you!

Still need to figure out however the insulation between logs...

Cheers beautiful people!

Hi folks!

Youtuber from sweden? I believe, named Project highlander - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybMZq_gAYZo - has a nice set of videos how to build a log cabin using likely one of the simplest of methods. I will be replicating it, but for a 20' x 16' size.

I need to figuer out two things:

- he uses a common method of drilling through two horizontal logs and then hammering in a dovel of sorts. I wonder...what type of drill bit I need to get? Meaning what should - is it called flute? - the drill bit needs to have. if it is about 1 1/2 or 1 3/4 in diameter and about 16" long?
I want to get the right one so I don't get something used in typical house building to make holes for wires in studs...and then this bit will be getting stuck due to bad design and too much friction...

- There is a type of insulation that folks lay between each log...it looks like felt, but I am unsure. I am on an extreme budget, being on disability and my house burned down, so I have to be creative. If I have to buy something I will...but often I find people are creative and they know an industry where such and such is a waste or is sold cheaper than walking to home depot for a specific item...

I can do research no problem...but I am asking for the community for some guidance what to look for.

Thanks a miilion!

Although I could understand the pirating aspect being a serious issue, I am not liking this cBook and would never purchase a book in this format. Why?

I live offgrid. At times I won't have internet. At times I don't *want* to be on the internet. I often would want to have the book on my eBook reader, and read it outside in a treehouse or around a fire. The whole point is NOT to be tethered to a device+internet while you read it.

Books used to be printed and were portable and that was so awesome. Now it is more and more digital and tethered to the cloud. A lot of us live offgrid or remote, we don't parade around wifi hotspot with our device, heck we probably don't want to use our devices too much and instead spend more time in the outdoors.

Probably not the kind of feedback you wanted to hear, but I will always rather pay for a decently priced eBook. Unfortunately I will not buy a single cBook and in fact won't even bother using free cBooks for all the reasons mentioned.

Cheers