Have you been dreaming about building a log home but didn’t know where to start? Paging through thetypical log home magazines doesn’t help much as they tend to focus on the extreme “McLog and McLodge” homes of several thousand square feet in remote mountainous locations with exclusive views and heliport pads.

Unfortunately the log homes that they feature are simply out of reach for most so unless you have the cash of the elite the message is clear - keep dreamin’ cuz you cant afford it.

Read more about Fred Masey

Here is a short video of someone peeling a log for a log home using a tool called a spud. A spud is a long or short handled tool with a flat and dull head at the business end.

The reason for using a dull tool is to prevent the edge from digging into the wood. When debarking a log you generally just want to remove the bark. There are some that will use a draw knife. A draw knife is a blade with two handles on either side of the blade. When using a draw knife one would straddle the log and pull the draw knife towards you.

See the video

In Part I we defined, in rather simple terms, the basic difference between Butt and Pass and Swedish Cope/Saddle Notch joinery for log home corners.

Lets now focus on Swedish Cope — I’ll refer to this simply as ‘coped’.

As elegant as coped corners are there are some serious drawbacks that need to be brought to the forefront and discussed.

Keep in mind that as a log dries and the moisture content of a log decreases the log shrinks. A log does not shrink lengthwise it shrinks in diameter.

A log is notched/scribed by transferring a portion of the diameter of the log below to the log to be notched by using a scribe or perhaps some other method. The curvature is marked on the log and a craftsman carefully cuts the notch by hand or machine. The finished notch results in a tight fit between the logs.

Lear more about problems with notched corners

One thing on the list of things that can confuse someone who wants to build a log home is with regard to construction style - particularly to the method of joining the corners.

There are a number of log styles but I’m going to focus on two major methods of corner joinery common to log home construction: Swedish Cope or Saddle Notch and Butt and Pass. Another method is of course the dovetailed home but that is in a class all of its own and discussion on that will have to come at a later time.

If you are planning on building a log home one of the difficult decisions you will have to make concerns what method of construction to use. Sales people from log home companies will spend a great deal of time telling you why their method is best. Some, I have personally experienced, will try to push only Swedish cope, also referred to as saddle notch as being the best and only way to build. This method is no doubt beautiful but there are pros and cons to consider.

In the following crude illustrations I have colored the logs so as to allow better visibility of the joinery.

Read more on joinery of butt and pass and saddle notch

When is a log home not a log home?

When is a log not a log?

Well, to answer that question, lets us first define what a log is and is not.

As simply as possible - A log is a length of natural wood material, in part or in whole, of a felled tree of a diameter greater than that of a stick. Although its bark and branches may have been removed it is yet unaltered from its natural form and profile by a milling process thereby retaining its usually uneven surface and characteristics of the original tree that commonly identify it as a log.

A log may be of varied ultimate length and realistically no less than 18″ in length. Logs are commonly as short as 2′ and can be greater than 50′ in length. This may seem like stating the obvious to most of us but in the context of this discussion it is appropriate to lay the groundwork.

So when is a log not a log?

Read more about what makes a log home a log home

In the last post on log construction I stated the difference between a log home and a simulated log home. Where a log home is built with debarked unadulterated logs a simulated log home is built with logs that have been milled into lumber in a manner so as to achieve a uniformity amongst “logs” while still representing the feel and appearance of a log there by creating a simulated log home.

Why would someone build a simulated log home when they could just build a real log home?

Read more about log home building methods

Over the next several months we will discuss restoration of a log home as well as building a log home.

Bearfort Lodge was built around somewhere in the early 1900s. Feel free to visit the gallery and take a peek around.

I love the layout and general design so I will be keeping much of the same elements and plans but expanding on them greatly and taking a few liberties by increasing the square footage and altering a few things here and there.

Read more about log home construction