log cabins

Reader’s Question: Log Face Replacement

by Bearfort · 2 comments

Here is a great email from Andy Bell.

Bought some property 3 years ago in Southeast Texas. On it, a log cabin actually built in the 50′s with telephone poles. (Pine) Insert Air Conditioning plus poor design causes some pretty extensive damage though more facial, in some cases, half way through. After determining the damage, I formulated a plan to re-brace the wall at bottom (open), remove the rotted portions, buy treated logs (pine) which are actually used for corner bracing for large fence areas, split and replace rotted area’s. I thought (think) the best way to brace each replacement to the remaining log was to I bolt with curved metal brace. Not sure it will be that aesthetically pleasing but then….Im a rookie. Large nails? Screws? Your thoughts.

log face

Reader’s Question: Log Chinking in a Bathroom

by Bearfort · 0 comments

Sue recently asked a question with regard to chinking and exposed logs in a bathroom.

Hi there,

I just discovered your Bearfort website and want to thank you for the interesting reading and the recipe and process for chinking.

I want to ask your advice regarding my old farmhouse. Unless you went to the attic, you wouldn’t know that it is an original hand hewn log house since it is covered with brick and clapboard externally. I am not certain of the exact date of construction, but the PA deed goes back to 1810.

My dilemma comes with the need to replace plaster walls due their extreme deterioration. I have salvaged plaster in all the public rooms but then we come to the current downstairs bathroom which the previous owner “remuddled” in the 1970′s. Log home magazines never seem to dwell on bathroom interiors.

bathroom log wall

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Log Home Details: A Touch of Whimsy with a Black Locust Deer

Rustic Workbench

I had been given this little refrigerator magnet of a twig deer head and thought it would look good life-sized and figured it would serve well as a rather whimsical way to greet guests to the lodge. The charming but goofy looking little deer was of simple twig construction.

Log Home Construction: Dreaming of Building a Log Home? Meet Fred Masey

Log Home Construction

Have you been dreaming about building a log home but didn’t know where to start? Paging through the typical 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 [...]

Return from Vacation

Around the Lodge

I had been away for the last month on vacation. Good to be back but lots to do. Over the past several weeks I had the opportunity to visit Georgia, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New York State, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts and took up on the invitations to tour number of log homes and other restoration projects [...]

Reader’s Question: Interior Chinking Recipe

Phil is working on a mountain cabin and writes – I have been building what started as a relatively small cabin, now 5 years later with two timber frame additions in the mountains of Va. The first chinking I used was a mixture of cement sand and dirt and it seemed to crack a fair [...]

Bearfort’s Spinach Ring with Hot Cream Recipe

Bearfort's Cooking By Hand

I love spinach. Here is a recipe to make a spinach ring with hot cream A couple of packages of frozen chopped spinach Three chunks butter Four fingers all purpose flour About 3/4 cup milk Two fingers salt Two fingers pepper Sprinkle grated nutmeg 3 eggs beaten

Postcard from the Lodge: Your Gift

Postcards from the Lodge

Dear Beverly, I hope that all is well. I received your card. Thank you. It made me think about the cake you made that was never cut. I think about that every year around my birthday. Every year I have a slice and savor the moment. In my mind I slowly take a bite and [...]

Log Home Chinking: Chinking Recipe Update

Log Home Chinking

I have been flooded with email asking for a recipe for log cabin masonry chinking which tells me that the season is well underway. Here is a quick link to the previous post on log cabin masonry chinking. The recipe shown on that post is the same material that is used here at the lodge. [...]

Rustic Details: A Place to Hang Your Hat

Needing a place to hang my Stetson and slicker I had found and old leather wrapped coat hook and mounted it next to the wall phone near the bar. The old wall phone does indeed work. Above the phone is a small collection of dry flies from the spring of 1922 on the Esopus River [...]

Postcard from the Lodge: American Chestnut

Postcards from the Lodge

Dear Beverly, I hope that all is well with you I was digging in the garden near a stump from a very large old American Chestnut tree had been growing years ago. The thick roots I hit with my shovel were still very hard preserved in the soil. The Chestnut that grew there was a [...]

Winter Farewell: Good Riddance

Around the Lodge

Winter is finally finished or at least I thought so. A bit of snow the last two days has me wondering. The melt was fast – a few flakes here and there. Well good riddance. Take your frigid fingers and go. I’m rather anxious to get out into the garden. Just the other day it [...]

Postcard from the Lodge: Black Bear

Postcards from the Lodge

Dear Beverly, I hope that all is well with you. Spring is getting close. The weather seems to be breaking finally. About this time of year one starts to long for getting back out in the garden. In time in time – as it is a bit early yet. Soon the bears will awake from [...]

Postcard from the Lodge: Old Photos and Sheep

Postcards from the Lodge

Dear Beverly, I hope that all is well. The snows have been steady this year. Just when patches of bare ground appear another snowfall blankets the area. I came across this old photo of Cindy, Pam, Michelle and I with the sheep – Tiffany and Belle, and Audie the Lab. I actually remember the photo [...]

Postcard: Mid Winter Party

Postcards from the Lodge

Dear Beverly, I hope that all is well. The mid-winter party was a success. There was so much food. The weather was absolutely perfect and everyone had a wonderful time. There were people here throughout the day — Mostly those that couldn’t stick around for the evening — there was hot cocoa for their kids [...]

Postcard: Mid Winter Party

Postcards from the Lodge

Dear Beverly, I hope that all is well. The past several days have been sunny and crisp. A light dusting of snow last night have left behind a landscape clean and white. This is my last weekend in preparation for the mid-winter party here at the lodge. The RSVPs have been coming in and if [...]

Postcard: Ice Storm

Postcards from the Lodge

Dear Beverly, I hope that all is well. There has been an ice storm the last two days. It is an amazing sight. The ice has weighed down the branches on all the trees, they sparkle in the cold sun and crackle under the strain. The mountain road has become a tunnel through the trees, [...]

Postcard from the Lodge: Arrival of Winter

Postcards from the Lodge

Dear Beverly I hope that all is well. Thank you so much for the sheepskin slippers! They are so incredibly warm and snug – absolutely perfect! I’m finding it very difficult to take them off at the end of the day. Wonderful! Here at the lodge winter’s deep cold has finally gripped the mountain. The [...]

Christmas Lights at the Lodge

Around the Lodge

‘Tis the season. The Christmas light have been lit. Does not feel like late November being that is has been so warm — although overcast today it was still quite warm. Don’t get me wrong — I hope that it lasts. Ive been driving the old truck for the last several days — getting in [...]

Postcard From the Lodge: Falling From Autumn

Postcards from the Lodge

Dear Beverly Night time temperatures are dipping ever lower here in the mountains. Although a smattering of color still clings to the trees the once spectacular canopy of color now mostly lays on the ground – a crisp brown reminder of its former glory. Autumn is one of my four favorite times of year. I [...]

Caribou Head Mounted on Fireplace

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