This post will cover about 3 different days of work. The first section of pictures that you see is of me starting to cover the walls of the bathroom with cypress planks. I didn't get very far because I ran out of planks. I have more, but I have to cut a ship lap on them before they can be installed.
The remaining pictures are all about chinking. The FUN, EXCITING part of building a log cabin. Actually there is probably nothing more boring and mundane than shoving mortar into a joint, watching it fall back out, pushing it back in, and smoothing it all into a clean edge. Not to mention that before the mortar can be placed, you must drive nails about every 3 or 4 inches into the bottom log of the joint to hold the mortar in place. However, for all it's monotony, and maybe because I'm just a boring mundane person, I kind of enjoy this process. It's the final step to making these walls a 'finished product.'

Got started framing out the bathroom. Also, before I started on the framing I mixed up 2 batches of wood preservative and sprayed the entire inside of the cabin, including the floor.

Saturday was very hot! It was 100 degrees in the shade, I'm not sure what the heat index was but I drank about a gallon and a half of water to keep up with what I was losing by sweating. I had cut out and put in the rear window on Monday evening, so today I put up the shutters. Also I constructed a platform for the water tank, which will also serve as the ceiling for the bathroom.

Saturday morning I built the shutters for the two big windows out of Cypress. They look pretty good, but they are mainly there to protect the windows and for added security when nobody is around.

Casey and I loaded the door up Thursday afternoon and took it to the cabin. Friday and Saturday I got it installed and swinging!

These are pictures of the front porch steps, which were completed a few weeks ago, and the almost completed sleeping loft.

All of the floor boards have been placed. There are a few small cracks that need to be filled, and the entire floor will be sanded.

This week I have been putting in floor boards, it's only about halfway across, but I thought I would post some pictures so you could see them.

We were able to install the remainder of the tin on the roof Saturday, a wonderful accomplishment that will keep our work safe and dry from now on!

We were able to put up the felt (tar paper) and tin on one side of the roof Saturday. We were a little disappointed when it rained all night Saturday night and then again Sunday, but at least one half of the cabin stayed dry! We decided to go with a '5V Crimp' tin instead of corrugated, mostly because it looks a little more old fashioned.

This Saturday was a busy one, that's for sure. We got almost all the decking completed, and we got a visit from some of the Hill Brothers folks who are training for a Grand Canyon hike this summer. As of this posting, the decking is finished, the next pictures should be of us installing tin on the roof.

Today was the start of the decking, we went and got the lumber from the sawmill Friday night and brought it to the cabin. We got almost all of it put up today, but we will need at least another load sawed to finish it. Click on the picture to view the slideshow of all the images.

Wow! This weekend was quite an accomplishment! As you can see from the pictures, we got all the rafters hung, let me explain how our day went Saturday:
Casey and I got to the cabin about 8:30, armed with hatchets, saws and plenty of optimism. I had to jump the tractor off, since the battery had gone dead earlier in the week, and then realized that the belt which goes from the starter to the flywheel was missing. I retraced my steps from Thursday, when I had used the tractor to spread gravel, and found the missing belt, or at least what was left of it. We managed to thread the belt back onto the pulley for long enough to start the tractor, but after pulling only 2 rafters from the woods, it decided to lay down and die, since it was no longer receiving enough voltage from the battery to spark the coil. So we then proceeded to load each pole onto our shoulders and carry them out, one by one, on foot. I say all this to explain why it took us until 11 am to finish hauling all of the raf... more

Saturday morning I got 4 rafters put up, and one of the gable ends cut to fit. Then about noon Casey arrived with John, his father in law, and the bobcat. We worked on the road with the bobcat until about 4:00, when John had to load up and go back. We did get a lot accomplished on the road though. The rest of the afternoon we spent driving spikes in some of the joists and cutting the other gable end.

We finally got the ridge pole put in place! Also, check out the fire ring Casey built, it's pretty neat.

Saturday we woke up to about 2-3 inches of snow on the ground! Although it didn't last all day, it was really nice to see it all white outside. We went out an installed the cedar rails we made this week in the shop.

We got 8 more trees cut Saturday, and hauled them all to the cabin. Then we went and got the cedar tree we had cut earlier and put it in place as a post on the porch. The other posts will be pictured in a later journal entry.

I finished the front porch today, and also I put the log that goes on top of the door in place.

We worked from about 8 Saturday morning until about 4 that afternoon. At this point things are moving slowly, and even when you get a lot accomplished it isn't as visible as when the walls are going up. We did get one side flattened out and ready for rafters, and Casey found some cedars and rooted one up for posts on the front porch while I framed out the porch. Since the porch will have to be finished before the posts can go up, that is why I am working to get it completed first. We also found a nice wood stove on craigslist.com and picked it up Friday night.

The forecast for Saturday said sunny, and a high of 58 degrees - perfect weather for log building. I cast my vote with the weather man and called up John and Dell (my brother and my cousin) and asked if they could come help me and Casey with the cabin Saturday. Both agreed, and as predicted Saturday dawned with clear skies and an almost spring-like atmosphere. We arrived at the cabin site about 7:45, and got off to a bad start because I accidentally broke the come-along cable. But thanks to John, we got that back up and working in about 5 minutes. We got 2 more full runs set in place, which amounts to 14 separate logs that have to be cut, fitted, and spiked into place. We all went and grabbed lunch at Burgers & Stuff in Walnut, and came back and finished up about 3:00. I came back Sunday afternoon and set the two logs in place that go over the windows, but the biggest accomplishment is getting the walls all the way to the top. I'm excited about putting up rafters now!

Saturday was very cold, but at least the sun was shining and it was a good day to be working on the cabin. I didn't get out to the site until about 12:30, so my accomplishments for the day were somewhat limited. I did get one log placed, and another one peeled and ready to go on. Here are some pictures of what the cabin is looking like now, it has changed a bit from the last posting.

Here are some new pictures from this week

We are now 4 logs high on the walls, here are the pictures.

Another great Saturday for log building, Got the cable for the hoist raised up high enough probably to finish the walls now. We peeled three logs, placed two of them.

It's amazing when I look back over the last 2 months and think about how much I have learned, how much time I have spent reading, researching, calculating, and actually doing all these log cabin related things! I have learned the different corner systems, all about peeling logs, (We are accepting applications for willing persons to peel logs! J/K) and we are learning lots about how these logs fit together, and how to make them fit even better. It's one of those things that is easier said than done. It is slow and fast right now, all at the same time. Think of the wall-building as being compared to crocheting or knitting: each stitch gets you a little closer to the finished product, yet while you are stitching it sometimes feels like you are getting nowhere. Yet each time you look back at the big picture, it seems as if the time has flown and progress is happening before your very eyes. I don't know if that's a good enough analogy, but it's the best I could come up with at the moment. O... more

We are now starting to put logs on the second run of the walls. It's very exciting to see the progress so far, it's actually beginning to look more and more like a log cabin! There is lots of log peeling involved at this point though, but it's motivating to see the progress as each log is set into place.

Since the time has changed, we haven't been able to do much in the afternoons because it is getting dark around 5:30 now. I have been working on the door at night in my workshop, adding the finishing touches to it with carvings of a coyote, a deer and a turkey.

This weekend was very productive, as was the week prior to it. On Thursday and Friday, Casey and I put out two loads of gravel on the road to the cabin, helping tremendously with some of the potholes and ruts that have begun to appear after almost 2 months of driving on it. Saturday I worked by myself, but got a lot done. As you will see in the pictures below, I was able to peel 3 logs and set two of them in place on the walls. Also, before any of that I sealed the ends of the joists with 'Great Stuff' expanding foam sealant. After lunch, I got the slabs for my door sawed and actually got the door built Sunday, but have not taken pictures of it yet. They will follow in a later post.

Well, it's been over a week since I've posted anything, in that time I have carried both loads of logs to the sawmill, and I was able to see some of the lumber that he sawed out of our logs. I also got the septic tank finished and in the ground, and we have cut 5 pine logs so far for the walls. We also got our last oak log cut for the very front of the porch, pictures of all this are posted below.

Saturday was a very productive day, I went out to my parents' place and we got started immediately cutting trees and dragging the logs to the loading site in front of the barn. Daddy was a BIG help getting all those trees cut and I got back in practice driving the old Ford 3000, which I hadn't driven in probably 10 years. As you will see in the pictures, we got a total of 10 logs, which will probably saw out more than enough to do the floors as well as any other miscellaneous needs for lumber we may run into. After getting everything cut and loaded, I took them to the sawmill in Ripley, where they will be sawed into lumber hopefully later this week.