Us Department of Agriculture

Building with Logs Us Department of Agriculture

The art of log construction is relatively simple, once a few basic principles are understood. The pioneers who opened the lands beyond the eastern seaboard did not have boards with which to build such shelter as they needed. Logs were so plentiful in the forested area of our country that, with their resourceful ingenuity, the settlers built their homes in conformity with those principles of log construction which prevailed in the countries from which they migrated. Those principles have remained the same down through the ages. The pioneer had but an ax for a tool and consequently made only those articles which could be hewed out of wood. Today there are many tools available, and to do a first class job of log construction one must know how to handle the double-bitted or single-bitted ax, the broadax, saw, adz, chisel, slick, ship auger, and drawknife.