Anyone who knows me understands my affinity for nature. They also know how intrigued I am by the pioneers of this country. The land settlers. The ones who came to this country with nothing but the clothes on their back and somehow obtained an axe, a firebrand, and if lucky a yoke of oxen, and cleared a spot in the dense timbers of New York and Pennsylvania and built their log homes.

My father taught me how to use an axe and I know from experience it is no easy task. Simply cutting down one tree of any significant diameter was an amazing feat, let alone a swath of virgin forest. Since I was a kid I have loved reading about these early pioneers. I think they were some of the most resourceful and heroic people to ever walk this continent. I mean no disrespect to the people that were already here, the original Americans, who taught many of the European settlers what they needed to know to survive. Without them, I do not think the agricultural revolution would have taken place.

Several years ago I decided to pursue a lifelong dream of building a log home. My father had sparked this interest when I was a child when he actually helped people build log homes from kits they had purchased. I loved watching him and observing the modern techniques with cutting the logs with a chainsaw and attaching them by driving long spike nails. But as I got older and studied modern and primitive log home structures I became more interested in the original methods.

I read several books, including the Foxfire series, and obtained a fair understanding of how authentic log homes were built. I made no clear plan on how I was going to build mine, or what wood I would use, but somehow knew that when the right plan and situation arose, I would know it.

It wasn't until late 2002 that the revelation began to take place. A realtor was showing me property and we ended up in a somewhat remote area in the Missouri Ozarks. The parcel for sale was 35 acres of timber that remained from an original 40 acre tract the seller was dividing. As I walked through the place I fell instantly in love. The timber was dense and brushy, with mostly post oak and a scattering of red oak, black jack oak, chickapin, walnut, ash, hickory, dog wood and persimmon. But the second most populous tree was the cedar. In northern Missouri where I was raised the cedar was a pest. It was a weed that was constantly cut and sprayed to keep from destroying our fence rows. But in this case I was observing the largest stand of western red cedar I had ever seen. Trees as tall as 50-60 feet, and some with a diameter as large as 20 inches.

I told the realtor I wanted to make and offer. She asked how much of the 35 I wanted and I quickly replied "all of it."

The aerial photo to the left shows the complete 40 acre tract in a near perfect square. The upper right hand corner, where there is an opening, was the 5 acres that had already sold. I bought everything around it.

I began work immediately, clearing a path from the road to near the center of the property. With a little help from a relative, we built a small pole barn to keep supplies. I continued to explore the property and take inventory of the trees. It appeared that the bulk of the big trees were in an 8-10 acre stand in the northwest corner.

Though I had a fair amount of knowledge with trees and handling a chainsaw I was about to learn a lot more about the process of logging. My original thought was to build the log home out of hewn oak logs. The cedar were so tall and beautiful that I wanted to leave them and cut out the oaks. But after experimenting in the logging techniques I soon learned that oak logs were much heavier than the cedar and much harder to handle. I befriended an Amish neighbor who owned a sawmill and he encouraged me to make the home out of cedar. He showed me some sample logs that he had made and I was quite impressed.

I also called in a representative from the U.S. Forestry Department to help me decide how to manage the timber. He was amazed by the stand of cedar and said he had never seen anything quite like it. In the Ozarks there are a lot of large pines but the cedar are not nearly as big. It was much different in this case. Regardless, the expert told me that the cedar were a tremendous fire hazard and posed quite a threat to the timber. He advised cutting most of it out before ever building a home.

I went back to the drawing board and starting experimenting more with the cedar. I loved the aromatic smell and natural beauty of the wood. After working for a couple years and cutting a few logs I had to take a break from this project to attend to a family matter. It turned out to be a fortuitous event. Land prices went up substantially and I was able to sell part of the property and retain the best part of the timber for my project. I sold 21 acres of the south part of the tract to an Audubon member from Nevada, and the neighbor already there on the northeast wanted 6 more acres to increase his privacy. Not only was I able to keep 8 acres of the best timber, but the profits from the sale would aid significantly in the construction of the home.

Since deciding to build the home out of cedar I had studied different ways to mill the logs. My Amish friend agreed to mill them for me simply for the price of keeping the outside to resell. That was certainly a fair deal, but I still had to get the logs to him. Cutting them down was no problem, but loading them onto a truck and trailer was a whole different process. I wasn't about to invest in expensive log handling equipment so I looked at alternative methods. I didn't have a yoke of oxen and a block and tackle, so that wasn't an option. I purchased a wench and hung it from a beam and raised the logs that way, then lowered them onto the trailer or truck bed. That worked OK but I still had to drag the log from it's origin which caused it to obtain a log of dirt and sand inside the bark which is hard on the saw blades.

I looked into buying my own portable saw mill but it was an expense that made the project seem like a wasteful effort. After continued research I stumbled onto the idea of using a chainsaw to slab the logs. I found a device called a Beam Machine that I was able to attach to the bar of my chainsaw and guided by a 2 x 4 nailed into the log. When I saw that it was only $29.99 I thought it was too good to be true. Regardless, it was cheap enough so I took a chance.

Though it wasn't a speedy process, it worked like a charm. I was able to slab the logs then cut out the 6" x 6" log from the center. The result was a rough cut log that had a very nice, rugged appeal.

As I continued to work I discovered the need for a higher RPM chainsaw and even discovered a better chainsaw mill. The Beam Machine works fine, but it is taxing on the back and shoulders. You can see from the photo how I brought the log higher off the ground so I didn't have to bend over as much. That helped, but you can also see how my right arm is raised above the plane of my heart for an extended period, making my arm and shoulder fatigue quickly. I found in the Alaskan Mill the answer to this discomfort. It allows you to turn the saw sideways, and with a second handle on the frame over the bar, you're able to push the saw instead of pull it, with both arms at a level plane.

I'm still in the very early stages of this project. It's more fun than I ever imagined, it's great exercise, and hopefully in the end I will have a unique work of art in a log home. The following page provides periodic updates as I work to clear the timber, cut the logs, and ultimately build the home. It's my own little version of the pioneering spirit, clearing the land, making a home from what God provided. I just thank God for the invention of the chainsaw.

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