Timing on building a small log cabin
I'm interested in building a small Lincoln-log style cabin (more like a shed, <200 square feet) in hardiness zone 4/5 of northeast USA. Available timbers are mostly red spruce, some eastern hemlock, a little bit of white and red pine, and precious little cedar. My question is about the timing of construction. Below I'll pose a few different questions, but they all amount to "What are the timing considerations for construction of a Lincoln-log style cabin?"
When should logs be cut for the cabin? I know Spring is generally a bad time for logging due to mud and sapflow making it more likely that both felled and standing trees will be damaged more than necessary. Other than the details of logging, can trees be turned to logs at any time of year for use in a log cabin? In general the logging itself is something I'm comfortable with in terms of timing and all, but just about every part of the process after that is where I'm not sure about timing I should aim for.
How long should the logs be left to dry before they are hewn and fit together with notches? Can processing logs begin pretty much immediately upon them being cut, or (more likely I'd guess) do the logs need to sit (stacked or on the ground, in shade or sun) for some (2, 6, 12) months?
And what period can the processing take place over? For example can all the hewing, notching, fitting, etc. be finished over the course of a summer or even a year, or is there any particular time frame it should be done within? I imagine it's a work in progress for its entire lifetime, but maybe there's some critical timing with things like roof and floor completion.
Any info or resources I could look into for guidance would be appreciated. The standard of quality for this one is pretty low as it's an experiment (basically, sturdier than a tent), but I'd still like to try and do it right and learn the process correctly.
This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/q/19460. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1 answer
A lot of timber gets harvested in the winter, especially now that you can harvest timber from the comfort of the heated cab of a harvester. Falling trees in the winter does the least amount of damage to the trees, the ground, and surrounding vegetation, it also makes it easier to haul the logs out because they just slide across the snow.
The cold helps with the curing of the wood too. The moisture content in the tree is low to begin with, and it dries out slow as you wait out the rest of winter and ease into the warmer months.
This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/a/19462. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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