That is what came to my mind. Anytime you can cap and seal open grain ends your money ahead.

Osky

Today, I dug down 2-3 inches to level the right skid.




I appreciate the suggestions on skid treatment, guys. Time and money were the main concerns and convinced me to treat the skids with used motor oil. I would have rather put on several coats but I'm up against it and have to get going while I had the time. I rolled on one coat, seemed to soak in well enough but additional coats in the future will be difficult.






My main concern with the used motor oil was the smell but I worked around the skids all day and it really wasn't that bad. Glad I didn't use diesel. Skids in place and squared up. Inside spacing is 6' apart and plan on an 18" overhang on both sides. I'm happy to finally get started on framing.




Floor framing is coming together.




Floor framing done !

Great thread guys ! What are you using for rip chain , is it chisel, semi chisel with shallow angled cutters or something completely different?

I use full chisel skip tooth

A little floor progress today.




Unless I'm counting gas and oil for my chainsaw, the tar paper is the first money I've spent on this project. $22 for 30# felt..

I put down a layer of tar paper over the framing then began nailing the floor boards in place. You would think this would be an easy process, but it didn't work out that way.




Started at 10 am, worked straight through and got done at 5:30. So here are some of the problems I ran into. Many of the boards didn't dry straight. I had them stickered and banded with ratchet straps. Some warping and twisting still occurred. In the future, I think smaller bundles will minimize that. Twisted and warped boards slowed the install process considerably. Some solutions included making relief cuts into the back of the boards so they would lay flat.



Also, the width of the boards varied, so I had to rip boards to width, to match each course. This was due to poor planning on my part. Once the boards were down, I noticed variances in the thickness. Apparently, they either dried differently, or I didn't set my depths correctly on the Alaskan mill. I've noticed clamping the chainsaw bar tightly will cause the bar to bend and therefore change the depth of the cut across each board. So I believe there was some of that going on too and I've gotta remember to check that after making adjustments to the Alaskan Mill. I had as much as 1/4" difference from course to course. This is supposed to be a rustic cabin and mismatches are a part of that; but the thought of walking around inside and tripping on a tall floorboard bugged me too much. So, out came the planer.



I only took off what I needed to keep the boards right around 1" thick. I left most of the chain marks and rough sawn look intact planing only the underside, where I could.

I used, ring-shanked 8d nails. To fix the warping problem, I used bar clamps to tighten the gaps till it got about 4' deep, then switched to ratchet straps when the span was too deep for the clamps.




So, it wasn't a matter of just laying a floorboard down and nailing it in place. Each course offered these problems … glad to be done with this phase but will run into the same problems with the board and batten walls.

Hence, plywood. I admire your will, but frankly, I have used rough-cut before, and unless you are willing to accept primitive, be prepared for issues.

Hang in there Wyo. Love watching.

Your floor will be great once you use it for awhile.
I modified my mill per Maloffs book, and made sure the bar was not bowed when I tightened the clamps to the uprights. I don't get much variation in thickness. Drilling holes in the bar for the mods can be a challenge, its air hardening steel, and if the bit heats up the bar, the bar gets glass hard in that spot. You have to have a heat sink and someone pouring cool water on the hole when you drill.

2X

Nice work. A job well done is never easy!

Is the tar paper replacing the insulation on the bottom floor? I haven't seen that before.

That would certainly make no sense.

I would think the tar paper was installed on the warm side as a vapour barriour.

Lemme address my reasoning on the tar paper: There won't be anything on top of the floor boards … thats the finished floor. I've seen cabin builders put down the first floor layer, THEN the tar paper, and sandwich cardboard between another layer of plywood. Obviously, no plywood is going into this cabin. So any cracks in the floor would expose the inside to air flow, temperatures, humidity, bugs, etc. I haven't done it yet, but plan on scooting underneath with a staple gun, to staple the tar paper to the floor. Sure, there are many other ways to go about it but time and money were concerns and I think the tar paper will accomplish my purpose.

Back at working on the cabin.

Had to make more 2x4's from a stack of rough sawn boards I milled from dead and blown-down fir. I hope the shrinkage from moisture loss will be minimal, as these were not stickered and allowed to air dry but there may be some.




Notches for horizontal run 1x's (Exterior is gonna be board and batten)




Got a little off with the saw on this one.



Usually, building headers with "home depot lumber" requires sandwiching a piece of OSB in-between the 2x10's but it wasn't necessary using this custom cut lumber.



First wall ready to stand

Getting that first wall up really put the wind in my sails. I always get extra motivation at this point.







Back wall used up all my 2x4's. I've had a break from milling so I could get started on the building and clear out some of my lumber storage area but lots more milling is in my future. We're having an indian summer of sorts so the mountains are not yet snowed in. Time to sharpen some chains and head back up.

Nice work there. I can smell that fresh cut sawdust from here!

Today, I thought I'd be headed up to mill more lumber but after surveying my stack, I decided to sacrifice some of my 2x6's and cut them down to 2x4's, to finish the last wall. I also had enough 2" rough cut lumber to make the big 80" header on the front wall. This header will carry the load for the front door and 2 front windows. None of the framed in windows will remain that size, but for now they're roughed in and I'll decide sizes later.



Finally got that wall raised, and the double-top plate nailed down. The walls are done. If I had to guess, I'd say going this route with milling my own lumber equals about 3 times the work as just buying 2x4's and plywood from the lumber yard.

Lots of work yet to do, but I am pleased with the results so far.

Today, I put down the hammer, picked up the chainsaw, loaded the truck and drove to the mountains. Quickly found a candidate for a ridge beam. Only problem, it was 100 yards from the truck and I wasn't sure I could drag it out of the woods after I got it cut to size. My cabin is 14' long. With a 1' overhang on each end, it had to be 16' long. Worst case scenario, leave it and bring a couple friends back to help load. So, here goes ...












Notice the curvature in this log. I plan to use this to a structural advantage and will set the beam with this crown up. It should add some strength to the roof.



Feeding the monster …





So after a lot of milling, here is the ridge beam. Looks small in the photo but is actually 6x10x16.5' long.



It was a struggle but was able to drag it to the truck without recruiting any help.

Along with the beam, I was able to get some 2x lumber from the slabs and cutoff pieces.

Today, I plumbed, lined and braced the walls in preparation for setting the ridge beam and rafters.




I'm happy I've done all the work on the project thus far. All the milling, cutting, trimming and framing was done solo. But dragging that beam out of the woods was fresh on my mind, when I decided to recruit some help in getting it on the walls and then setting it in place. Even then, it was a tough job. (sorry no pictures of that process)




Quite a bit of bracing up there now, but with the exception of the blocking directly under the beam, everything is temporary and coming off once the roof framing is done.



BTW, that little "H" brace was NOT the only bracing holding up that beam. There is a 4x6 block under each end of the beam.




Rafters coming next

It's really coming along, looks great!