Wow, that's a lot of work, looks good!

Man that is one heavy duty shed you have going on there. Nice. I bought an Alaskan Mill this summer also. After I built my own to try first. That one wasn't working right, so figured it was because I built my homemade mill. Well when I bought the Alaskan mill, and it still wasn't working right, I knew it had to be the chainsaw. Well after fooling around and finally breaking down and buying a new chain I figured what my problem was. My brother had bought me a new chain for Christmas one year, it was the wrong pitch. When I bought my rip chain, I looked at the box that he bought me and bought the same pitch. Fought with the saw and chain for a while too. I finally looked at my bar, saw that it was a 58 gauge bar. They make two for that saw, did not know that, never had that problem before. I started cutting my firewood for the summer so never had time to try the new correct chain yet. Hoping to see a major difference next year so I can build my shed I had planned on building this summer. It has been a nice read following your story along as you build your shed. ThANKS for sharing.

Thanks for looking and thanks for all the comments. Been a fun project, and enjoy sharing the photos and progress here on Tman.

I've gotten only a little further but finally got the front wall boarded up. Still need to hang the windows and start the trim which I think I'll do before boarding the side and back walls. Big storm moving in here tonight !

You are doing very nice carpenter work and its great you are building with blowdowns and dead wood.
You are in a very tiny minority of builders, starting from whole logs to finished product!
I bet you have leaned a bunch ong the way, and have built some muscle too.

I found that a couple days of chainsaw milling makes for a very sore body in need of a sauna or hot tub. Ibuprofen is good sometimes!

very nice! love it

Great thread! Love the build along!

I am just about finished with a 16 x 32 shop building that I have logged and sawn all of the lumber for. I did not work nearly as hard as you are though. I have a log truck that I used to salvage a load of blow down logs with from a summer storm. My mill is a Wood-Mizer LT40HD. Its a good feeling knowing you have done the work all yourself!

Keep up the good work.

Dale, one-eyed trapper and Trapper20, (and anyone I haven't replied to) thanks for the compliments and comments.

So I was finally able to get to milling that log, which I had loaded in the back of the truck. In order to mill that log at home, I had to make some space. I removed all the scraps thus far and set up to mill in front of the cabin. So I finished up the log and went scouting for future candidates (logs). Recent storms have buried the high country limiting most of my log access. But, I DID find several logs near a plowed road and If I can get them loaded, I will have enough to dry-in the cabin. This is great news for me as mentioned several times before, I thought I was done for the year due to deep snow. Fingers crossed that I can make that happen.

I've temporarily stapled up tar-paper over the door and windows to keep out the snow and most of the storms come from that direction. TIme permitting, I will get the windows hung on that wall but building a door is gonna have to wait while I concentrate on getting more logs down.

I'd love to build my own cabin someday. Wife is actually contemplating letting me get a bandsaw mill, so hopefully I can start in a couple years. Then finding the right trees will be the issue.
Very envious of anyone that builds their own

Hello all,

I've made "some" progress on the cabin build. Stopped by a window and paint store and noticed a fenced in area in the back parking lot, holding a lot of used windows. I went in to inquire if they were for sale and the salesman said "take em"! Couldn't believe it! I figured I was gonna have to pay at least $10 a window for used glass but that just blew me away. Money spent on this project is sitting right about $100. Thought I was gonna have to open my wallet at this point, but what a nice surprise. Thanked the guy profusely and I will be sure to take my future business there, for that kind gesture.

So the windows I got were aluminum-clad, double-paned sliders. I really only wanted the glass and didn't want the white painted aluminum showing. So I removed all the aluminum and got down to just the glass with the rubber gasket wrap.


















As mentioned in a previous post … my timber supply is severely limited with deep snow in the high country. What I do have access to, is gonna require some serious winching to get out and onto my trailer. I only have a small ATV winch, and its not nearly big enough. So, I'm really counting on Santa Clause to deliver the goods ….


... maybe it'll happen.

Sorry for the slow progress … might remain that way for the foreseeable future … but thanks for looking.

Great score on the windows. They look good on the front of the building there.

Nice work with the milling and carpentry. My only 2 cents is I'd add some diagonal wind braces to at least 3 of the 4 walls since you're using boards not plywood. I did that with the cabin I built of rough cut lumber this summer. Makes me feel better when the wind starts blowing.

Hello everyone … Hope you had a great Christmas and New Year. I know I did. Thanks for the comments trapper ron and arctichomestead.

This thread moved its way to the 3rd page , meaning I haven't had much to add lately. I spent most of a week building a log arch for my trailer and then beefing up its front end …. cause Santa came through for me !



I also built this mount for the winch, with a receiver hitch which will allow me to move it from the trailer, to front of truck or back of truck as needed.




This will enable me to get those logs out of the deep snow and get them home where they can be milled.









With timber now in my sights, I hope to get back on track and get working on the cabin soon … so please stay tuned.

Nice job on the winch mount!

Good work H.L.

In the future, for anyone wanting the same package, Costco/Sams often stocks an all inclusive Champion 10,000 lb winch for 400.00. Has the carry handle mount, receiver hitch, roller fairlead, doubler sheave, remote 12 volt controls, etc. Frequently out of stock, but when they have them, it's a good deal.

So, at the risk of wading off into the weeds (and taking this thread away from cabin building and sawmilling), I wanted to share a few more of what I've been working on over the holidays. As mentioned above, I've built a log arch to be used in conjunction with my new winch. As the winch pulls the log arch forward, the log arch lifts and loads the logs onto the trailer. You guys have probably seen one of these before.



I use this trailer for everything. Its gate/ramp lays down allowing the loading of snowmobiles, ATV's, vehicles, firewood, etc. I can remove the gate but would rather leave it. I built and installed the log arch just in front of the gate. The log arch lays flat inside the trailer, whereas the gate is secured in the upright position.





Will have to wait for warmer temps to paint the arch and I'll add some pictures of the operation, as soon as I put it to work.

Geez....the last timber arch I saw was made of wood and had wheels. It was sitting off it the woods somewhere south of Trapper's Creek ! Not a lot of folks are familiar with them these days I would bet !

Nice work HL !!

My neighbor has an arch similar to that one that he uses to load moose into his bike trailer.Uses the winch on the bike and a couple rollers\pulleys to work it.
Looking forward to seeing the pics of yours in operation.

Nice work. Is it possible to secure the arch in an upright position while you are loading/yarding your logs? I think it will lift better in a static upright position.

cabin looks great. I really like what you did with the windows. Id agree that white trim wouldnt have looked near as good!!!

Austin O, the point of the log arch is to lift the end of the log, swing forward and lower it onto the trailer. It it were fixed in place you could only winch logs to the end of the trailer, and then what?