Outstanding thread and thanks for sharing.

Nice build buddy. Lots of work. I'm so lazy I got tired just reading the thread. Be proud.

I love it when a plan comes together!

It took a month and a half. All the while waiting on a winch, then building a winch mount, then building a log arch. Then the weather wouldn't cooperate keeping me from my timber supply.

But finally all the stars aligned and it all came together.

You may recognized this log. Several pages back I worked on it, took off a few slabs, then left it be. It had some rot on the bottom. But the sides of the cabin are short enough that I can cut off that decaying part, and still get good solid usable wood. Additionally, this is a big log and there's still a lot of usable lumber in it.



This thing had been pushed out of the way with a snow plow and buried. I had been keeping track of it in the deep snow so when the day finally came, I could find it again. There was no way I could have tied onto this log, and simply pulled it out with the truck. Notice this single line pull ... the winch is a 10,000 lb winch and it bottomed out and WOULD NOT budge.





So I had to use a snatch block, then run the line back to an anchor point in the trailer, essentially doubling the line and doubling the pulling power. Somewhere between 10 and 20,000 pounds of force was too much and the log finally broke loose. While winching, I was sure the truck and trailer would just start sliding on the snow. But with the gate ramp down, it served as a brake digging into the snow and holding things in place, while the winch pulled.

Using the double line pull with a snatch block, also doubles the time it takes to pull the load. But man, what a force that generated. I used all 12' of the winch control to stay clear.



At this point it was time to put the log arch to use. My chain wasn't quite long enough to reach the log here, so I used a strap and it worked fine. This drug the log right up close to the back of the trailer.





Then lowered the arch, and tied the log off shorter.




After a few adjustments, the log was half way on the trailer.




I was happy with the way the whole process worked. There was a bit of a learning curve but not much to it.

Its been a brief pause but I should once again be milling logs for the cabin soon, Thanks for looking everyone !

Sweet, thanks for sharing!

Wow. That cabin is going to be a monument to your desire and work ethic. You must have a little Norwegian blood in you!

Thanks for the comments guys ...sorry its been awhile but I do have a few updates on a little progress.

Finally got down that south wall with the siding. There will be two windows on this wall but only one is showing; that one will be fixed in place like the ones on the front of the cabin. Above that one, I'll put a window that will swing outward. So if that is gonna happen, I have to put wood trim around the double glass panes, then a frame around those and hinge them at the top. Here's what I'm talking about.







I thought they turned out pretty good

Changing gears ....

Today I was milling up that big log which I'd started on last fall. A couple of the neighborhood old timers came over to see what all the noise was about. I gotta say, they were pretty entertained with the chainsaw mill. Comments and questions started flowing: "what's that contraption bolted on your bar ... that thing just goes sideways down the log? .... how do you start the first cut? ... "

I gotta say I really enjoyed the show and tell. Before it was all done, one of them was walking behind me wedging the cut for me. They were both impressed when I lifted that 1x slab up and knocked the sawdust off. " Now that's pretty slick ! " they said. They had seen the cabin going up but didn't know I was milling the lumber myself till they wandered over. You cut ALL the lumber for that cabin with that chainsaw ? It was pretty cool telling 'em all about the process. Old timers seem to have an appreciation for rough cut lumber ... the way it used to be.

So while we were talking, one thing led to another and one of them asked how I was gonna heat the inside. So I dug out this stove out from under my work bench.







When I was 7 or 8, my grandparents used to let me play with candles and a steam engine on the foot of this wood stove. Always under the watchful eye of my grandma. When my Grandad died, I got the stove and I've had it for 15 or 20 years now. Its been collecting dust all this time but will finally find a home again, in the cabin.

One of the old timers said it reminded him of the stoves he'd seen 40 years ago in sheep camps.

Not sure if I wanna sandblast and repaint it, or just wire wheel it to knock the rust off. Think I would like to restore it to the way I remember it in their home. I remember Grandad would open that top loader to put in wood and the whole room would fill with smoke. Fond memories, for sure.

Great job! Too many cool things to try and comment on them all. Love the timber arch/trailer/winch combo. I think I may like the resurrected stove story more, can't decide. The old timers stopping by is great, I'm gonna guess you'll have plenty of "help" from here on out.

Updates on the build !

I have to apologize for this thread being left alone, and forgotten since February. I haven't really left the project alone but worked on it here and there. I made progress but haven't posted photos. Allow me to update a few things:

I wanted to leave the tar paper on over winter and get to the roof in spring or summer but no matter how many button caps and nailers I put down, the windstorms found a way to tear it off here and there. Then the next snowstorm would leave 2 or 3 inches of snow on the roof, and as soon as the sun came out, I would find the leaks. I got tired of patching the tar paper and I had to move the roofing to top priority on my list.

I also had big dreams of splitting my own shakes for the roof ... and that dream died pretty quick when I looked at the amount of time it was gonna take, not just to split them, but install them. So the rustic cabin just got a little modern when I decided to go with 30 year asphalt shingles. An old nearby farmer had a stack of leftovers from a roofing project and I picked them up cheap. It looks fine, just takes away from the finished sawmill cabin I had pictured in my mind. I guess someday I can still split and install shakes later down the road.






After the next snow storm came, and the sun melted the snow off, I ran out to see if my work was waterproof ... and to my delight, it passed the test.

Started getting the batten's put on as well:







You can see the yellowing/weathering which has occurred over the last several months, compared to the new battens which are lighter in color. I'm hoping this will even out with a stain or oil treatment ... also on my list.

Also built and hung a door ...






Still lots of work to do. Not shown is the back and left side walls which are not sided yet. Will have to build and hang two more windows as well.

My driving motivation on the project has been the picture in my mind, of the finished product. For the most part, my progress matches that vision with a few exceptions. Early on in the build, White17 said this project was gonna be a lot of work. That prophecy has been fulfilled ... and then some. But looking at it like a journey and not a destination has helped. I'm still enjoying doing this and its been over a year now.

I will carry on !

Great stuff Aaron ! I wish I had the time and energy to do that sort of thing again !! Thanks much for sharing !!

I started to really like this thread till I saw your bracelet. Now not as much LOL. Nice cabin and admire your hard work. I would have went to the lumber yard long ago...

Nothing wrong with the bracket. Just another testament to how hard work, persistence and perspiration lead to a championship trophy or a trophy cabin. LOL

Dave

Looking good! I still haven't picked up a saw for my mills..

Man, oh man, the Alaskan Sawmill Cabin Project lives on but has moved to a new and final location.

A lot has happened over the last 3 months. Much of it had to do with moving to our new home across town. We bought a home and the reality quickly set in, that I HAD to finish the exterior of the cabin quickly and get it moved over there; we had a deadline to be out of the home we were in.




From the beginning, I knew that cabin was coming with us when we moved. It turned out that moving it was gonna present some problems. I planned to pay a flat bed wrecker (tow truck) to winch it up on the bed and drive it across town, but it was too tall for powerlines across the roads.

I told a friend about my predicament and he concocted an idea to build a trailer (of sorts) underneath the cabin. So we went to work with channel and angle iron and a 3500 lb axle.











The hi-lift jack was invaluable in so many ways during the move. Here we used it to lift the cabin high enough to get blocks under the skids. We could then back a truck under the hitch. I have no idea what the total weight was but it moved easily with a half ton pickup.





The cabin was too big to be moved down the road without a permit, escort cars, blocking traffic etc. So we waited till 2 am and moved it across town without passing even one other car on the roadway.





A little trimming of these spruce trees and she will fit right in place.



Like I said at the beginning, a lot has happened over the last 3 months. I'm working out of state and unable to continue on the interior of the cabin. It will happen next year, I hope, but I won't consider the project complete till Grandad's stove is burning and smoke is billowing out of the stove pipe ... all in due time.

Thanks for following along everyone.

That is a Nice building, and good ingenuity to get it moved.

Thanks Elite-B, I've enjoyed your project as well ! Keep it up!

Thanx Hover, cut more siding today. Squared two sides today on the log so I will save a lot of time. I won't have to snap a line and put a straight edge on it. I couldn't believe how square I got the log today. I tried using a square and marking a line, then using my angle iron screwed to the log. My set up I use has to be leveled I can't use the squared line from my first cut. SO I cut the first cut, turned the log and leveled it, then leveled the next cut.

Awesome move H L!!

Awesome cabin, nicely done move, thanks for sharing!

Awesome cabin, nicely done move, thanks for sharing!

What did you use for stain? I like the natural color of it? People used to use bar oil and kerosene to protect the wood here. What size is it again. Wish I could have made mine bigger, but wasn't getting a building permit and getting taxed more for it. Mine has taken so long, if it was as big as your shed, take me a year. lol.