by Todd Walker The box of logs suddenly resembles a log cabin. The roofline gives a glimpse of my future home. There are many more steps to make it livable, but I needed this boost of hope. Ridgepole Support Logs Three ridgepole support logs (RPSL) are installed on the two outside walls, and one in the middle of the cabin. They do what their name implies, support the large ridgepole. The first two rest on the foundation piers vertically against the front and back walls. Once set and plumbed, we strapped the RPSL to the wall and drilled holes through the wall logs and RPSL. 5/8″ all-tread sec ..read more

by Todd Walker Memorial Day ’23 was my last update. Why has it taken 6 months to go from ten logs high to the finial 13th row? Well, nothing is easy about building a log cabin from scratch off the land. This journey is traveling at Todd-Speed, which is slow but steady. Getting the crew together is a challenge during the Christmas season. We’re all busy with family gatherings, company parties, and holiday stuff. However, the skeleton crew showed up and finished the log walls in two days. Thank you all for making it happen! Stacking Logs The girder pole was pinned perpendicular at the midway po ..read more

by Todd Walker I welcome the sight of goldenrod blooming in Georgia. These tiny, golden flowers signal the end of the dog days of summer and usher in cooler weather. Goldenrod gets a bad rap when it comes to seasonal fall allergies. The average person sees the blooming yellow stalks on roadsides and fields and automatically blame these showy goldenrod heads for their itchy eyes, runny nose, and sneezing. The most likely allergy suspect is goldenrod’s cousin – ragweed. Goldenrod and ragweed both belong to the Asteraceae family. The good news is that goldenrod, the good cousin, can be used ..read more

by Todd Walker This is my Field of Dreams. I’ve long dreamed of moving back to the land where I cut my teeth. Each day, each long, hot or cold day on this patch of Georgia dirt brings the dream closer. This past Memorial Day weekend, a few of the Fuel the Fires crew and family joined in to raise more logs. This kind of work ain’t easy. It’s hard and dangerous at times. But they roll up their sleeves anyway. This whole log cabin thing is like building a house with a sack of carrots. Nothing is uniform. Logs have big ends and little ends, bows and curves and bends. The goal is to stack them in ..read more

by Todd Walker In my research of Butt and Pass building style for my “practice” log cabin, I discovered this site, Log Cabin Journal, about 5 years ago. Now that I’m building my “permanent” log cabin, I took a drive to see their nearly-finished log home in person. The trip was well worth the drive! Mudflap (Brian) was gracious enough to take some time out of his busy day to give me a tour and answer any and all questions I had about the build… and I had a lot! The following are a few pictures of their log home I’m posting with his permission. Be sure to check out his site even if you never pla ..read more

by Todd Walker This one is considerably larger than my “practice cabin.” I built my practice log cabin just to see if I could do it and to hone my ax skills. However, the Big Log Cabin is being built to provide a basic human need, shelter. This will be my home base on the land I grew up on. Roots run deep here! After completing the foundation piers in the scorching Georgia summer, I waited for things to cool down before stacking log walls. Heavy lifting equipment and help needed to be lined up for cool Autumn weather. Everything fell into place. It’s a family thing. I’m thankful to have kin f ..read more

Retirement (June 2022) has me reflecting on my lifework. The dust-covered rocking chair overlooking the pond tells me that it ain’t over. In between working on my new log cabin, I’ve been building my next adventure, the Survival Sherpa School! Often when you think you’re at the end of something, you’re at the beginning of something else. ~ Fred Rogers December 2022 marks the 11th birthday of this blog. While writing over 600 articles here, I’ve never made a dime from the blog. I’m not more virtuous than others by offer all this free information over the years. I don’t hate money, it’s just ..read more

by Todd Walker A solid foundation is essential no matter what you’re building; a business, relationships, liberty, self-reliance, or a log cabin in the woods. At my age, it’s tempting to build the log cabin so it only last my twenty or so years I have left (God willing.) But then there’s the generational thing I’d like to pass on to my children, grandchildren, and their children, just as Daddy intended when he bought this land 53 years ago. When I’m long gone, it is my hope that they will embrace this log cabin as a legacy of self-reliance and liberty. So I best build it to last! When I menti ..read more

by Todd Walker In March of 2021, just before my pancreas scare, I decided to build a log cabin on the land I grew up on. I needed a place to retire and our land would provide the resources needed for the project. All I needed was the energy and sweat equity to do the stuff. My little 10×12 practice log cabin taught me many things. The most important being that log cabin building is nothing but hard work. Counting the cost, I launched with ambition and hope that I could hold up physically. This go round I’d be using all the power tools and equipment I could to easy the pain. My plan is to const ..read more

by Todd Walker The cracks and gaps between the logs needed to be filled to make it look like a real log cabin. The process of filling the gaps is called chinking. Before modern products came along, chink was made of mud and/or clay, and straw. Chink serves as an insulator against cold wind, moisture, and insects. When I started this project in January of 2018, I thought of using Georgia red clay for chinking. That idea lost momentum as the project drug along. I decided to go with masonry mortar. It’s quick, easy and relatively cheap. I chose to use the Butt and Pass method of log home constru ..read more