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Thread: If You are on the Fence...

  1. #1
    LHBA Member loghousenut's Avatar
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    If You are on the Fence...

    I just had one of the most enjoyable days of my life. Here I am, near 62 years old, with a Wife about the same. I have been playing with log house stuff all my life but am, only now, finally building the log home that I will die in. This thing has been a blast! My Son, who is just now only 25, got to grow up falling, peeling, and stacking logs. He learned about manhood while walking the ridgepole that his superhuman Father could not.

    The place is coming together slowly, and right on schedule. The place is weathertight and we are working on all 5 exterior doors at the same time. The final move in date, landscaped and all, is set for December 20, 2017... Yeah, we are building slow. That is not a problem.

    Yesterday, (OK it is after midnight so I really mean TUESDAY), was the most productive day of my life. The Boss and I had an accidental day off together and we are at that point in the build where we are being kinda artistic (and going slow). We have built 5 of the coolest exterior doors this side of Trump Plaza, and we are at that stage of screwing on a set of hinges. The Nut family is not about to go down to the HD and buy a set of galvanized gate hinges and drywall screw them into a 2x12 door jamb... No sir, we are working with a bunch of hand milled lumber that deserves some massive blacksmithed hinges that will most likely be ugly but functional.

    So back to yesterday (meaning Tuesday), we took a trip to the Dr. early in the morning (wart in my mouth), and came home to a quick breakfast and off to work on the Log house. We are lucky enough to be building within a rockthrow distance of the ugly trailer where we live, so off to work on the house means a short walk through the mud (or dust, depending n the season). We get to working on the doors, and I had us set us up for success by having a bunch of stuff all ready to go. Fifteen minutes later we are done with 2 hours worth of labor and it is time to go on to some other productive project. This is where it is easy to get derailed and spend the afternoon driving to the coast for a day of enjoyment. I fooled her. I fired up the forge and we got to work blacksmithing some hinges for the prettiest LHBA doors you can imagine (all other members excepted).

    I am a hobby blacksmith, so every project has to be learned as I go. Most cultured Gals (like the Boss), don't spend much time around the forge, but somehow she seemed to be in the mood to ask instead of order. I bent a bunch of iron that wouldn't make a hinge and she was the one who told me what the problem was. She helped me rebend it, and I rebent it again, and she guided me to a third rebend. Sooner or later we had a hinge on one door that could conceivably work.... We made another hinge for the same door.

    Funny thing. You eat a quick breakfast and go to work on a project that matters. She needs to take a pee break around 1:00pm and you both decide NOT to break for lunch. Sundown comes early but you are in the log house so you keep working. Sometime, way after dark, one of you finally says it is time to hit the hot tub and get a bite before midnight hits hard.


    Yes, I just had one of the most enjoyable days of my life. The Boss and I made a hinge (actually two). I coulda done it without her but it would have taken ten days. Something about working together on a project makes it all work right and worth doing... Sometimes.



    I suppose none of this matters to the rest of you. I thought I'd say a word or two about how enjoyable it can be to work with someone you love. It won't always be that way... You'll squabble and fight sometimes. Schedules won't coincide. She'll be a pain and you'll be a horses butt. Divorce will be an option. But once in awhile, the stars will align and it will work for some of you.

    If you want to build your own log home with your own hands, this method can show you how to make it happen. If you want to do it without a mortgage, you can do it... We have.






    Here is an old picture of an old Lady with an hand made door.
    Every time I have strayed from the teachings of Skip Ellsworth it has cost me money.

    I love the mask mandate. I hardly ever have to bruh my teeth anymore.

  2. #2
    Now that is a serious door (double spline joints). Where's the hinges?

    Don't argue with that lady today. ;-{>8

  3. #3
    LHBA Member John W's Avatar
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    NObody is coming through that door uninvited! Door to door salesmen, tanks, etc.

  4. #4
    LHBA Member loghousenut's Avatar
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    PS... The door we were making the hinge for is 1/2 the thickness of the door in the photo and has a large window in it. No photos til we can prove that the hinges will work.
    Every time I have strayed from the teachings of Skip Ellsworth it has cost me money.

    I love the mask mandate. I hardly ever have to bruh my teeth anymore.

  5. #5
    No mortgage.. sure. Do it yourself..sure A 4 x 4 front door?! Now that's inspiring! I'm in!

    Funny thing is, to we current cubicle dwellers, a 1/2 thickness door with custom smithy hinges are too. Look forward to those pics.

    I'll be tempted to do the same when I get my place going in the years to come (and a strange nerdy urge to figure out how to use an old fashioned dungeon key while simultaneously being modern secure) I find modern doors from the big box places sad and 'cheap'...while sadly not being cheap in cost.

  6. #6
    LHBA Member
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    I'm thinking that door might be closer to 6 x 6s.

    While your at it, make another one for me.....I'm real close by.
    Last edited by Plumb Level; 02-04-2016 at 02:30 PM.
    https://daleslogcabin.shutterfly.com/

    3146 kilometers away from Loghousenut

  7. #7
    LHBA Member rreidnauer's Avatar
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    I'm so looking forward to building doors. The front door is going to be something alright, with custom made hinges utilizing taper wheel bearings to carry the weight. But the crown jewel of doors will be my basement door. I have VERY special plans for it! :-D
    All my bad forum habits I learned from LHN

    Rod Reidnauer
    Class of Apr. 9-10, 2005
    Thinking outside the vinyl sided box

  8. #8
    LHBA Member
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    The love you two have for each other, and the passion to pursue your dreams together and build you own log home is VERY inspiring to us. Thanks for sharing your day with us.

    You wouldn't believe how much I am looking forward to slowing life down, and spending every day with my amazing husband. I know things may get rough during construction, but we've done enough projects together to come through it unscathed. As long as he does things my way....life will be grand

  9. #9
    LHBA Member eagle's Avatar
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    That is one h*** of a door, LHn! I like it!
    Ken and Audra Dinino
    "Determined to build my log home before I leave this world"

  10. #10
    LHBA Member
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    Who is picking that sucker up to hang it. You might need to put sunken castors in the bottom to carry the weight when you open it.

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