Log Cabin Update: Moving it to the Property, Making a Log Bench and Fireside Chat

Description

Finally, an update to the log cabin build! There is a lot going on in this video. I build a log bench for the fireside, I investigate the 2nd log cabin site beside the pond, I clear more of the log cabin site , I check on water levels in the stream, cut notches in the final logs of the cabin, split rocks for the fireplace and talk about why I'm not using power tools or assistance from other people.

Please follow me on my other online channels;

Website: http://myselfreliance.com/

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/MySelfReliance/

Personal Facebook Page (Shawn James) – https://www.facebook.com/shawn.james.msr

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/myselfreliance/

Tags: bushcraft,camping,self-reliance,survival,log,cabin,cabin life,woodworking,tiny home,off grid,off-grid,shawn james,shelter,primitive technology,log cabin,self reliance,small home,living off the land,homestead,woodcraft,axe,pathfinder school,dick proenneke,cabin living,alone in the wilderness,joe Robinet

Video Transcription

so I'm going to do a split a bunch of stones that I can use for a fireplace and flooring and footing to the cabin and for some of the folks on the outside so another job another day hey guys sean james here thanks for tuning in again standard july now and it's been about three weeks since i put out a video as you know if you've watched one of my recent videos i've been building the log cabin in the backyard with some cedar fence posts that I picked up from a family member and as a result I haven't been up at the property it's been really buggy and wet in the bush this summer so the fact that I was able to keep building without having to endure those conditions to me was a bit of a bonus so I finished building log cabin I've disassembled it and I started bringing the logs up so I'm going to start moving those back into the bush here gonna get this foundation underway one thing I don't want is too many trees overhanging the cabin I don't want limbs falling I don't want too much shade on the cabin I want to be able to keep it fairly dry so this plot up here is ideal for that so I'm going to clear a lot of these trees out that those two big maples are right where the ports is going to be it's double maple here beside lanterns so I'm going to cut that down all good firewood or building materials none of its going to go to waste that's the goal today I'm going to get to work and get that stuff cleared out and so next week I'll be up here actually he's starting to put the cabin together again so really looking forward to that I think probably by the end of August I'll have the whole frame up the structure itself and then I can get started on the interior work and the porch and the groundwork here so [Music]

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

speaking of the fireside chats we need something to sit on while we're around talking so I need to get some benches made up

[Applause]

that branch right there big thick branch so now or not that's like saturated with resin and I have tons and tons of this foam this red pine I'm actually going to make pine tar putting this residence wood into a into a sealed metal container like a five-gallon pail sealed put that on a fire with a hole underneath dripping it into another to another steel pail so I'm going to do that soon because I'm going to use that to waterproof some of the foundation logs so that that's the good thing about having access to all this red pine all that present in there I'm going to squaring this off a little bit make it a little more comfortable to sit on it's going to give this side of each of these to support logs a little bit of a square spot on the bottom a flat spot to rest on the ground without rolling away easiest way to do that is cut some notches in just take those notches out first then I'm going to skip the skin no go

this is good for cross-cutting where that long saw the big heavy-duty English saw is a crosscut saw that's designed for a cross-cutting firewood like hardwood dry hard wood so every saws got a different purpose and it's usually the teeth that determines what it's good for this is a pretty well zero curve straight blade straight teeth super cross cutting it green chocolate red pine this is a good position that's swing an accent if you're splitting or doing a work like this it's tiring they get tiring me up it's the 36 inch handled axe it's a felling out three and a half pound head and what I'm on my knees like this it wouldn't matter what I did with this missed glance whatever there's no way it's coming all the way back to hit me if anything it's going to flow into the ground and might have to sharpen it but I not going to the hospital no matter what size axe you want a hatchet same thing if you're a few set up right you can't bury that in your knee going to finish this notch up quickly just basically a saddle notch like log cabin Knox except I put it in the bottom log I don't care if this rots it over times not going to be a big deal to replace could be on the ground kind of rotting anyway so finish this notch up and I'll do the same to the other side not sure got to measure that I think I can get the other side out of that piece there then I'll cut it in half and I've got my first bench

perfect haven't had a never had of that chat one of my camp sexual anyway that's it for this for this day I think I'm going to go down and finish unloading all the logs bring them the least part way back to the cabin site here and then call it quits and come back up another day and that'll be a foundation day and one day and then the following day can actually start laying log so it's going to go fast from here I'm surprised at how low that water is let's head up to the pond where the water comes from that feeds that stream the spring is up there feeds into the pond at the south end of the property comes down the east side and then swings back around the north side so just a week ago down here on the north side of the property

it's a down stream there was tons of water in there like the whole stream was actually overflowing highest I've seen it since we got the property so I'm not sure why all of a sudden it's that low so let's go check out that pond I wonder if a beaver has moved in and and shored up that dam so it's holding back the water that's also the other cabin site the cabin that I want you guys to help me out with so let's look at that site and see what the water levels like right where I want the cabin so hopefully we can get started on that that cabin later this fall likely or winter preferably fall so we can get the foundation stones down but next spot on the wall on the pond so let's go check that out and see if the water levels are going to be suitable for having that cabin so close to it all right so this is the site for cabin number two this is the one I'm going to want help on we're going to make this just a smaller bunkie that overnight guests can stay at the pretty little spot be lots of wildlife in here I can see all kinds of browse around us at the deer and the moose have been feeding on and occasionally beaver in here to see the trees that they've been that they've cut over the years but yeah it's a great spot beautiful feel good spot and awesome winter winter sight I like this like how the snow settles in here and the pond freezes over and and you can still hear the stream kind of trickling out of the pond so it's a beautiful little spot so looking forward to getting some help on this one if you want to take one of the workshops that we do some shelter building on this will be part of that workshop so yeah I'm happy to see there's lots of water here still this is the spring is this pond on my property and then the adjacent property and Crown land has the the pond where the spring actually still that bond up and then trickles down through here down through the east side of the property and then across the north side of the property so all the vegetation soaking up that water right now so there's very little slow down below down by the first cabin but there's plenty of water up here in this pond so really like this spot I hope hope you get to see it someday and if not then stay tuned to the videos because after I'm finished in the next cabin we're going to move on to this one first deer I've seen on the property came out of the low spot by the really close to the parking here here [Music]

sitting by the fire that's the fire that you saw me make I think I think the first video I filmed here is when I had the Wolves wake me up and I was sleeping right there and the wolves four o'clock in the morning woke me up howling the silver and develop in the the Beaver meadow right there so I'm sitting by this fire for a reason I'm going to make this a regular feature I'll do a weekly fireside chat I'm not sure when that's going to start up exactly probably after I get further into the cabin build so maybe maybe a month from now I'll start that that it will be weekly I'm going to have special guests come up and we're going to sit around the campfire and and just talk about survival bushcraft and just general outdoors topics get some experts in that know more than I do on topics specific topics that you might be interested so it'd be great if you guys could let me know what you want to hear what you want us to talk about and who you would recommend as a special guest that can come in and sit around the fire and answer some questions that you might have so that looking really really looking forward to doing that I've got some guys in mind some well-known bushcrafter some alumni from the from histories alone show just some really cool guys that are doing something special on either YouTube or just in their journal lives that that you'd think you'd be interested in as I certainly am so this fire pet is going to move shift over a little bit this way the cabin is going to be on this angle right here so the front of the porch is actually going to be right on this fire pit so I need to definitely move the fire pit over to a more central area where we can get a nice view of the cabin as well as the forest surrounding us so that's where we're going to sit and have these fireside chats so I hope you'll join me for those I think they're I think you're going to like that but the exciting thing is that I'm here I'm going to spend a lot of time here going to get this cabin up as quickly as I can now that now the ground is just about prepared and the cabins already fabricated just have to basically reassemble it and then do finishing touches that I couldn't do at home like the roof and porch and things like that and window installation so want to address a couple questions people had one of the criticisms or questions is why am I not using power tools when I just use power and speed up the process

it's tempting there was there has been some things I've had to do like like the logs that the big logs that I cut I had to use a four-wheeler my friend Terry helped me take those out of the bush where I cut them down on his property and here at the cabin side of you saw me clearing some of the dead trees a with the chainsaw so other than that I'm using all hand tools reason from that is of course it would be quicker to be easier on my body if I if I use those power tools but I wanted to do something more traditional I want to do something kind of in the same vein as a dick printer key but also what I did 26 years ago now at my my white stone lake property where I built that cabin and that I lived in for a bit I didn't have access to too much money back then I was young and and wasn't working so it was all about forgetting that cabin on a budget so I didn't want to or didn't wasn't didn't have the ability to buy materials or have expensive equipment so want to redo this basically like that so if I was dropped off in the middle of the bush with just some tools some hand tools could I build myself a cabin and I know from the past that the answer is yes but I did have a bit of help this one I'm building 100% on my own and using hand tools things that I could use that if I was dropped off or walked back into the bush you need to build a cabin so it's more in that style so I get criticisms of both about the tool select about not using power tools but also but also about the foundation and and you know it's a valid point you're saying what if you're building this thing do it properly and put a proper foundation in but you know dig brenneke didn't have access to to a an excavator or that the ability

dig down beyond the permafrost in his case to bedrock in my case the bedrock is down but it's very uneven variable and I don't think I'll be able to get anything solar enough plus I don't want to use concrete so even if I got down to that bedrock then what do I do sir I stack stone but I might as well just level out the ground got gravel down by the road I'm going to hand bomb that and lay a gravel foundation with some larger rocks on the four corners as well as a couple in the intermediate sections of the logs and then in the center and then the port so got to make it as Sol as I can but I do know it's going to move and one of the beauties of a log cabin is that that you're using natural materials and their dynamics or you can keep fixing them changing them up and I think that's one of the coolest things about that the cabin build nice I just loving getting back into this working with my hands I'd I used to be a sheetmetal worker up until I was 29 and then then in office and then into a management position then started my own companies of course so I haven't really been on the tool since since when 1999 so that's what eighteen years ago yeah so good to get back into it get to get back in shape get working with the hand tools but the beauty it's one thing working with metal but I've always loved working with wood I've done a lot I did a lot of carving when I was younger and furniture making so the beauty of building a log cabin is that it's a natural material I'm using rock and wood the wood rock for foundation and fireplace and some of the flooring but the wood is something that you can continue to work with in fashion so to pick up a log and have to look at it and figure out which way it should go cutting the notch out avoiding knots and and splits and just trying to make every single piece that would work within the cabin and then knowing that if it doesn't work in the future I can pull it out and replace it for something else in its place so I think that's one of the things I love about about working with wood and building a log cabin it's it's just a it's a it's a craft you're just more artistry than science so yes it could be built better it could be built to code but that's not what I'm interested in I'm interested in doing a woodworking project from interested in building a shelter that I know I could live in and that I feel that I'm proud that to build by hand so that that's why I'm using hand tools that's why I'm building this thing alone I you know everybody is offering to help and I really appreciate that and there's lots of things to do on this property including building some other cabins but this one is mine this is the cabin that I'm going to build on my own and I just don't want to share that process with anybody it's kind of my legacy I guess to myself or to whoever sees it in the future that I built this cabin all alone so anyway that hope that answers your questions feel free to ask and criticize away I'll get back to everybody as a cannon does I have these fireside chats I'll continue to do some alone as well and just answer questions so check in in the future and thanks again for watching this video and I look forward to seeing the next video and I think you're going to be excited about what's coming up so thanks for sticking around

[Music]