Building a Rustic Table for the Off Grid Log Cabin with Materials From the Forest

Description

I reuse the old cabin door, converting it into a dining table for the off grid home. For legs, Cali and I snowshoe out to the primitive Adirondack shelter that Joe Robinet and I built last March where I cut some of the logs to length and haul them back to the cabin. The snow is deep in the meadow and Cali, our golden retriever dog, plows through it, loving every minute.

Back at the cabin, I use an axe and drawknife to remove the bark from the logs out on the front porch. Inside the cabin, I use a hand ripping saw to rip a log in half to use as braces on the bottom of the table. I use a brace and hole saw (manual, non-power drill) to make mortises in the logs, and I handcut the tenons with a Virtus knife and a wooden mallet.

For meals this week on camera, I have curried squash stew, chicken and fried potatoes, all cooked on the wood stove in cast iron pans.

At the end of table build, I explain why I made it the way I did, and what I still have to do to it to make it more permanent and stable. Working with green wood has challenges.

I bring a couple of items of furniture for the off grid home - my childhood chair from my rolltop desk, and a foot stool that I made in 1996 out of white pine, the year I got married. On the front of the stool, I hand carved a white timber wolf.

In my self reflections, I talk about gratitude, thanking all of the amazing viewers and/or subscribers for following me on my journey in 2017. I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, or happy holidays, and I talk about my plans for 2018.

In 2018, I plan to build all of the infrastructure required to make this a permanent wilderness homestead, including a workshop, implement shed, woodshed, root cellar, smokehouse, outdoor kitchen, bread oven, cheese cave, food cache, sauna and more.

For the solar light bulb; http://amzn.to/2BQvSQ2

For the Agawa Canyon saw: http://amzn.to/2BPV6OF

To see what I’m up to during the rest of the week between videos, please follow me on my other online channels;

Website: http://myselfreliance.com/

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

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

My Self reliance, shawn james, winter camping, Bushcraft, Woodcraft, Survival, Primitive skills, Nature, EDC, Preparedness, Homesteading, Homestead, Camping, Fire, Self Reliance, Self Sufficiency, Living Off The Land, Off The Grid, Survival Kit, Bushcraft Kit, Carving, Campfire, Campfire Cooking, Bushcraft Breakfast, Fjallraven, outdoors

Tags: Cabin,log cabin,off-grid,self-reliance,self reliance,tiny home,small home,shelter,bushcraft,survival,living off the land,homestead,woodcraft,woodworking,gransfors bruk,axe,pathfinder school,dick proenneke,cabin living,alone in the wilderness,joe Robinet,hygge,shawn james,tiny house

Video Transcription

I think we should warm up for Brent you want to go get some trees go do some exploring good to go get some trees to help make furniture worth okay let's head to bring that door in I'm just going to be our table and we need to go collect some fur blogs that we can use to cut two legs and a ladder to want to loft okay you want to do that [Music]

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that's actually outside Kelly's Blue Jays stealing your food Kelly they got all of your food girls you want to go out and get them tell you've had too much ruffles well I don't will sleep Charlie go lie down no not it not a sit down I don't think you'd like this let's squash squash it I mean that's what you can't do hey wait for me go back [Music]

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I don't kind of blasphemy to put screws and something that you've done joinery on mortise and tenon on these but this is a rustic cabin and if I do find carpentry or even fancier per degree that I'm used to then I'm just never going to get anything done so to me this is good enough further than the cabin I would love to in the future to do something a little bit fancier but I can always use this table and this frame and everything else for something else like in the workshop for or outside or something so nothing goes to waste everything gets for either reuse or repurposed and that's what I'd like to go using all these natural materials [Music]

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maybe two inches too high that's 32 inches to the top the next surface area or working but slightly too low or slightly too high for eating out I think with a standard Jeremy although I'm making a bench that could make the vegetable bit higher you right so that's the basic table done got some things to do it to it like I do for just about everything in the cabinet got to the basics done then I'll finish it up later a lot of the reason for that is that I'm working with green wood so the top of the table is made out of two by six red pine and it's still pretty green the reason I took it down from the doorway is because I glued the joints and because it is green it is starting to pull apart a little bit and started a war so by getting those two braces on the bottom that'll prevent to or stop most of the warping I'll probably put two more thinner cross braces right here that won't be visible I don't think I'll put an apron around the table then really need one the other thing that's Korean is the pulse of her legs cut those back in March of last year but because they've been sitting outside and had a lot of snow and rain on them they were horizontal they absorbed water so I don't know how much they actually seasoned and or just how much of this moisture is just water that will leave pretty quickly that cross brace it goes from this leg to the far leg said legs that's a strike maple that I cut down right at the very beginning when I was clearing the site for the cabin right here so that again is for what April may be now but again lying down horizontal I didn't plan on using I'm just going to use it for fire but I think it's pretty cool it's pretty rustic so I've run this on both sides right through that horizontal brace and what I'm going to do when they finish shrinking is put a pin down through there it has a deep enough shoulder here that legs can't move that way so it just needs a pin here to stop it from pulling out and it stopped the legs from moving I think what I'll also need is a little 45 right here or on the inside if there's enough legroom I don't like doing that probably keep it on the outside here so that'll stop that kind of lateral movement but it will be up against the wall this is going to be over there sort of in the middle of the room slightly further that way so that hatch down there is cleared now that is a lot of you know but I didn't make it very obvious I thought I had done a better job of editing the last video to show that that thermometer at the end of the video was actually down in the bottom of that I was showing that it was 15 degrees Celsius above floor and it was around 0 around freezing down in that box I still have to insulate this entire floor so that'll keep that ice box from phrasing but it'll keep it much cooler than the the air temperature above floor this table also plane that smooth and then put some kind of finish on it maybe it's the beeswax or oil or something linseed oil I think it'll stop moving now with those braces on it so I should be able to level it and good so it like I said that's going to be over there a little bit you know that you long that wall that's wide enough to sleep on it has a mattress I already have a mattress for it and then along this wall the sink or prep area sink right here because I need to run it out under that window to drain and then over here a countertop work area surface area pantry I'm probably going to be and have enough room to put something facing it that way like a like a pantry

Arak four dishes and stuff pots and pans and that table will be right here bench there then I can have two chairs on this side of the table and then eventually on that so it'll be able to fit four and I still have that big picture window to put in right here above this table so from here basically two there will be a window right above the table so it let's light and directly onto the table and you can see down into that Valley where the wildlife like to hang out so I'm looking forward to that and spring probably all this other stuff will be done but I'll wait till spring to put that window in so I am happy to have this table here fun they've got a surface to work on and eat on and gets this area organized cleaned up a little bit so I can start fastening well I can insulate and vapor barrier the floor here and then fasten those boards down and I think I don't think I'm going to worry too much about those shrinking over there and that I can start adding stuff to the walls and finish the chinking lots lots to do about anyway good year I'm happy with what I got done here this year looking forward to what I'm gonna be doing next year you

well that's it for this video thought it was a good time to put a short video out anyway because it's just a few days before Christmas that I'm gonna release this and you know I'm gonna be spending a lot of time with my family and hope you are too so I do plan on putting out a video next week I'm not sure if it's gonna be current footage or some flashbacks to the rest of the year because that next video is going to be just a few days before New Year's that are release it but I just wanted to thank everybody for following along this year really really appreciate it it's been a fun very rewarding year for me I'm having such a great time not only building this cabin and and you know building this simple life but also interacting with all of you guys that are watching can't believe the channel start off at around 4,000 subscribers at this time last year and now it's about 160,000 so just overwhelmed by that I just can't believe that that many people want to watch what I'm doing up here and I really really appreciate that I did want to say something I'm not going to do a long reflections in this video I will put it some into the next video or I'll have a midweek video but I just wanted to say to everybody first of all Merry Christmas and Happy New Year if I don't hear from you and if you don't hear from me before that and if you don't celebrate Christmas like we do here in Canada Happy Holidays to you and regardless whether you celebrate it or not it's a great time of year to just reconnect and think back reflect on what great things happen this year what not-so-great things happen and what you're going to do about that and and that you're gonna move on and and not hold grudges and not not hold on to those bad moments instead focus on the good ones I think at this time of year regardless what you celebrate it's just a great time to set aside our differences and just be appreciative and supportive to one another and you know leave some of that negative in 2017 and go into 2018 with nothing nothing about positivity and support for one another that's my wish for 2018 somebody commented I think on my last video and said don't take your dreams to your grave take your memories and I can add don't take regrets here your grave take memories and of course what that means is that you know you have one life to live so live it to the fullest and maybe take this time of year is an opportunity whether you believe in New Year's resolutions or not it's a good time just to say this year I'm going to do this I'm going to set a goal and I'm gonna get up and I'm going to do something different this year it's something that's gonna make me happier more successful or more productive or a better person more philanthropic you know gonna help more people so I'm going to wrap things up can lock the cabin up for a few days my family my wife and two daughters and I are heading down to my parents down in the city for Christmas Day for dinner with the rest of the family for me that's what this seasons of oats reconnecting and and tightening those relationships that we want to work on so I'm really looking forward to that and I'm also looking forward to getting back here and and really getting some things done and getting this place to the point where it can be lived in full-time because you know there's still things to tighten up the Blue Jays are finding the moss to the letters to their liking or starting to take it out so I do need to finish the chinking floor need to fasten down and insulate like I said and get the interior finish so and then come spring I'm ready to move into these other projects I've got planted it's gonna be a really really exciting year can't wait to build this outdoor kitchen with pizza oven and bread oven so I can finally share that sourdough bread recipe of my wife's with everybody now I like to cook it right here and in front of you and show you how it's done right from scratch woodshed workshop I can't wait to get a workshops built so I'm not working outside or or trying to work inside around all the furniture that's going to be in here so that's a

that's going to be early in the year for sure like soon as the snow melts in the spring and big plans for that I think that's going to be as exciting as the cabin build actually fact I know it is root cellar foundation I'm going to build that workshop gonna have a stone log timber frame mix so different techniques and I've used here which I am really looking forward to doing pizza ovens going to be made out of clay and then whole kitchen area out of stone and cellar will be out of stone I'd like to build a sauna smokehouse yeah so so much to do in 2018 so so I think if you enjoyed this cabin bill you're gonna be even more excited enjoy the rest of the build around here even more and then the settling in to make this thing a real true wilderness or I guess not primitive but real wilderness homestead like I said big year exciting here hope you stay tuned I really appreciate everybody who's watched the videos this year and who subscribed and and commented on the videos or like I said read each and every one of them and it's exciting to me to to read those every weekend after I post a video on Friday continue to post some midweek videos this year as well you know to all reviews and gear reviews and any questions you guys have you have any more questions you would like me to make a video about specific topics

I am cataloging all your suggestions and plan on adding those as at least midweek videos if not including them in a in the main video so I'm looking forward to doing more and more of those videos because this main cabin build is done I get a little bit more time to get out and do some of the other things that I love to do and that I need to do like harvesting food in fact for the next week or two I need to concentrate on getting a deer in the freezer got my snowshoes here my wife and I are going to go explore all this land around here that we haven't seen yet you know some great ice fishing lakes around here so we'll be doing some ice fishing or I will be doing some buddies fishing I guess for the most part alone yeah and then come spring I'll be doing along with work and all around here I'll get get the garden going get some fish show you how to I'm going to catch different types of fish and how to preserve them so I guess that exciting here but I'm rambling on again like I tend to do which is why do add that to the end of the video so you don't have to watch it you know if you're not so inclined but I do appreciate each and every one of you you know look back on 2017 with with gratitude and look forward to some great things in 2018 take care have a great holiday and I'll see you next year [Music]