From Log to Log House by Sven-Gunnar Hakansson
Log building was the traditional construction method in Scandinavia a
thousand years ago and is still practised there with great expertise.
This book captures the essential knowledge developed over the centuries
by Scandinavian log builders, together with a range of ideas for modern
plans and designs. It is an inspiring source of information whether you
are an experienced log builder or are trying it for the first time.
This great little book succinctly and personably covers every aspect of
traditional Swedish log construction. It clearly explains in text,
illustration, and photos all the basic tools, techniques, and smaller
structures traditionally constructed this way. It spells out every
detail from work sequence to making pegs to designing a roof truss, and
solves such mysteries as how to get a timber weighing hundreds of pounds
up to the top of a structure to serve as ridge beam - without using
motorized power. It even covers the uniquely Scandinavian (AFAIK) method
of post & beam infilled with vertical stave logs, and the
picturesque withe fence.
It even provides background and little stories about each type that are
cute, but often manage to be informative in their own right as well. You
could take nothing but this book into the woods with a good axe and an
auger, construct a respectable dwelling, and entertain yourself in it!
Since it's been out of print for a decade, and was originally written a
decade before that, there should be no surprise that it doesn't cover
more modern innovations. But it does dip into traditions outside Sweden,
issues of thermal mass and efficiency, commercial and local timber
harvesting, and the market for such buildings.
Hardcover: 334 pages
Publisher : Algrove Publishing Canada 2003
ISBN-10 : 1894572726
ISBN-13 : 978-1894572729
Item weight : 680 g
Out of print
Brand new book, old stock