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