Building with LOGS: LOGZ-008

Completing the Structure – The main part of the house viewed from the side, nestled in a young maple wood. All of the lumber used in this house was purchased from a small private sawmill in the Pakenham Hills. The wood is all full size, meaning that two by fours are actually two inches by four inches as it would have been when the house was first built. The smaller size of regular commercial lumber is reduced because it is measured before it is planed. Going to visit the mill with my dad was like stepping back in time to the Forties. I saw eight or more men driving a huge log from an old-growth elm into a giant circular saw driven by a diesel truck engine. One of the men was missing half his arm. Smoke and steam billowed as the engine nearly stalled on the green, tough wood.
PHOTO: Andrew Sorfleet, Summer 1987.