When someone is considering building a luxury log cabin there are many details which must be considered to insure that a high quality home is built.
The first item is the log species. For a handcrafted cabin the hand peeling of the logs leaves much more of the original wood material is used instead of being milled away. With the deviations in the logs, character is passed on to the dwelling. Draw knife marks leave many flat edges as the bark is carefully removed -- revealing the beauty within.
Engelmann Spruce and White Pine offer a whiter wood. Douglas Fir gives a richer rose color to the logs. Western Red Cedar is two tone. The outer ring is a lighter red while the center is a deep red hue. This rich color is accented and highlighted when the logs are beveled and recessed for around door and window openings, on the scarf cuts preceding each corner, and it is also visible on the ends. This richer interior is not found in Spruce or Pine.
The second consideration for a luxury log cabin is how the logs are fit together. The two most popular methods for handcrafted log cabins is Scandinavian Full Scribe and Chinking Style. The full scribe method is much more time and labor demanding, but results in a much tighter home. The vast majority of "chinker" style cabins rely on chinking, caulking, and foam between the rows of logs to produce an airtight home.
For a Scandinavian Full Scribe cabin each log has a groove channel cut into the underside of the log. The objective is to produce a seal of log overlapping log between each "round" or row. Also the over scribe method causes the logs to cleave tighter together over time.
For a chink style cabin there is no overlap of wood on wood. Instead they are chain sawed flat on the top and bottom. Then the chinking and caulking is placed between the round to insure a tight fit. Over time chinking must be reapplied as the logs shrink.
The third item deals with a little bit more added insurance against air penetrating into the luxury cabin. In a full scribed home, a black SofRod insulating gasket is inserted along the edge of each side of the scribed channel on the underside of the log. This SofRod gasket is very expensive and typically only the luxury cabin owners spend the extra to add it to their homes.
