Log skins

[Coolhandluke406]

Hi all I want to log skin part or all of my house. I cant afford to buy vintage barn beams so i want to make my skins With all the ash around i could use ash and what ever hardwood i can find ash,hickory,oak hackberry,so on. I have lot of questions .? 1 how thick should skins be I think 2\12 to 3 inches ? 2  i will need to learn how to dove tail my skins ,? 3 i would like to hand hewn skins I know lot of work so I might mill skin to size and use as is,? 3 will I need to air dry skin that thick. Also i live in Cincinnati Ohio house built in the 20s Thanks up front for any help.  sorry  for bad punctuations 

[Don P]

It sounds like you want to do what some places call half log siding. I've used different kinds from about 2" to 6" thick. The corner pieces need to be initially made full thickness if you want to have dovetail corners exposed, then you resaw the "body" of the piece off up to the corner leaving just the dovetail area that projects beyond the house corner and work up the notching on that "head". The removed portion gets used as a shorter piece of siding somewhere. If you look up some of @Log Dawg posts he is using chainsaw jigs to make full log dovetail corners. You can use the same type of jigs on yours before removing the back portion of the body. What type of mill are you using?

[Coolhandluke406]

Not sure on mill I guess wood mizer I have had lumber cut with wood mizer thanks