Thank you all for your input on the log lift topic.

[TW]

We tested the log lift on Sunday and it works well. There are only some small modifications that I will make when I get rid of the flue.
It does not exsactly follow any of your designs but I picked ideas from several of your suggestions and discussed them with some friends to find out the best way.

Sad that I cannot afford a digital camera. There are many tools that are more important on the investment list.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR INPUT. I would not have found such efficient brainstorming anywhere else than on this forum.

[Don P]

No way you're getting off that easy  ;D
Does that computer have paint? Draw a picture of what you came up with.

The first piece of computer phote gear I got was a scanner, at the time it was less than half the cost of a digital camera. I used my old 35mm and scanned the photos. Scanners can do several other jobs, I can scan and E-mail material receipts quickly for out of town clients for example, they're pretty good magnifying glasses too  . But I hear you, fancy computer gear never sank a nail.

Hope you have a speedy recovery.

[TexasTimbers]

TW,

If you have something you'd really like to post pictures of, say, like a log lifter or something  ;) I bet you could find a voluunteer who would be happy to post your polaroids or whatever kind of camere you have.
I don't know if that would violate some kind of rule, placing someone else's pictures in your own gallery, but if not, I'd be happy to scan any photos for you until you save enough dough to get a digital camera.
If that sounds good to you, let me know and I'll mail you my snail-mail addy and you can drop them in the mail and just like magic, about 3 years later ( :D) they will appear on the forum You could write up any descriptions you want, email it to me, and when I get the pictures all I would have to do is copy and paste.It wouldn't take long to do.

On top of that, maybe someone who is even more computer savvy, which is practically everyone, might volunteer to do it who lives closer to you.  If not, I volunteer.

[srjones]

Even a verbal description would be good, but as they say, "a picture paint a thousand words" or something like that. 

[barbender]

TW- glad you got something figured out and you're right, this is a great place to get ideas. Whatever wild ideas I come up with, it seems there's always someone on here that has "been there, done that"  Helps a guy avoid a lot of pitfalls

[TW]

I have thoght over how to describe it and now it comes.

It is in principle a way to stand safely on the scaffolding inside the wall and crank the logs up along the adjustable length iron skidpoles on the outside.

It has  the principle in common with the sketch that I got Jim Rogers to post for you to evaluate near the end of the discussion but nobody replied to it so I thought that maybe it was not so good and redesigned the metalwork quite a bit.

Each skidpole weighs around 35 kg so it can be used alone if I must but it is a two man tool.

Total time to set it up, lift a 10 meter long log, and take down the lift was just over 1/2 hour when working alone. That was the first time so I was not used to it. With two men I think it will take about 10 minutes when we get used to it. The other man spent time learning it on last Sunday so I did not check the time.

The lift is on the clumsier side for small logs but it is good for big ones.

[barbender]

Sorry I never replied to your lift idea TW, it looked like it would work fine as long you are only lifting the log onto the building once. I'll try to remember to speak my mind in the future- its nice to know your opinion is valued.  With the handscribed method of building, you end up taking the log off the building a time or two so you can do your chainsaw work on the ground, sometimes the log doesn't fit quite right and you end up taking it back down to find the problem, etc. That's why I am using the method that I am.  I think you have something that will work well for you- good job! What type of log homes are you working on anyhow, dovetailed with chinking? If you ever get a digital camera and get some pics up that would be awesome, even if you snail mailed some 35mm photos or whatever to one of us on here so we could scan them and post them that would be great too. I know sometimes there are not enough hours in the day or dollars (or whatever the Finnish currency is) in the wallet though, thats the way it is for me.

[TW]

I was lucky when nobody replied that the lift would work because the redesign made it better, though the principle is the same.

The house is an old loghouse from about 1830 that is put back together so most logs fit already. It is fully scribed hewn logs with double notched corners. We have cut the grove in the new logs standing on the scaffolding with the new log upside down on the wall. I was told that the oldtimers did like that. Most of the old professionals are dead so I have nobody to ask from except a few who has helped on some project 40 or 60 years ago. Maybe it would be easier to take down the logs for cutting. I did not think of that.

Chinking is not used in the Northern European tradition. All heated and many unheated buildings were built fully scribed.

[barbender]

That's what I thought TW, that most scandinavian log homes were scribe fitted. Sounds like interesting work you are doing.