Complete Log Layout Pt 1, Figure & Layout a Half Dovetail Notch - Dovetail Log Cabin Build (Ep 24) 

Arkansas Woodcutter Howdy Brother- you’re so kind. It’s really enjoyable to do this kind of work that doesn’t really seem like work even if it’s kinda physical. Its how I get my exercise. Y’all have a great weekend and God’s blessings to you

Howdy Jim- I’ve done it a few times lol. If you have any questions just let me know and I’ll try to answer them for you. Take care and God bless you

@@TheBeardedCarpenter . Thank you so much.

Howdy Tom- glad you were able to get a screen shot of the formula and getting some useful information. Take care and God bless y’all

Open Air Outdoors *LeRichebliss* Howdy brother- a friend who lives here has mentioned that to me several times but I just barely can spell my own name lol. There have been lots of books written on different styles of log building. I never considered myself a writer- so I just try to explain what I do through RU-vid. Thank you so much for kind words and encouragement. God bless you

A book was written in 1982, "A Log Builders Handbook". It is no longer in print, very difficult to find, and is the only book ever written that properly explains the calculations and process of building a hand-hewn dovetail-notched home. The Bearded Carpenter builds the exact cabin as explained in the book, but explains it in necessary detail and with real-time explanations. This video series is the only in-depth and correct method video series of it's kind. Lesser videos, lesser meaning horrible, have sold for $300 plus for a DVD series. No one has made a video of this caliber, period.

Howdy- thank you so much for watching our videos. I sure do appreciate it. I do have access to some templates, however, I’m not in the business of selling them. A friend of mine had some made an I did mention in a video that they were available from him. I’m so glad you were able to get the information on half dovetail layout and execution of cutting the notch. If you have any questions you can email me at thebeardedcarpenter8@gmail.com God bless you

​@@TheBeardedCarpenter , oh my I must apologize for the misunderstanding. I was not referring to your 1:3 angle templates. :) What I meant was, that there are a lot of videos with a title that says "How to cut a half dovetail notch in your log.." or something to that effect. And a little ways into the video you come to find out that they are selling a plywood template plan based on your log dimensions you supply them for Square or "D" logs. And they do not go into the step by step process of figuring out a half dove tail dimension based on your log size, but rather keep that info proprietary to themselves. This is what I meant by teaser videos. So going from this clarification, I was praising your videos for starting from square one (pun intended) with figuring out the log center, then setting a center line, and the dimensions from the center line, etc I have not found anyone that has shared that knowledge so far but you. I also appreciate the PDF files you have generously supplied. I have saved the Pt1 and Pt2 video for review as I watch what you do with your measurements. I'm also going to save Pt2 of the Paradise Point video as you show a lot of good detail there also. I have one question for you on the type of logs you can use this process on. Obviously square logs and "D" logs can be done this way. I notice that you have the flat surfaces of your "D" logs facing in and out, and the round portions are vertical stacked with a gap. I am curious about fully round logs, and if they can also be done with this process, how do you prep the ends for the Half Dove tail notch, because I imagine you have to remove some of the log round portion to make the notch work? I ask since I would like to try fully round logs with Half Dove Tail notches if that is possible. Also if you have a video or two already that addresses this, can I have a link to them. I will ask this also at the email you gave. Again, thank you so much for this series of videos, all of your videos really. It's rare to find a genuine and truly transparent person on RU-vid these days without and agenda or gimmick. I will try and support your channel when able with a purchase of one of your 1:3 templates. I also need a good Slick, and will look into Jared's channel for that. Once again Thank You! God Bless

@@FoxMan777 Oh, you don’t owe me an apology my friend. I understood what you meant and you are right. I’ve seen pictures of dovetail notches on full round logs and it looks really nice. Of the pictures I’ve seen part of the log was flattened on the inside and outside so the notch could be laid out. I’m thinking the notches were scribe fit. I sure do appreciate the kind words of encouragement. Hope all is well with you and yours. Take care and God bless

@@TheBeardedCarpenter , thank you for that idea about the log ends, that makes sense, as well as the scribe fit for the logs. The wife and I bought a "log" home here in Middle TN. Square Logs roughly 9x6 with a 15 degree angle for the notches. The notches are half dove tail and with the notch cut are roughly 8.5x6, and they stick out about 6 inches from the corner where the notches interlace. It is only the ground floor that is a log wall all the way around, and sets on top of a cinder block basement cut into the hill above a couple creeks that meet behind the house. The second story is conventional building with an exterior that fakes the log and chinking above the first floor. I love this place. :) We are holding up with all the water that has come through, not so much for our neighbors to the North in Kentucky with all the flooding. Thank you for taking the time and responding. Prayers for everyone with this weird weather as of late. I'll take the rain over the heat and high humidity. Will write to you email address when I have other questions. :) God Bless!

Howdy- thank you so much for watching the video. Hope this helps. God bless you

A Porter Howdy Art- thank you so much! Come see us when you get a chance. God bless y’all

@@TheBeardedCarpenter I plan to do that later. Got some hand surgery coming up.

A Porter Hope and pray it goes well for you. Blessings

John Napier Howdy John- Thank you so much for watching. Glad you’re able to get some information out of our videos. God bless y’all

Virginia Reid Howdy Virginia- so good of you to come by and watch. I appreciate the support! God bless you

Howdy Denis- I’m glad you found our channel and thank you for subscribing. Hope you can get the information you need. If you have any questions feel free to email me at Thebeardedcarpenter8@gmail.com. I wish you the very best with your cabin build. God bless you

Gregg Anderson Howdy Gregg- Thank you so much for the kind words. God bless you

Chris Kythreotis Howdy Chris- Thank you so much for the kind words. I certainly do appreciate it. Take care and God bless you

Lee Hicks Howdy Lee- Thank you for coming by and watching the video. God bless y’all

Charles Atkins Howdy Brother Charles- l sure appreciate you for watching and the kind words. I would love to meet you sometime. Perhaps this stuff will be over soon. God bless y’all

@@TheBeardedCarpenter - Yes Sir, I would enjoy meeting you as well. This craziness needs to get on outta here for sure!..

Howdy Bill- thank you so much for watching our videos. God’s blessings to you

J F Howdy- you’re mighty welcome and I appreciate you for watching our videos. God bless y’all

Brian Hamby Howdy Brian- Thank you for the kind words. God bless you

jeff carpenter Howdy Jeff- I enjoy sharing this with anyone. It sure has been a passion all of my life. I’m Thank for RU-vid for the opportunity to be able to share and pass it on before I get past my prime. I appreciate your support greatly. Hope things are going well for y’all and your cabin build. Surely this stuff will settle down and maybe we can get together. Ya’ll take care and God’s blessings to you

eric eller Howdy Eric- you’re very welcome and I appreciate you for watching. God bless you

Dave Johnson Howdy Dave - man, it’s a shame for someone to be taken advantage of, especially a lady. What the gentleman showed you is very interesting. Glad you were able to help her and like you did. With humidity that low and real green timbers l can see a problem in the works. Hopefully there will be someone who can finish putting it back for her. Also, I ‘m thrilled for you being able to get your logs. It would be so fun to get in on the build with you. I hope everything goes well and as planned for you. May God bless you and watch over you as you work!

I was also going to say that trading good food for work is genius! About all l could trade might be a peanut butter sandwich hehe. Blessings to ya brother

307 J.O.A.T Howdy brother, I appreciate you watching the videos. I wish we were closer so we could share info. Y’all take care and God bless ya’ll

@@TheBeardedCarpenter that would be great!! Id love to spend some time learning some things from you!!

Outdoor Merica Howdy Kevin- Thank ya so much for watching. I appreciate your support. God bless y’all

Cruze's Louisiana Outdoors Howdy y’all- I have to keep my math pretty simple haha. Been a while ago since I was in school. Ya’ll have a great weekend also. God bless y’all

I understand that. In geometry in school I often thought, " What in the heck am I ever going to use this for. Went on to become a carpenter and builder.

Charles Atkins Howdy Charles- I couldn’t agree with you more! Good to see you and hope you have a great weekend. We’ve had over five inches of rain in the last 24hrs and it’s still coming down. God bless y’all

@@charlesatkins5388 My two oldest kiddos (28 and 26) are gonna be ok on the math side...my two younger kiddos (19 and 12) can't do a darn thing without a calculator! In 6th grade they are 'required' to use it on math tests....that generation kinda scares me :-)

@@TheBeardedCarpenter - Good Sunday morning to you Brother! Wow! 5 inches of rain and still raining! That's a lot of water in a short time. Hope it doesnt mess up much. I've been out of the loop for a bit taking care of some things. Trying to catch up. Have a good day. God Bless!

Howdy Jim- thank you so much for coming over and watching the video. I sure do appreciate it. I Outsider is a great guy. Take care and God’s blessings to you

Wild Ones Homestead Howdy- thank you so much for watching. God bless you

Jason Compton Howdy Jason- glad you were able to get it. I don’t know of another video that explains how to get the dimensions figured out. There may be one but I have searched diligently and couldn’t find anything. Hope this will help you. God bless you

Jehohadek Maccabeus-Off Grid and Everyday Survival Howdy brother- thank you very much. Be safe and God’s blessings to you

Howdy- thank you so much for the kind words. God bless you

Michael 58 Howdy Michael/ thank you for coming by and watching our videos. God bless and keep y’all

Layila Faon Howdy- Thank you for the kind words. God bless you

Santos Howdy- you’re so kind, thank you very much. I sure appreciate your support. God bless and keep you

I took Peter's class at John C Campbell Folk School way back in 1986 or so, and loved it. Paul is carrying on the fine tradition of hand crafted log cabins. Thanks for all the videos Paul!

James Gibson Howdy James- yes, this is Peter’s way of doing things. I worked with some guys who had been part of his crew. I never had the pleasure of meeting him but I met his son. I really do appreciate Peter for what he has worked out doing this. He has helped so many people learn to build. My hat is off to him. Thank you for watching and commenting. God bless you

Johnji108 Howdy John- you’re very fortunate to have been in one of Peter’s workshops. My buddies l worked with were in his crew. They realized I was serious about learning and were so kind to take the time to teach me. I had already been a carpenter for quite a few years working with my Dad who was a building contractor. Those guys l worked with really knew their stuff- they are some kind of good! Thank you for watching our video. God bless you

Wildwood does some awesome work!

Charles Atkins Howdy Charles, I’m sure they do! It would be nice to be able to get to work with some of these log builders I’ve met on RU-vid. We all have a kindred spirit. God bless you brother

digby Jones Howdy- Thank you for the kind words. I sure do appreciate it. God bless you

Lucas Richard Stephens Howdy Lucas- sir, I just checked out your channel and immediately subscribed! You’re a craftsman of the highest degree. I want to thank you for watching our video and commenting. I am definitely honored to meet you. I was able to watch a couple of your videos today but I will be spending some time watching your videos. Thank you so much for coming by. God bless you

@@TheBeardedCarpenter God bless you too sir, the honour is mine! I have subbed to your channel as well, the quality of your work is excellent and I see I will learn from your good example. Best wishes, Lucas.

Birdnest58 Howdy- thank you for watching the videos. I appreciate your support. Take care and God’s blessings to you

Howdy Bill- I’m glad I could be of help. If you ever have any questions you can email me at thebeardedcarpenter8@gmail.com and I’ll sure try to help you. There are different old tool sites on the internet you can check for broad axes. One that I look at is a Facebook page called Vintage Tools Can I Have it Now. Antique stores sometimes have a broad axe but they may be pricey. A friend of mine is making axes for people. Check out Refiners Forge in Virginia. Jared Lanham is a fantastic black smith. He made a felling axe for me that is great. He uses some really good metal in his tools. You can find him on Instagram. He posts pictures real often. He’s not only a good blacksmith, he’s just a great person. Take care and I wish you the best in finding a broad axe. God bless

Howdy Tony- thank you so much for the kind words. I really appreciate it. Yessir, I guess I’ve got a few years under my belt. I think what you’re calling a full dovetail is what I call a compound dovetail. The method is the same but the template is not the same. I use a 1:6 template for a compound and the same amount of wood is taken off the log above and below the center line. The layout is a bit different because the layout is transferred from the inside face down the end of the log to the outside. I know this may sound a bit confusing so if you have any questions you can email me at thebeardedcarpenter8@gmail.com and I’ll try to answer them. God’s blessings to you

Howdy Penny- thank you for watching the video. I wish I could sing and play a guitar like Willy. “Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain “ was my favorite. God bless you

Howdy- I do that to keep from leaving a ridge. Even at the best sometimes I will get a ridge and use a spoke shave to take it out. Some planers seem to cut heavier on one side or the other. That can be used to your advantage when trueing up a timber that was sawn out of square. Thank you so much for watching our videos and for the kind words. God bless you

Ankaj Sharma Howdy- glad you have been able to get something out of the videos. Peter has taught many people how to build a log cabin. I didn’t get to take a workshop but I was so fortunate to get to work with the guys who were in his crew. They have been a big influence on me and were willing to help me learn. I owe them so much. Also, I appreciate what Peter has done the revive log building and his willingness to share his knowledge. We have worked with logs that were 6”,7” and 8” thick. The wider the logs the thicker they need to be for asthetic purposes. Six inch hewn log is kind of a standard thickness around these parts so that’s what I like to use. I don’t think I would want to builder with anything less than that for the thickness. I can work out smaller size logs for you if you want me to. I you can email me Thebeardefcarpenter8@gemail.com l can give you the dimensions. God bless you

Howdy Bill- you would use the same notch dimension on the logs in a single round. The same template is used for whatever thickness you have. The 1:3 angle is the same regardless of log thickness. God bless

Howdy Brother- I leave about an 1/8” of the line on the shoulder so I can make saw passes to bring the inside log face to control. Hope this helps. God’s blessings to y’all

Howdy Stephen- thank you for watching our video. I put the butt/tip measurement on the chart because I will refer to it when getting the notch dimension. Sometimes I need to trim the butt flare down so the log will not be touching the one below. Knowing the size of the butt helps me know what I need to do. Hope this helps. Take care and God bless

John Carlton Howdy John, I am taking the full width of the log measuring at the middle from either end. The actual face width is not a full width measurement. Using two framing squares will give you an exact measurement by hooking the squares on opposite sides of the log. You have a good question there. God bless you

Another question. Is there something magical about the1:3. slope on the 1/2 dovetail notch? Would 1:4 or 1:5 (less angle) work?

@@TheBeardedCarpenter Thanks for the speedy reply. You'll quickly discover that I am not a carpenter, don't even have a beard. If all my questions become too annoying just tell me to shut up. Really love the videos and you explaining all the tricks in achieving precision.

John Carlton The 1:3 that I use is what is asthectically pleasing to me. The old log buildings l have seen in our vicinity were a notch very similar to what l use. I have also seen them that used a shallower angle that looked nice. I feel the 1:3 has a little more holding power. Blessings

John Carlton am honored that you have enough confidence in me to ask me anything. My intention has been to do what I can to help people achieve their own dream of building a log cabin. Thank ya for the questions brother. Blessings to you and yours

Howdy Kevan- Belleville is not that far away. Been through there many times. Many of the old cabins were built by people who were using logs that had been cleared from their land for crops and they used what they had available. They had to move them by hand much of the time. It was easier to get more height on the wall by making the gaps wider. They had to do more upkeep on the chinking also. I use 1” in the mathematical formula to keep the gaps somewhat uniform. If you wanted wider gaps the numbers would have to be changed. Keeping chinking mortar in wide gaps is a bit difficult when you’re putting it in. Wide gaps are more apt to sag and you’re constantly having to go back and pull the mortar back up until it begins to set up. I’ve chinked wide gaps and it can be a chore. Thank you for watching the video and for the comments. God bless you

ZEKİ TAŞER Howdy- Thank you very much for watching our videos and for your kindness. God bless you

Howdy James- send me an email at thebeardedcarpenter8@gmail.com Will need your address. Actually, a friend of mine has the templates and he will send it to you. Take care and God bless

Annemin elemeği Howdy- Thank you for watching. God bless you

I'm milling the logs for our log home im building now. I for some reason am kind nervous and overwhelmed by the notches. I've bounced back and forth between crown, A/V joints for the cabin and dovetail. Me and my wife (the boss) like the looks of the dovetail much better. We will be using hemlock logs at random hight from 6" wide by 8" Tall up to 12" tall. Having never built a log cabin before the notches have me slightly nervous to say the least. But hopefully with a little guidance I'll get it figured out and move along rather smoothly with stacking the logs, then the rest of the buid will be no issue. Thanks for any information and knowledge you can share with me sir!!! Karl

Howdy Karl- I admire you for following your dream of a log cabin. You can watch our videos and if you have any questions at all please send me an email at the beardedcarpenter8@gmail.com awe can exchange phone numbers. Wishing you the very best with your build. By the way, what kind of sawmill do you have? God bless y’all

The template is a one in three. It’s 18” long. The wife end is 6”. Blessings to you

Howdy Ken- please send me an email at thebeardedcarpenter8@gmail.com so we can get your address. My buddy has a few left. God bless

Howdy Tim- send me an email at thebeardedcarpenter8@gmail.com and I’ll see what I can do. Thank you so much for watching the video. God bless

Howdy- I’ll have to check them out. Thank you for telling me about them. God bless

@@TheBeardedCarpenter I knew you'd like it. Good bless you my friend !