Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Top plate logs were pinned to hold against outward rafter thrust.
Sometimes an additional gable-end log was used above the plate,
as shown here.
The wide top plate, supported by a longer end log, provided a minimal
eave for the classic early hewn-log house. Slatting and shakes
extended slightly beyond the plate.
Occasionally, these large split shakes were pegged
in place with small wooden pegs, but this was rare.
Pegging was most effective as friction fastening, on the
principle of a headless nail, and was not suited for the
flexing of shakes in wind. The pegs would work loose,
so this is where nails were used early on.
Where a log gable was not used, a gable framework
of poles was pegged in, and shakes or riven clapboards
were used as covering. This allowed the house to be
put under roof sooner than the log gable, and the
whole was lighter. As sawn lumber became available,
the log gable was even less common, boards being eas-
ier than shakes or split clapboards to work and to
apply.
Door and window openings, if any, were sawed with
the crosscut saw. Into the cut log ends, facings of riven
boards were pegged or nailed to hold the logs in line.
Then shutters and doors were hung with leather,
wood, or iron hinges. Shutters were of split boards, or
sometimes tightly stretched animal skins. Rarely, the
first settlers had glass for windows. When they did, it
was usually fastened in place instead of being hung to
swing open, to avoid breaking it. The wooden shutters
let in light only with the outside air, and were often
kept shut all winter. In hot weather they let in gnats,
flies, and mosquitoes.
Doors were low affairs, made of split boards nailed
or pegged together, seldom angle-braced. To keep
them from sagging, the settler often used many of his
precious nails in a heavy pattern, clinching them on
These pieces were sometimes bound with rawhide or
pegged, as were the rafters. Pegs were often square, to
be driven tightly into the round auger holes.
The rafters themselves were usually poles, some-
times worked flat on top with the drawknife or adze.
They were fitted together in pairs at the peak with no
ridgepole. Most often a 45-degree roof pitch was used,
making figuring angles much simpler. Some steeper
roofs were built, and many less steep. Often the pitch
was a matter of guess, or of the builder's eye — as were
the very dimensions of the house itself.
Shakes for the roof were split with the froe, an
L-shaped tool driven with a heavy mallet. Early shakes
were quite long, often three feet or more, of the prime
timber the pioneers found. If laid without nails, the
shakes could be riven and used green. Nailed shakes
had to be seasoned to prevent splitting at the nails as
they shrank. Some early craftsmen split shakes of
green wood, others of seasoned. White oak, cypress,
chestnut, and cedar were most used.
If the settler had the knowledge and materials, he
could forge his own roof nails from bits of worn metal.
Even half a horseshoe, worn completely through at the
front, could be drawn out easily to produce a handful
of nails. Early blacksmiths used charcoal, where coal
was not available, in a simple sand-filled forge charged
with a wood-and-leather bellows. A nail-heading bar,
hammer, and anvil with cutoff hardy were the only
other tools necessary for this and most other simple
iron working.
