The walnut staircase - a work of art!

This past week, the wood stove has been put to the test.

1) The pine interior siding that was removed from the west pen was cleaned by John B and Charlie Hakenwerth (a close personal friend) and installed this past week by John Ming. It really looks great.

2) The next step was to install the staircase. This is a walnut staircase. Look closely at the length and width of those boards. Solid walnut!!! It is truly a piece of art. John Ming and Doug Kappelman did the install while John B watched.
Imagine the pride the original owners had with this finely trimmed out staircase!

Here we see the staircase finish from below, as well as an interesting view looking down from the 2nd floor.

PS. I need about 180 foot of 1 x 12 old barn boards. Must be fir, not oak.

Second Floor Gables

The second floor gables can be checked off the list. It was decided to use clapboard siding to cover this area. The material was recycled from a school house South of Herman Missouri. Really looks nice. John has insulated behind the interior gable finish.

Grading Complete

Bret Martin installed the curtain drain, graded the site and rocked the access road and parking area.

Bret is quite the operator on his T250 purchased at Bobcat of St. Louis. He was working dirt/rock regardless if he was moving backwards or forwards.


For the parking area, he removed the top soil so that that the rock would be even with grade. Then he used this top soil around the log house.

The curtain will prevent any water from moving beneath the cabin. He used a brown rock in this area. It blends in nicely don't you think?

On the porch is the walnut staircase stringer.

Main cabin floor reinstalled and stove in place

Great things have been happening at the Log house. 

In the photo with the stove is Roger Beck, a close personal friend, and John Ming, the log cabin specialist. The stove is sitting in place but not yet installed. Black pipe will be used in the final install. Notice the nail apron Roger is wearing. I am sure Laura B noticed. That nail apron predates the launch of BHL. Roger, what will you take for the piece of history?

In the second photo notice that the original floor was reinstalled in the main cabin. What a project!! Each board had to be fitted. They varied in length, width and thickness. You may notice all the small pieces of scrap off in the corner.