Four times per year Honest Abe hosts log raisings at its National Headquarters in Moss, Tenn. Below is an email from one of the January 2016 attendees.
The Log Raising was Great and it was well worth the effort to come up there. Most of what was shown was pretty much what I expected on how Honest Abe’s system goes together. But, it was nice to see the different woods side by side, and some of the other wood parts on display in the Events Building along with the discussion on how the electrical goes into exterior walls.
It’s amazing how much the industry has changed over the last 30 years that I have watched it. Watching different providers come and go and now seeing the similarities between the survivors which should show they have figured out what works.
I would really like to tell you what you all could do to make the log raising more interesting, but I can’t in the environment provided. The best one of these I have seen was done about 1986 up in the Smokey Mtn National Park. In that log raising they were building 3 log cabins near the park headquarters and opened it up to spectators to watch them build a cabin to dry-in in 1 day. Small cabin (about 900 to 1000 sq ft) , but interesting to watch one go up from foundation to under roof in a day.
In some ways I learned a few things Saturday that I couldn’t have learned watching an entire cabin going up. This was due to the smaller size of what you were working with along with camera’s and video screens to give the audience some different views.
Another thing, I came away more convinced to use a contractor and letting the Honest Abe crews get it dried in as quickly as possible to protect the wood. While nice to know that I could probably do it my self to cut costs, I am convinced that the exposure to the elements if building myself would cost a lot more in the long run.
