Arnold, CA…Thanks for Joining us Again! When we first started Hewn the entire focus was can you still build a livable small cabin for almost no money? The Godfather of tiny homes and minimalistic living is Henry David Thoreau. He built his cabin for $28.12½ in 1845 (Roughly $900 to $1,000 in today’s money). Could we prove to ourselves and others that a modern day interpretation of his cabin on Walden Pond was possible.

As it sits right now still needing roof boards, windows & a front door we should be able to bring her home for under $1,000. Whether we can sneak in under $1,000 depends on what type of roofing we use.

We are making our windows & doors so the costs there are glass panes, hinges & fasteners etc.

We hand milled all of the wall boards, floor boards, rafters, beams etc from logs in our backyard. Since our backyard was in a normal neighborhood running a regular chainsaw for hours on end wasn’t really possible. We ended up getting an inexpensive plug in electric chainsaw and just started slicing boards from logs by hand.

Even as it sits now it is a small place where I can use it as an office, sleepover spot, etc. I have also found out some interesting things. That I probably wouldn’t have if it had been completely finished sooner.

Such as how surprisingly easy it is to stay comfortable even in the middle of a mountain winter. The Chainsaw cabin right now is basically a wood walled tent. We have a small temporary wood burning “hot tent stove” to keep it warm & cook on.

It was $115 dollars and came with the stove pipes. The whole thing can be packed up in a few minutes if you need to. Even in the middle of winter it will get up to 70 degrees in the sleeping loft. This is without insulation and just burning scraps for wood.

A finished Chainsaw Cabin should be almost trivial to keep warm in the winter. So even under poor conditions it has proved it possible to stay warm, safe & dry for only a few hundred dollars even in a snowstorm.

These video clips are of us putting battens back on the cabin after they have been shortened for the barn door track to pass over them, cutting the boards for the barn doors, working on the barn door track & putting the doors together.

Total out of pocket cost for the two 36 inch doors, hardware, & more was probably only a few dollars for fasteners.

Yes, projects like this take time, but the satisfaction of building something with your own hands is well worth it.

About The Chainsaw Cabin
The Chainsaw Cabin is our first building, a small 120 square feet shed/cabin on Hewn Hill. All lumber will be hand milled with a small inexpensive electric chainsaw. This is to see if anyone can build a small functional building with literally tools you can find at a garage sale and our only costs will be roofing, fasteners & glass for windows.

The Chainsaw Cabin is single wall construction where the wallboards are a structural component of the build. Many of our primitive and pioneer building were constructed this way. The outside wallboard is also the interior board as well.

Henry David Thoreau’s cabin was only 10 x 15 and not much bigger than you can legally build today without a permit in most counties. For the Chainsaw cabin while it is only 10 x 12 with a sleeping/storage loft. So if you are staying for a night or two at least you will have separate work, living & sleep areas.

In 1845 is cost the tiny home pioneer $28.12 to build his modest abode. With inflation that comes in at $962.80 in today’s shrinking dollars. That is our goal to build our small structure with doors, windows and roofing for less adjusting for inflation than Henry did many years ago.

About hewn.co
At Hewn we believe there is still a Pioneer in All of Us! You can still build a life with your bare hands. Start your journey to see if it is still possible to build a functional, small homestead that anyone, even someone making minimum wage can build and own. We are going to try this in California no less. Join us as we attempt to build an off grid, solar powered, rustic, pioneer style homestead.

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