Arnold, CA…Happy New Year!!! In today’s update we moved just a bit of dirt & knocked out some more boards for the Hewn Farmstand Woodshed & the Chainsaw Cabin. This video mostly centers around the use of an old, I think one of the original 10 years or more old bandsaw mill from Harbor Freight.

We are fortunate to have been able to borrow this old mill from a family member. It is a basic mill that can take up to 20 inch logs.

On this old mill the log clamping system isn’t the best for smaller logs. For these we just use come clamps on the frame to make a cradle for the log to sit in. It is fairly efficient on material and we can get down to about to only 2 inches of material that is not a usable board.

I am not an expert and this is the first bandsaw mill I have ever used. I probably use it wrong, unsafely etc. But usable boards to show up at the end of the process.

Making boards is kind of therapeutic for me though. You start with a rough old log and end up with something usable.

So…in today’s update we moved a bit of dirt for some erosion from the last storm, made some boards & put another soffit board on the Chainsaw Cabin that we didn’t record.

Our goal for Hewn is to not only build a small cabin and functional tiny homestead but to show that even with life’s challenging and changing ways to keep moving forward even if progress is slow at times.

Many of us including me have wanted to do a project like this basically my whole life. Real things like family, work, divorce, business challenges, health challenges & more make it seem like a project like this will never get done.

We hope to show that it can and hopefully bring us a bit of financial freedom through a lower cost lifestyle and a better quality of life as well.

Many of us can’t move to a remote area to do a project like this. So we also hope to show that it can be done even in a state like California.

In the next video we will be back working on the Chainsaw Cabin where we will are building a small livable cabin for under $1,000.

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.

We are starting with outbuildings to get the property functional. Places to store tools, a solar shed & a place to sleep if need be. This is phase one and we hope to get that done this year starting with the Chainsaw Cabin then learning how to build a log structure on our next shed.

Next year, Lord willing, we will start on our main two story, traditional log cabin built with logs from the property and probably a few other locally sourced ones as well.

About hewn.co
At Hewn we are going take you on a 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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