Who says you can’t put square pegs in a round hole? (They just don’t fit as well). This mantel beam was placed in one of the corners of an original log cabin. The pegs are original and once extended into the adjacent log. This oak beam has a nice medium color. The right end of the face sports a little light colored sapwood — the wood just below the bark. This area could be darkened a bit to blend more closely. The beam is currently about 78in long and the sapwood gets significant at about 5feet. The top and bottom of this piece are both original and show nice hints of hand hewing and a few nail holes. The end grain is super tight — nice.

In the fall, we took down a vertical (stockade style) log cabin before the backhoe beat us to it. The majority of the beams were white ash, black ash, American Elm, and Red Elm. However, there were a few oaks in there. Most of those were strategically placed in the corners — probably where the best wood should be placed. The front Face has nice grains, knots, and that series of hack marks along the top (more on this later). The front face also has a tree-like curved bottom edge. The top has great grains, even color, as well as some nail holes and a big ol’ crack. The bottom has a mix of color variation, strong ax marks, and some big knots.

One of the interesting features is this row of hack marks on the face. It took us a while to figure out why the marks were there. Well, it turns out that the original carpenter roughed up the wood so that the chinking (i.e. insulation) between the logs, which was made of grass and fabric, would stay into place and not fall down. The last picture in the set shows some of the grass chinking. The top of the beam has a much more character and color variation. That was probably the outside of the building. The bottom is much more even toned and was probably the inside of the log cabin.

From what we can tell, this cabin was built in 1894. There were old Swedish newspapers stuck to the wall for insulation. Between the logs, there was chinking made of grasses and old fabric. We’re trying to clarify the history. The area Buffalo, Minnesota area was settled with a mix of Swedish, Polish, and German immigrants. There’s some reports that making vertical log cabins was common in a small area in Poland. It is certainly plausible that Polish immigrant brought over this construction technique. There was another vertical log cabin found in the area.

A Swedish family, the Mainquist’s, lived on the farm from about 1930 to 2013. There are some nice pictures on the Minnesota Historical Society website of the Mainquist Family — Evert with Calf, Carol Mainquist sitting on a disc harrow, and Break from threshing on Evert Mainquist farm. You can see the old house in the background of the Carol image.

Also note, if you’re interest in Swedish-American Pioneer history, the Vilhelm Moberg’s Emigrants book series comes highly recommended.

We didn’t finish the end on this one assuming that it would be cut to size. It is currently measured and priced at 79 inches, but that can change. This one has been priced at $115/LF. We can cut the length down and reduce the price by $9.58 per lineal inch, up to a $115 discount.