Once the foundation had cured, my work began in earnest. The first course of rotten timber had to be replaced to maintain the 9' height of the original first-floor ceiling. During the idle winter months, I was lucky to find a spare log supply - a log barn, which was free for the taking. For a matching authentic look, I used a broad axe to hew the round spare logs into square replacement logs.

Although hewing was slow, hard work, the most difficult job was cutting the replacement dovetails. Each dovetailed corner needed to mate perfectly, in order to result in a rot-resistant joint that would last another 200 years. The old dovetail joints were cut so perfectly that the two pairing faces of the dovetails were still creamy white in color after almost two centuries of service. To create new dovetails, I set the old and new logs on a level surface and used a bevel gauge taped to a spirit level to transfer the existing angles from the mating dovetail to the new log. The spirit level was horizontal for all measurements.

My dad was my right-hand man all summer long. We made quick work of stacking the small logs in the four corners of the building, which served to define the window openings on the first floor. The locking properties of the dovetails defied all logic - logs were piled eight high in the corners with their ends hanging in mid-air. Later, to enclose the window and door openings, the free ends of these logs were nailed in place with vertical 2"x6" boards called buck plates.