AND A FROE

Pole House

FIG. 171 shows a pole house--that is, a house, the walls of which are made
by setting straight poles up on end with sides against each other and
nailing a beam across the top (Fig. 172) and toe-nailing them (Fig. 173);
that is, driving the nails slantingly down through the poles to the sill
beneath. Fig. 172 shows how to nail them to the top beam or side-plate. To
build a pole house, erect the four corner-posts and any intermediate posts
which may be necessary, nailing the plates on top of the posts to hold the
frame together (Fig. 172), afterward fitting the other posts in place, as
shown in the sketch.

We have not yet arrived at the part of the book where we can build as
extensive houses as the one shown here. The drawing is only inserted at
this place because it naturally comes with the use of the cross-cut saw.
You can, however, without much trouble, build a small pole house without
the veranda, and after you have learned how to build the big log houses
you can turn back to this page and try a pole house like Fig. 171.

Fig. 171. Fig. 172. Fig. 173. Fig. 174. Fig. 175. Fig. 176. Fig.
177. Fig. 178. Fig. 179.

[Illustration: The use of the saw in log work.]

Sawing on an Angle

Fig. 174 shows how to saw off poles on the bias, as a woman would say, or
on an angle, as a man would say. Suppose, for instance, you want to cut
the poles to fit the dormer over the veranda shown in Fig. 171. Measure
off the height of the middle pole, then the distance along the base from
the middle pole to the corner at the eaves. Next fit the poles you are
going to use closely together to cover that distance; hold them in place
by nailing a plank temporarily across the bottom ends; then place another
plank at the point marked for the height of the middle pole, run it down
to the bottom plank, and nail it temporarily along this line. Now take
hold of one end of the saw, as the fellow does in Fig. 174, and let
another boy take the other end of the saw; then by working it back and
forth along the line you may saw off the protruding ends of the poles.
Proceed in the same manner along the base-board. You will then have half
the dormer poles all nicely tacked together and cut in the right shape so
that they may be evenly fitted in place, and after they are secured there
the marking planks may be knocked off. Fig. 175 shows two boys at work
"pit-sawing." They are sawing planks from a log, which is rather hard w