Hello Richard, you've got to remember, I'm not SQUARING timbers, I am hewing cabin logs. I only hew them on two sides. The top and bottom of a cabin log is left rounded, that's traditional here in Appalachia.

I've seen a few log homes built with squared logs, most of them constructed with half lap joints rather than dovetail or steeple notching. They were all sided over soon after construction, I think that was the intent of the builders.

In my research of the history of log construction here in southern Ohio, it seems like many, not all but many, of log homes so constructed were built by German Catholic immigrants. I don't know if this is a cultural thing or not. We Scots-Irish didn't have a tradition of log construction, but we took to it quickly. We hewed the logs on two side, leaving the top and bottom of the log rounded. It helped fill the space in between the logs. To further fill the space, chunks of log, splits from the hewing, anything was shoved in between the logs to fill space. That was the chinking. That was all daubed over with clay or lime mortar.

As a quick aside, I have found small little handprints in the lower rounds of daubing on log walls, the children doing their part to construct their home. It always makes me pause and think. Small children, now long dead, working on the same structure I am. That makes me think of one log home, little handprints in the clay and hog hair daubing, constructed by Swiss immigrants before the Civil War. A family named Stalder. They built the finest log home I ever saw. Hewn on two sides, half dovetail notched, doweled and pegged like nothing I ever saw.

Timber frame lean to on the back and timber frame porch in the front, all hewn squared timbers in the framing. Tapered hewn rafters, half lapped and pegged. The people that built that home were craftsmen. I'm just a scots-irish wood whacker in comparison. But I can hew a log, 20' long, on TWO sides in four hours. I'm not a superman, I prefer to take an overnight break between the roughing out and the finishing.

I started out using a chainsaw to score, but I discontinued that after a while. I'd rather just walk down the log, scoring every 6-8" with the axe as I go. I'm not cutting a V-notch all the way to the line, I'm just cutting with the axe, moving along and scoring in the direction I will hew.

No blisters anymore, I'm pretty used to it now. Deer flies tormenting me something fierce right now, wish I could get used to them.