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Show 69 An i m p o r t a n t a s p e c t o f h o r i z o n t a l - l o g b u i l d i n g t e c h n iq u e s was th e manner i n w hich lo g s w ere n o tc h e d and j o i n e d a t th e c o rn e rs. I f p r o p e r l y n o tc h e d , a l l lo g members i n th e w a l l were s e c u r e l y lo c k e d i n p l a c e w it h o u t t h e a s s i s t a n c e of n a i l s o r p e g s , an d a l l t i m b e r s i n one w a ll l a y h a l f a lo g t h i c k n e s s above o r below t h o s e o f t h e c o r r e s p o n d i n g t i e r s in th e a d j o i n i n g w a l l s . F iv e d i f f e r e n t methods o f c o r n e r n o tc h in g w ere o b s e r v e d on l o g s t r u c t u r e s o f a l l k in d s b u i l t by Mormons: 1. 12 F u ll d o v e ta il n o tc h ( F i g s . 16a and 1 7 ). t a i l i n g i s a p r a c t i c e f a m i l i a r t o e v e r y j o i n e r o f wood b u t d i f f i c u l t t o e x e c u te on l o g s , r e q u i r i n g c o n s i d e r a b l e s k i l l w ith an ax. Each edge o r f a c e o f t h e n o tc h s l o p e s downward, i n t e r l o c k i n g t h e two j o i n e d l o g s i n b o th d i r e c t i o n s and a l s o p e r m i t t i n g th e downward d r a in a g e o f r a i n w a t e r . F u l l dove t a i l i n g most f r e q u e n t l y accom panied ax-hewn lo g s and was found m a in ly on d w e l l i n g s e x h i b i t i n g s k i l l e d w orkm anship. D o v e t a i l e d c o r n e r s c o u ld e a s i l y be trimmed s q u a r e w ith a saw and f l u s h t o t h e two j o i n e d w a l l s p e r m i t t i n g t h e e a s y a p p l i catio n of sid in g or p la s te r . U ndoubtedly t h i s method was c o n s i d e r e d s u p e r i o r t o t h e o t h e r s i n Mormondom, and t h e r e was a p p a r e n t l y some e f f o r t on t h e p a r t o f t h e e x p e r ie n c e d f r o n t i e r s m e n t o t e a c h t h e method t o newcomers ( C a r t e r , 1958, 1 4 9 -1 5 0 ). 12xhe te r m in o lo g y and much o f t h e i n s p i r a t i o n f o r t h i s s e c t i o n on lo g n o t c h i n g are borrow ed from K n if f e n and G l a s s i e , 53 -5 7, and W e s la g e r, 3 3 6 -3 4 0 . Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Dove |