Learn to build a log cabin with Robert Chambers

The University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service will hold a hands-on class in building an energy efficient, green, full scribe log structure May 6-29 in Palmer.

A scene of a previous log cabin workshop hosted by UAF.

The workshop will be taught by Robert Chambers, an authority on handcrafted log home construction. The classes are facilitated by UAF assistant professor Valerie Barber. Basic procedures and techniques will be described and practiced to help even the novice get started with a project. Building an energy-efficient log home requires the highest level of craftsmanship to meet modern standards of airtightness, indoor air quality, safety, comfort and durability.

Instruction includes safety, chain saw use, maintenance, cutting demonstration, practicing notches, ripping and scribing logs and building roof trusses. The final product will be a log shell with roof trusses. Cost of the workshop is $2,000 and registration is available here.

Chambers has been building log homes since 1983 and teaching log construction since 1988. He is the author of the bestselling log home construction textbook and DVD, Log Construction Manual, and the inventor of log construction methods, products and machinery. He holds U.S. and foreign patents for log construction inventions.

The workshop will be held at the Matanuska Experiment Farm, 1509 S. Georgeson Road. For more information, contact Barber at 907-746-9466 or vabarber@alaska.edu.