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A man sits atop a tractor while another man to the left oversees the work. The men are digging what will be the foundation of the reconstructed Vance house. The original fireplace is present in the background of the image.

A double bitted axe would be used for cutting wood: trees, branches, limbs, or logs into their preliminary size before being shaped or smoothed. Both sides of the blade feature a bevel, so that the axe cuts on both sides.

A draw knife is used to shape wood. You hold the handles and pull the blade toward yourself. This might sound dangerous, but that actually gives the user a lot of control, so there was little room for accidents. A draw knife allows the user to get a…

A drill is used to create a hole in wood. The tool's user would place the screw shaped blade at the spot where they would like to create a hole, and turn the wooden handles, sinking the blade into the wood, until the hole is deep enough. Wooden pegs,…

Figure 10 "Cutting Openings" from "Building with Logs." "Building with Logs" was published in 1944 by the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service, and is considered a gold standard in cabin building. This diagram demonstrates how to…

Figure 4 "Dovetail or Box Corner" from "Building with Logs." "Building with Logs" was published in 1944 by the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service, and is considered a gold standard in cabin building. This diagram demonstrates how…

Four men work on the first story of the reconstructed Vance house. The two men to the right appear to be sawing logs, and the men to the center-left appear to be placing those logs. The original fireplace is visible to the left.

Detail of the wood flooring in the kitchen of the reconstructed Vance family home. The flooring in this room is from the former structure, but it is unknown when the flooring was originally installed.

A foot adze is used to shape and smooth wood. The blade is curved so that when swung in front of the user, it will always come back under and be stopped by the user's foot for safety. One would not want to swing an adze toward their body without…

A froe is a wood splitting tool. It is used to make shingles. The tool's user would place the blade into a log and hit the opposite metal end with a mallet-type item to create a shingle. Because the shingles were made by hand in this way, the size of…