Ingmar Minde built log homes in Norway. When he moved to Minnesota, he downplayed what he assumed was considered an immigrant craft and strove to become a quality craftsman as a frame carpenter.
More than 100 years later, Ingmar’s grandson, Brooks Minde, is proud to be a handcrafted log builder - blending quality craftsmanship with the traditional building style. And, he knows he is part of a “green” business after seeing 1,200-year-old log homes in Norway.
“That’s part of being green - that buildings last so long,” says the Duluth, Minn. builder. The 150 homes and buildings he has built may last for centuries.
But working with logs is more than just being environmentally friendly; it’s about creating homes with character and developing relationships with homeowners, he says.
“I enjoy talking to people to see what they like to make each home unique and bring out the personalities of people,” he says. “Our customers like the character and organic shapes and the defects in the logs.”
LOG EDUCATION
Minde’s introduction to log construction was at the business end of axes, chisels and drawknives. His boss/mentor was John Hunt, 72, who built his first log cabin at 12. It was 1976. Minde was laid off from his mining job; he needed work. He spent a year with Hunt building a 3,600-square-foot home in Park Rapids, Minn.
They used chainsaws, but Hunt preferred hand tools - even to hand-auger 2-inch holes, then cut out window openings with a handsaw. It was hard work, but excellent training, and Minde learned the value of sharp tools. After he was called back to the mine, he continued building part-time. When the mine shut down in 1983, he and his wife, Connie, were ready to start their business, Minde Log Construction, Inc.
“I like working with my hands and the satisfaction of taking a big log and getting it to fit perfectly,” Minde says. He joined the Great Lakes Log Crafters Association and the International Log Builders’ Association for guidance.
“Everybody in those associations is good about sharing knowledge,” he explains. “There weren’t that many handcrafters at the time. We realized we were rediscovering an old art.
“Log homes are complex buildings, and the more you can learn about them the better,” he says, adding that builders often work with engineers. He takes pride in exceeding standards set by the ILBA.
Another part of his education was doing restoration work on old log structures. “I realized roof systems were real important,” Minde says. “In the 1880s, they didn’t have enough overhang to protect the logs, and foundations too close to the ground. The bottom logs got backsplash and rotted.” He also learned the importance of good finishes. Logs need to breathe. If logs are sealed with paint and moisture works into cracks, the logs rot.
MINDE’S STYLE
Log construction covers the gamut of stacking milled logs with precut notches to handcrafting by scribing each log and using a chainsaw to cut it to conform to the twists and knots of the log below. Minde’s homes are the latter.
“Every home is unique, and I like a challenge,” Minde says. “That’s what makes it exciting.” Minde and his crew build log shells - walls and roof trusses - at Minde’s Two Harbors site, then disassemble and reassemble the building on the homeowner’s property. It takes Minde and three crewmembers about a month to build a 28- by 36-ft. home, and another three days to reassemble and insulate it. The process is convenient for the crew, plus there is less mess at the building site, where there often isn’t room to spread out logs and operate equipment.
The scribe is one of the main tools used by Minde. Scribe styles and sawing methods vary and he uses a double scribe to transfer the exact image of the top of the lower log to the bottom of the upper log. Chainsaws and grinders remove the wood between scribe lines. Minde cuts two small V-notches in the bottom of the log and a larger V-notch at the top of the log.
“My logs don’t settle as much and the interior and exterior walls don’t crack as much,” he says. Closed cell foam and cellulose insulation between the logs creates an airtight fit, and no chinking (textured caulking) is needed.
To keep notches tight, Minde uses a technique called scarfing. To allow for settling, he underscribes, which leaves calculated gaps between the logs. By the time the building is finished, the gaps close. Also, space is allowed over doors and windows and interior walls for settling.
Frame construction crews often finish the buildings, so accommodating them and communicating with them is important. “Usually, frame builders are excited to try something different. They are surprised everything is so accurate,” he says.
EQUIPMENT
Moving logs weighing up to 10,000 pounds and 60 feet long requires serious equipment. A 1980 P & H Mining Equipment Inc. 25- ton Omega rough terrain crane with a 100-foot boom moves logs in the yard. For restacking, Minde has a 25-ton Manitex boom on a 1996 Ford 9000 truck. The 150-foot boom (92 ft. without a jib) recently stacked 40-foot-long by 2-foot diameter logs for 22-foot tall walls. Both of the rigs were needed to move logs (36-inch butt diameters) to build a log flume ride for the MGM Grand Theme Park in Las Vegas.
Minde uses a 753 Bobcat in the yard, and a Kasco bandsaw mill on a 60-foot flatbed to flatten logs for the bottom rung and the roofing system. “We have an automatic peeling machine,” Minde says. “But it takes too much character out of the logs, so we hand-peel logs.”
The crew runs a variety of Husqvarna chainsaws - from a 136 model with a carving bar to cut electric box openings, to the 375XP for making V cuts. They use Makita curvedbase planers for scarfing.
RUNNING THE BUSINESS
Minde works year round with three builders, plus peelers as needed. The crew doubles in the summer time. Keeping employees is a challenge, because the work is physical and outdoors in all kinds of weather. Most average five years before they seek indoor work or start their own log construction business. Half the jobs are building log shells; one-fourth are weathertight buildings with a roof, doors and windows; the rest are turnkey homes.
“We like to do the trim work. The crew likes the change,” Minde says. Besides building residential homes of all sizes, they have done many commercial projects including building a 40-foot tower of 3-foot diameter logs in a Native American health and wellness center, and building 35 log structures, a mile of log railing, and other log furnishings for Mall of America’s Camp Snoopy.
LOOKING FORWARD
With environmental concerns on the rise, Minde sees a bright future for log building. Though fuel is used for construction, logs don’t need to be processed and transported all over the country like steel and lumber. Log buildings have good R-value (R-1.25 per inch), and they have thermal mass, which retains heat and radiates it back into the room.
Minde buys white and Norway pine logs from northern Minnesota and Wisconsin, and can use crooked and defective logs unsuitable for lumber. He “straightens” the logs by cutting them into sections around door and window openings. Defects, such as porcupine chews, forked logs and burls add character.
Charging about $50 per square foot for the shell, Minde says log construction is comparable or slightly higher in cost to frame buildings with cathedral ceilings. Based on interest at a recent home show, the market seems to be remaining steady, Minde says. Many clients want vacation or retirement homes, and he is booked through late summer.
Besides buildings, Minde does anything log: furniture, railing, bridges, log accents, etc. When he and Connie sold their log home of 16 years, he replaced it with a post and beam home, which is a style growing in popularity.
“Baby boomers don’t want to stain their homes every five years,” he explains. To reduce maintenance, they opt for variations of post and beam and timber frame homes with stone, log or stucco exteriors.
Minde says he’s particular about his work and proud to be in the handcrafted log business. He only regrets that his grandfather isn’t alive to see that he’s part of a vocation respected for quality and craftsmanship.
