Work for the axe

Carving projects and log frames

Our main expertise is in creating handcrafted log buildings which have many uses: a traditional Finnish ‘smoke sauna’ or a house, or a villa, to mention but a few. We build frames using square or naturally shaped round logs, bound with one of the several available notch types, depending on individual preferences.

Get all visible surfaces hand finished

Today several modern tools are available to assist with the finishing touches when building a log building. However, no machine can produce such an exquisitly fine surface as when it is produced using a drawknife, a carving axe or a carving chisel. Surfaces that are carved using hand tools are vibrantly beautiful. The carved surface has a shiny appearance as, when carved by hand, the damaged fiber cells on the surface close up, which also improves the building’s weather durability. Hongos is proud to offer an option where all visible surfaces of the building have been finished using hand tools. Read more about hand tools here > >

Building restoration and repair

We do restoration and repair work for old log buildings: changing the bottom logs, patching and other restoration projects. Test drillings are used to map the extent of the damage and to identify the logs that need changing. In more extensive repair projects, the building will often need to be lifted from the stone foundation and placed onto temporary supports. Most commonly, the logs are replaced using old logs, but well dried new logs can be used as an alternative. Click here for more information about log building repair from Finland’s National Board of Antiquities’ “repair cards”.

Mobile saw mill and D-logs

Hongos has Wood-Mizer’s mobile petrol-powered saw mill in use which allows for sawing wood on the spot where the wood is sourced: for example, sawing square logs by the forest edge, on the field or on the ice… Click here to read more about the possible uses of the mobile saw mill >