Woodsman's Log Raft: Logs Pinned to Notched Cross Poles With Wooden Spikes, Built With a Hand Ax (Boy Mechanic, 1919)

The woodsman "has only a hand ax as his tool equipment"; the raft is "pinned together firmly with poles and pointed wooden spikes, cut on the spot". Dry logs are better than wet or green ones; green logs need a larger raft for the same load.

On a shore sloping gently into the water, cut the logs and roll them to the bank, alternating the butts. For one passenger: three logs 9 to 12 in thick, 12 to 16 ft long, to be spaced 5 ft wide (for heavier loads, more logs set closer). Cut poles about 3 in thick, long enough to cross the raft, and a number of hardwood pins 1 ft long, sharpened at one end.

Roll the first, one of the largest, into the water until it nearly floats, any bow or hump toward the outer edge. Chop notches 2 in deep in its top about 1-1/2 ft from the ends, squarely across. Lay a pole in a notch, its end just past the log, and cut a double notch in the pole's upper edge so the pins rest diagonally in it. Split rifts in the log with the ax, cutting as if to split off a slab, not toward the centre, and drive two pins in crossed over the pole. Fasten a second pole at the other end.

Prop up both poles, roll the next log in underneath and notch it before slipping it into place. Only alternate ends of the inner logs need pinning; some can be left loose if held tight between pinned ones. Push the raft out as each log is added; in a strong current, guy it to the bank downstream with a pole. Float the last log, a large one, down and pin it at both ends. Cover with light poles or brush for dry footing.

From "A Woodsman's Log Raft" by A. M. Parker, in **The Boy Mechanic, Book 3**, Popular Mechanics, 1919 (Project Gutenberg 71856; checked on the archive.org scan boymechanic0003unse, pp. 185-186). The buoyancy figures in the notebook are an example of ours, not his. The metric figures are ours.