Log profiles are how the logs look on the inside, outside, and also how they are shaped between the rows of logs. Currently the Swedish Cope stack is the most popular with our customers, but the other styles have a strong place in the log home world as well. The chink style pictured below is a double tongue and groove stacked log with a groove left for chinking to be painted into. The chinking in this case would be for aesthetics. The Double D with the double tongue and groove stack is a nice option as it provides a rounded surface on both the interior and exterior, but it also provides a double row of tongues and grooves between the rows of logs.
Probably the least expensive log style is either a 7 inch Swedish Cope stacked log or the 6×8 D log with butt and pass corners. These log styles are usually reserved for smaller log cabins under 900 square feet, but larger homes can also be built from them.
When looking at log profiles corner styles are also part of this process. The corner style is how the log home looks when you stand outside and look at the corner. A saddle notched corner is always used with a Swedish Cope log stack. A saddle notched corner is where you see every log end on each side of the corner.
A butt and pass corner style is less expensive. It is where every other log end is visible on each side of the corner. One draw back with a butt and pass corner is the tops of the log ends are left exposed to the weather and can get damaged from the moisture laying on them.
Another corner style is the dovetail. This is most commonly used with a square cut log. A dovetail is probably the most expensive corner to manufacture due to the complexity of the joint and the materials required.
A posted corner is where the logs end at the corner and a vertical post is installed. There are no exposed log ends.
Another feature which applies to log corner profiles is how the ends of the log corners are cut. Log corner ends can be left longer so they can be custom cut into patterns like an Alaskan Wedge, Beaver Tooth, Upper Sweep, Full Sweep, Arch Top, Staggered Corners, etc. More often you see various corner styles in handcrafted log homes, but they can also be used for milled log homes.