If you're into bushcraft or off-grid, self-sufficient life skills, the Advoko Makes YouTube channel is a wealth of information. Its creator, Max Egorov, is a lawyer who lives in St. Petersburg, Russia most of the year. However, he takes every opportunity to escape his urban life and retreat to his second home — a custom log cabin he built from scratch near Lake Ladoga in northwestern Russia. Max is constantly working on new projects to improve his cabin and the woods surrounding it. If you haven't already read our previous article introducing this ongoing build, we'd encourage you to check it out now.

Some of Max's latest updates are documented in the recent video below, which has now been translated for his English-language channel (the original videos were all created in his native language). These alterations include a water-resistant natural sod roof, round plexiglass windows, and a large door handmade from dovetailed slabs of a nearby pine tree. As with all of the projects on the Advoko Makes channel, the attention to detail and craftsmanship is impressive.

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Max's DIY vise made from a single tree is flat-out genius, and we like the addition of a hand-inflated air bag (the type used by locksmiths to pry open car doors) to precisely adjust the vise pressure. It's also cool to see Max bringing in new trees to replenish the forest and provide natural resources for future projects. After all, if you're planning to use a homestead property for many years, it would be unwise to deplete the surrounding trees.

As always, we'll be looking forward to future updates from Max on his bushcraft log cabin.

Written by Patrick McCarthy