Max Egorov considers himself to be a regular guy — he's not a professional carpenter, builder, or survival instructor. In fact, he's actually a lawyer from St. Petersburg, Russia. Each year, he takes one month off work to trek into the remote forest and work on his hobby of bushcraft projects. He also takes the time to film these projects, and uploads them to his YouTube channel Advoko Makes. Most of Max's content has been created in his native language, but he has been working to provide English-language voiceovers for these videos so more people can learn from them.

We've previously written about Max's videos on fire-carved log furniture and vertically-grilling shish kabobs inside a Swedish torch. His latest project is a much larger undertaking — building a custom log cabin from scratch with basic tools. As with his other videos, he's doing all the work solo, including cutting and moving massive fallen logs. That's actually the subject of the first video in his series:

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The A-frame device he creates to move these 1,000-pound logs over rough terrain is pretty clever. And although he uses a chainsaw to speed up the work, most of the rest of the cutting is done with hand tools such as an axe, chisel, and adze.

In the second part of the series, he processes these logs by cutting large copes in each end and a flat notch along the length. Moss is added to the notches for insulation, and pegs are hammered into holes at the joints to hold the logs in place.

The third part of the series shows how Max built doors in each end of the cabin, allowing for easier access and a means of escape if a bear attempts to break into his cabin during the night. Jack studs are shaped from logs and erected vertically, using a pendulum on a string to ensure they're level. A gable at the top of the door holds the jack studs together.

In the fourth and latest part of the series, Max adds more gables to accommodate for the slope of the roof, and discusses some of the hiccups he encountered during this process.

This is an ongoing project, so we plan to keep an eye on the progress. If you'd like to see more of Max's log cabin videos when they're released, you can do so through this playlist.

Written by Patrick McCarthy