JeffA: You are doing Swedish cope and cut. My hat is off to you that is the most difficult type of cabin construction. I have a $108 scriber but never got around to building in that style. I have done 2 round log cabins with saddle notch, but about 7 with the dovetail notch and chinking.
The chinking, by the way, is not a maintenance problem if done properly. My chinking is R16 and snug and tight.
I have seen some chinking jobs that were badly botched.
A lot of people who do work on log cabins don't know what they are doing.
