By DEBORAH GERTZ HUSAR

Herald-Whig Staff Writer

WARSAW, Ill. -- His trowel temporarily stilled, Warsaw High School senior Casey King checks his work with a critical eye.

"It's not 100 percent perfect," King said.

But it's more than good enough for the modern-day pioneers, better known as a dozen members of the Warsaw FFA, busy restoring an 1840s log cabin to the beat of rock music from a nearby car stereo.

The 12 boys nailed strips of screen wire between logs, mixed wheelbarrow loads of mortar and concrete and, following King's lead, carefully troweled and smoothed the mixture into the gaps between logs.

"It's time-consuming," senior Vince Wiegand said. "Chinking takes time to get it just right."

The process mimics what the pioneers did with less-modern materials to keep cold air and bad weather out of their homes.

"The pioneers would have put in anything they could just to keep the cold out. I like to make it look smooth," said King, the mortar "artist" in the group. "It's a great learning experience."

And an unexpected one for some students who expected the home repair class to focus on a modern-day structure, not one dating to the 1800s.

"Some had never used a trowel in their lives ... but they are just a lean, mean log cabin machine," ag teacher and FFA sponsor Ron Pierce said. "They're having a ball. They work very well together."

The work began Aug. 20, with the students from Warsaw and Nauvoo-Colusa spending one eight-block class period every other day at the cabin moved from its original site to Henerhoff Field. "Our goal would be to have it under roof by Thanksgiving," Pierce said.

Pierce oversees the project with help from "resident expert" and resource Dave Hardle, a Nauvoo man who restores log cabins.

"They're doing very well," Hardle said. "They're learning some skills, and it will help them to understand (the pioneer) way of life, appreciate the simplicity of their life."

More inspiration comes from Warsaw resident Perry Cameron, who restored an adjacent cabin more than 20 years ago with a friend John Bavery. That cabin, complete with a working stone fireplace, is open the first Sunday of December each year for visits with Santa.

By Christmas, Pierce and the students hope to host an event for their families at the cabin with horsedrawn wagons, sleighbells, hot chocolate and carolers.

Wiegand proposed the cabin as a class project, knowing that work had begun and stalled to restore the cabin discovered several years ago as a house was being torn down in bottoms just south of Warsaw. "My dad for a few years of his childhood lived in the cabin. They had built a house around it," Wiegand said.

Like King, Wiegand has some construction experience, but he's still learning on the job. "It's a team effort. You can't do it by yourself," Wiegand said.

Surrounding communities -- Dallas City, Colusa and Nauvoo -- are taking an interest in the project, which provides more inspiration for the FFA members.

"Their work ethic has come forth in flying colors. I'm very proud of every one of them," Pierce said. "They want to give something to the community. Someday they can take their kids and say they were part of 12 guys who did this."

Pierce said the group is the only FFA chapter -- and possibly the only high school group -- in the nation working to restore a log cabin.

Help came from several local companies and some from further away, including more than $500 worth of a "textbook" on restoring cabins from Storey Publishing and gloves from Wells Lamont.

"We need other items. We're looking for some furniture, some things for the interior that have a bit of antiquity to them, to replicate what it looked like," Pierce said.

Wiegand wouldn't mind a taste of pioneer life, but "not full-time," he said. "I'd like to live in it a little while just to find out how they lived."

But the cabin size could be an issue for sophomore Tyler Schilson. "It's not too bad," he said, but "I like a little bit more space."

-- dhusar@whig.com/221-3379