since he's in Sweden, maybe the slow growth of the wood minimizes the outside sugars?
I don't know if the trees grow any slower in Sweden
...(i'm in interior Alaska,with no Gulfstream anywhere close
.
I'm afraid it's just biology,that's how the trees eat and metabolize the nutrients.
Sap wood was discarded wherever possible in any trades,for a number of reasons,it's best to avoid it.
For Practical building clues i'd look to the older European methods.
When encountering something especially laborious,try to think for the reason why someone would go through all the extra trouble.If the reason is not readily discernable,i'd still consider employing the technique.There's only a very small probability that it's a purely cultural effect,chances are it's to do with structural issues.
Look to the Swedish,Norwegian,Finnish building traditions.
I think it's best to disregard all American/Canadian log construction as it was never really practiced in the New World,and is practically all newly resurrected by the hippies,and has a very large dose of sentimentality,and even a larger one of conspicuous consumption,all at the expense of the real,structural,practical considerations.
One important issue that is Invariably ignored in the New World,when building with evergreen timber:A conifer consists of 3 very different sections,commonly numbered 1 to 3 from bottom up.
#1,from jug-butt to beginning of knots;mostly clear;of a moderate taper.
#2,the knots are moderately sized;taper increases somewhat;twist,if present,may also increase.
#3,knots are excessively large;grain waves in and out around the knots;taper often exceeds the reasonable.
What it means is that the mixing of all three makes for a poorly designed and therefore constructed house.
Possibly one can use a log containing ## 1 and 2,but certainly not all 3(as is too commonly done,to achieve that "space",that very long single wall length.
It's best to break up the length of wall down to whatever the natural log will "divide" into,according to your local species.
For example,mature White spruce in my area would produce a #1 section of an 16'-18',and similar or slightly less for #2.
Jog the wall to account for that,and everything will change for the better.Jogs,and an interior log wall or two can then be used also to carry a part of roof load.
If you try to disregard that you'll inevitably find yourself in a situation where a 9" top needs to be scribed over a 22" butt.You can see a bit of that in that young man's cabin,where the notch is so deep as to almost sever the log.
(As a matter of fact Canadian scribe can be said to've been "invented" to resolve just such a misalignment.In effect Canadian is using only a half of a so-called Norwegian scribe method,but in the latter the log selection is dome very carefully indeed).
A good(or rather the opposite)example of how sentimentality has no place in wooden architecture are the ridiculous tails that everyone wants hanging Way overboard of the building.
Worse than that,they like to shape them in some outlandish manner which is(i think)intended to indicate that their grandpappy whacked these trees off with an axe.
Aesthetically these tails end up looking like beaver-chew,and structurally they often spell doom to the whole building,as they grab Lots of driven and all other moisture and capillary it right into the corner,which rots very rapidly from it.
Meanwhile their grandpappys are all turning over in their graves with shame,as They'd most certainly trimmed the corners of the building as close as possible,And covered them up with Very generous overhangs of the roof as well....
Find out as much as you can about the history of older European wooden building,agonize about it in a rational manner,and make a good plan! Agonizing is good,it can save a Lot of trouble later on!