Shopsmith Forums

I have been making some bird houses over the last few months and am attaching some photos. It has been a learning experience as most of the parts are crafted by me. The only purchased parts are the corners on two of the houses (left over corner pieces from home repairs), the picket fence on one house and the chimney on the log cabin style house ( an axle peg).

All the shingles, cladding, trim, and logs were made by ripping thin pieces from regular 1x pine or a cedar fence board. The cedar board was run againt 1/4" round over router bit on each edge, and the the curved side ripped to thickness and repeated over and over.

All the boxes are the same basic design and measurements but cladding, top sections and roofs created the differences in appearance.

Besides the items I madeanother dool bed for another great-granddaughter. and a set of outdoor polar bears which has a bit of a story. My grand daughter called one evening in early December because she had two crying daughters because their polar bears had been stolen from their front yard. Grandpa went to work to make a new set which took about two weeks. Just when they were ready to be delivered, the original ones were returned though slightly worse for wear. About the same time a grand son (her brother) who had bought a house said he would like a pair of polar bears. Well we just happened to have some so within the hour he arrived to pick them up. In the end, a good Christmas was had by all.

Take care and have fun!

John

Wow, lucky birds!

Like !!

I like them all but the log cabin is my favorite

Amazing detail, paint schemes and workmanship! I think these birdhouses would "fly off the shelf" at a craft show.

These birdhouses are so well crafted, people would buy them just for indoor display and never let birds live in them!

I would advise to insure that these houses have a rainproof roof vent for air circulation. They get hot when in the sun, hot enough to cook eggs.

Those bandsaw birdhouses in this recent thread are also very neat in their own way viewtopic.php?t=32681

In my long-gone youth, I thought about making birdhouses for a living. Then I thought about having to get up every morning and face yet another day of making birdhouses! If you love your hobby, never turn it into a job!

Steve:

the roofs are vented under the side eavess you just can't see it in the photos. There is about a 1/2" space between the roof line and the side walls. I also made holes in the bottoms, supposedly for drainage but I figure it will provide additional venting.

The blue bird house was made for my daughter last summer and when her neighbour saw it she asked if I could make her one around Christmas. I didn't have time then but completed the green one early this year. My daughter was just visiting us for Easter and texted a picture to her neighbour who said she wanted it. It is now on it's way to Niagara Falls, Canada.

I used to do craft shows and sold many things including a couple of bird houses but I haven't done that for years. Even though people said my prices were low for what I what selling, very few people seemed to want to pay the price.

But I have caught the bug for bird houses so I will be making more and experimenting with design options.

Take care and have fun!

John