Shopsmith Forums

So last year my brother said he was retiring from making and selling birdhouses. That was not strictly true. He did pass the business on to a neighbor but he still made a few birdhouses. As of last week he had sold 660 with some still in reserve. That is down from the last few years but still a lot of birdhouses.

I helped him cut up wood for winter building so that was fun. The problem he was having was getting enough wood without paying much for it. He use to sell the simple birdhouses for $3 each. Now they still sell for $3 but he only gets $2. He does make other more expensive ones too but the cheap small ones sell best.

He is 82 but loves to stay busy. When he spotted this lumber he knew he wanted it but his wife wasn't so sure. He talked her into it and while I was there to help it was a done deal.

These boards are 1 x 12 half lap and from 8 feet to 16 feet in length. This was the roofing off an old restaurant that someone had saved. Still had nails in it from the roofing but it was pretty sound. It had been covered so it was dry and just like he likes it, rustic.

Using the 3/4" x 11-1/4 x an average length and the board count it came out to almost 700 board feet. That will make all the bird houses he needs for this winter and maybe forever.
He has to sell just 37-1/2 bird houses to get to even on the wood.

We have it all stacked and covered by the back shop.
Using some other left overs I made a winter roosting box as a sample for him. I had picked up the "8" at a restore for 25 cents along with some other numbers that he can add to birdhouses or more roosting boxes. Not sure they will sell but if not he can hang it out his local birds.
He has set up a plastic walled section for the 10ER I gave him. It is right in front of a window which I think will be great for the light. It might not work on the coldest days up there but they are not all that way.
Anyway I wasn't away from wood working as I helped cutting wood for 50 birdhouses and drilled the entry holes.

Ed

Nice find on the wood ,,should keep him busy for a while !!

Cool. Is the 10er in the photos a dedicated lathe?

Dansmith wrote:Cool. Is the 10er in the photos a dedicated lathe?

He is using it as a just a lathe. We have used it as a table saw also but now that function is being done with a couple of other table saws he has along with his RAS.

I really like the little "room" idea. He has one of his drill presses set up in there along with a old butcher block he uses as a small work bench.

He has some shoulder issues so I'm not sure he could get the 10ER into the drill press position now. Of course it still can be used as a horizontal drill press if he wants. And he could do some limited cross cutting if need be. The possibilities are there.

We were going to move it to his basement but I think this idea is better. I really really like the window where it is. I wish I could do that.

We cut up some cherry blanks from a tree he took down. The brown paper bag with sawdust for drying them. I brought a few pieces back with me but I plan to make some weed pots rather then drying mine.

Somehow either I didn't give him a 505603 Tailstock Chuck Arbor or it got lost so I've got to get him one.... fun thing is that he just broke a chuck on one of his drill presses and it has a MT2 so he will be able to use the shopsmith chuck with the adapter both places.

Ed

Thanks, Ed. Hope to see some photos of your weed pots.