Shopsmith Forums

Hi,

I'm not sure I've ever mentioned that as a boy I made and sold birdhouses. Gee I hope that doesn't make me a professional woodworker....

Actually that is how I got into woodworking, helping one of my brothers. He had a physically handicap and while capable of a lot pounding in nails was not one of them. Any of you with kids of about 6, how well do they do a pounding in nails??? He had a shop and all the tools were mounted on the floor. Since he couldn't stand this made since but it also made for problems when he needed help with things. Me being about 6 and available and having no problem with working on the floor it made since... It took a while but I learned... Anyway he managed to make and sell birdhouse. Without getting into details he moved to live with our uncle and then some years later I started my own birdhouse/bird feeder road side stand.

That was a long time ago... Now another brother lives at the same site and sells birdhouses. He keeps busy during the long winters of northern WI by making 800 to 1200 birdhouses. He sells most of them for $3, not a lot of profit but it is gas money for his collector cars. Since even I can not make a birdhouse for $3 I got a few to put up as more of a decoration then a prospective home for birds.

This is what they look like after I painted them and added a bit of a "branch" look to them:
[ATTACH]8596[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]8597[/ATTACH]

If you happen to be a beginner at woodworking this might be just the thing to get you going. You almost can't go wrong on one of these projects.

Ed

Did he give you a discount on the one without a perch?:D

Isn't it a great feeling to see a young person complete a project, at any skill level. One a year I work with my daughter's special ed class on a full day woodworking project. One year it was a birdhouse. I precut the wood, pre-drilled starter holes of the nails, and left them to sand, hammer, and paint. The gleam in their faces was a fantastic reward. I am sure you know the feeling.
Congratulations on a lovely project, and thank you for sharing.

Great job on the birdhouses. Yes, they are fun to make. But, I have this dumb question - do the roofs repell the rain? Do we need to be more careful to make good roofs?:o

My fortune cookie today said "You don't need talent to gain experience".
Thankfully that applies to woodworking too.

swampgator wrote:Great job on the birdhouses. Yes, they are fun to make. But, I have this dumb question - do the roofs repell the rain? Do we need to be more careful to make good roofs?:o

Those roofs should repel a lot more rain than the natural places they would be nesting if they didn't have a birdhouse.
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JPG40504 wrote:Did he give you a discount on the one without a perch?:D

I got them for free... of course I brought up a drum sander and sleeves for the shopsmith I gave him last year... The bird houses almost covers the postage for the drum sander and sleeves.

Then there was the paint I had to buy, and the painting time, so these are costing me more like $20 each. Of course I have enough paint for many many more bird houses now.

Ed

Really nice looking bird houses. Looks to me like the rof should be just fine at repeling rain. If you see a bird nest up in the tree does it's roof repel water? Oh yea what roof is that, just the natural foliage of the tree. The birds seems to not really mind about that......

Great bird house.. I noticed your laptop project in the background. Was that picture during or after construction?

honeywell wrote:Great bird house.. I noticed your laptop project in the background. Was that picture during or after construction?

The laptop project was done before, just didn't have time to finish it before the long trip. It is out of the van for some sanding and to fill the holes left by the air nails and the screws... except my can of filler dried up over the winter so it is waiting for me to go shopping for more... then it will get patched, sanded, primed, and painted (gray).

Ed