1. Select wood blanks of suitable size for body, roof, bottom and perch.
Beth uses contrasting woods such as walnut and maple. For this demo she used
purpleheart for the body and maple for the other parts. She often uses bits of
wood left over from larger projects but also uses purchased pen blanks.
Dimensions of less than 1 × 1 inch cross section are preferred since the
body diameter will usually be 3/8" and the roof and bottom only slightly
larger. You may also use 3/8" dowel for the bodies and ½" dowel for the
roof and bottom finials.
2. Body. Using ¼" masking tape mark bird and perch holes on each blank.
Drill a 9/64" bird hole and a 1/16" perch hole. Hollow bodies by drilling a
7mm hole through the axis of both pieces. Using a crosscut sled on the band
saw cut blanks for body to 1" lengths. Sand or use a pen barrel trimmer to
smooth sawed ends and make sure they are the same matching lengths above and
below holes. If using a pen barrel trimmer on a 3/8" drilled dowel, be very
careful not to split the blanks.
Beth laid the masking tape strip down the center of the blank wall for the
length of the blank and used a template to mark the cuts and the location for
drilling the bird and perch holes for several pairs of bodies for production
efficiency. The bird and perch holes should be drilled before the blank is cut
to length. (It is easier to hold on to if you don't have a vice). Use a
V-block for holding the dowels. The 7mm hollow boring is to fit the pen
mandrel to be used later and can be done on the lathe in a chuck with small
jaws or on a drill press using a machinist’s vise or pen centering vise. Beth
has created a cross-cutting sled that mates with the miter gauge slot on the
band-saw bed so she can keep fingers well clear of the blade. She has also
created a special tool-rest platform and sanding disk for her lathe to convert
the lathe into a mini disk sander. She matches up the holes on the body pieces
and sands them together to match the lengths above and below the holes.
3. Mount the body pieces on a pen mandrel with standard bushings. Turn and sand
the pair to 3/8" diameter. Sand and finish the body pair.
Beth uses a small spindle gouge and high lathe speed for this turning step. She
typically sands to 600-1000 grit and seals with un-thinned Deft lacquer. She
friction dries the lacquer with paper kitchen napkins since they are lint free.
She applies Renaissance Was and buffs the pieces.
4. Mount roof blank in chuck of choice. Turn the top of roof to desired shape.
Using small drill chuck and #60 wire bit, (or bit that will fit your eye screws
or wires) drill a hole in top of the roof to receive the eye pin or screw pin
that will hold the ear wire. Leave a ¼" diameter tenon 1/8 inch long to
fit into the top of the body. Sand and apply finish and part off the first
roof. Repeat the process for the second roof making sure they look alike. I
like to have the largest roof diameter be ½".
Beth usually pre-turns the roof/bottom/perch blanks into a dowel so they will
fit well in a pin or dowel chuck. The finishing is done just as it was for the
body sections. A quarter inch tenon will be slightly smaller than the 7mm hole
in the body, but not enough to be a problem.
5. Bottom: With the same blank in chuck, bring up tail stock and true up
blank. Turn the bottom with an acorn, cove, and bead and with a tendon of
¼" diameter and 1/8" length to fit into bottom of the body. Sand, apply
finish and part off.
The diameter of this bottom piece should be slightly larger than the diameter
of the body. The finishing is done just as with the body and roof pieces. The
process is repeated for the second bottom to make a pair as in step 4.
6. Perch. Using chuck of choice turn bird perches, sand and finish.
The perches can be turned to any desired shape but must fit into the 1/16"
perch hole drilled in the body section. Beth used the same dowel and chuck as
for the roof and bottom sections.
7. Assemble birdhouses with glue of choice. Attach eye pins and fish-hook
wires lining up so when you look at the front of bird house you also look
through eye. You're done.
Beth used C/A glue for the assembly and hardware installation. Care must be
taken to avoid excess-glue squeeze out. Beth obtains her hardware (eye pins or
screw eyes and ear wires) from jewelry craft supply outlets. She uses a store
called The Bead Fairy on 9400 South and 700 East in Sandy. The screw
eye might hold the glue more securely than the eye pin. Beth keeps her
hardware and turned pieces organized in a compartmented plastic boxes.
(Demonstration pictures continue down the long column on the right.)
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