Round birdhouses.

[tuoh]

Birdhouses made from waste wood. Turned on the lathe.

 

[johnnyb]

I've made a few of a similar style. undoubtedly the most difficult part of my design was the roof section it was a multi sided pyramidal shape that on some I turned and some were left pointed or with a turned finial. I used a computer program to calculate the compound angles. to complicate it further the roof needed to be glued long grain orientation as end grain wouldnt glue! ill post some photos tomorrow.

 

[JoeSheffer]

RATHER LOVELY

 

[Jameshow]

You really ought to be using a birdsmouth joint for that cylinder section!!

Nice work!!!

Cheers James

 

[johnnyb]

here they are

 

[Richard_C]

Very good, and birds should happy with round ones because few things in nature are rectangles like most nesting boxes.

What's a good internal diameter for a birdbox? I've got loads of round logs for the woodburner and it should be straightforward to make some from them.

 

[tuoh]

120mm internal diameter is perfect.

 

[JoeSheffer]

@johnnyb how did you cut the mitres on the green birdbox's hat? How does it stay on?

 

[johnnyb]

the mitres(compound mitres actually) on the lids of all the birdhouses including the round(conical)ones are made in a similar way. the conical ones are turned on the lathe after. so it involves a computer program to calculate the angles(of the mitres gauge and also the blade) the difficult part is the long grain orientation. so I glue up a short grain board ie maybe 2 foot long with the grain running across the short bit. then the segments can be cut by flipping the board over and taking another cut over and over until you've got enough. if your angles are good it can be glued using masking tape to hold the sections together.
turning them is also awkward using a tapered drive centre and a gentle technique.

 

[johnnyb]

some were made with accoya the conical one was made from red cedar. another from oak. its certainly challenging to make the roof but not impossible. the finials were turned separately. if you can make the body I reckon the roof is a couple of stars more technical.