Here are some Birdhouse Ornaments I just finished...

[Doug W Swanson]

Hey all,


Here are a couple pictures of some ornaments I just finished. I had only made 2 of these (one for practice and one for a prize at a woodturning xmas party) before my wife decided we should give some out as gifts.

Since I had to make 15 ornaments, I made an assembly line and got to work. I used an assortment of wood (paduak, oak, maple, cherry, bloodwoood, osage orange, red heart, east Indian rosewood and mahogany) and made each one different.

I started off by cutting the wood to size and matching up tops and bottoms. Then I marked and drilled the holes (even my 6 yr old helped with this part). Then I turned all of the tops and finally turned the bottoms to match.

The hardest part was making the perches. I didn't want to use the cheap dowels so I turned my own 1/8" dowels from maple, cherry, rosewood, etc.

I think there are some that turned out better than others but my wife seems to like them all!

I sure hope my relatives will enjoy them!

Enjoy!
Doug

[Steve Schlumpf]

Doug - those are really nice and will make for some wonderful gifts! They are a lot of fun to do but can become addicting real fast! Nice variety of styles! Thanks for sharing!

[Billy Tallant]

The ornaments sure look nice. I bet the relatives will really enjoy them.

[Jeff Nicol]

Nice bunch of ornaments with pretty colors, and the cardinal is always my best seller! I am working on my next batch and need to get them done soon. The big day is coming fast!

Nice wood combos too,

Jeff

[charlie knighton]

super.....

[Bernie Weishapl]

Nice looking birdhouses. Like Jeff the cardinal sells faster than any others. Don't know why. Of course as long as the wife likes them all else doesn't matter.

[Tom Baugues]

Doug, these look real good. Can you tell me the approx. dimensions of them? I would like to try some of these. Also...are they hollow or just a hole drilled in them and a perch added.

Tom

[Doug W Swanson]

Hey all,

Thanks for the responses. For some reason I like the look of the cardinal better than the other colors, too. It just looks more like a winter/Christmas bird than blue, yellow, etc.

The overall dimensions are about 5" tall. Here is how I made them:

For the tops I used blocks of wood that were 2" to 2.5" square by about 2.5" tall. I used a 1.25" forstner bit to drill a recess in the top. Then I drilled a hole (I don't remember the diameter) for mounting on my wine stopper mandrel. Then I turned and finished all of the tops.

For the bodies I used blocks of wood that were 1.5' to 2" square by 3" to 4" tall. Then I drilled a 1/2" hole for the opening and a 1/8" for the perch. Then I drilled out the body using a 1" forstner bit. The depth of this hole goes down to just above the perch hole.

When I turned the bodies, I made sure that there was a small lip at the top to help hide the seam when I joined the 2 pieces together. Then I just tried to match the body to the top (or have them be somewhat similar).

I even made a 'nest' out of some maple shavings in each of the houses. I did this by spreading out some glue and then adding a few shavings right before final assembly. My kids loved helping with this part!

Thanks again for the complements!
Doug

[Ron Bontz]

What ever you do, don't let any blue birds move into that neighborhood. Could get ugly. :D Nice work.

[Maylon Harvey]

Doug,
Nice houses. I finished a batch of 11 a couple of weeks ago that was an order for my daughter. Then I just finished another 13 yesterday, 6 of which were orders. And now I'm getting ready to do another 10, 2 of which are orders. Your posting is timely as I'll borrow :rolleyes: some of your styles if you don't mind as I'm starting to run out of ideas.

[Doug W Swanson]

Hi Maylon,

I don't mind at all if you copy any of my bird houses. In fact I'd be honored! You'll have to post some pictures of the finished product.

Doug

[Randy Hoch]

These are great. Where is the best place to get the little birds?

Randy

[Doug W Swanson]

These are great. Where is the best place to get the little birds?

Randy

I got mine from Craft Supplies:

http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/store/Projects___Christmas_Ornaments___Miniature_Birds__ _mini_birds?Args=

I used the large cardinals for my houses. I have not seen the size of the small ones so I'm not sure how much smaller they are.

Doug

[Dolan Brown]

Doug,

Are your cardinals the miniature or the large ones that Craft Supply sells?

BTW really nice bird houses, I have made a few recently and they are fun and I even sold a few.

[Doug W Swanson]

Doug,

Are your cardinals the miniature or the large ones that Craft Supply sells?

BTW really nice bird houses, I have made a few recently and they are fun and I even sold a few.

These are the large birds. These are the only ones I have seen to I don't know how they compare to the small ones.

My wife keeps asking me if I can make a business out of wood turning. I'm not sure if I could make millions but I bet I could make a little for the rainy day fund! Every thing I have made so far I have either given as gifts or kept for us. I may have to try going to a craft show one of these day!

Doug