For the birdies

[Curt Fuller]

I made a couple birdhouses this weekend from some redwood scraps. They're both about 9" at the widest and 15" tall. Supposedly about the right size for some of the birds that live around here. Staved, tenoned, glued, turned, and Thompson water sealed.

BTW, I don't know if it's just me, but this redwood caused me to react worse than any wood I've ever turned. Made me cough, made my eyes burn and itch, and made a rash on my hands. I've made a few things from redwood before and never noticed any reaction. But this stuff was a real choker.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Curt - great looking birdhouses! Every time I see one of these I want to give one a try - but then I forget and move on and turn something else!

Good looking wood - lots of color! Sorry to hear about your reaction to the dust! Hope it has gone away by now! Was getting to the point that white cedar was starting to cause simular problems for me - so I quit turning it.

Love the forms on these! You always turn birdhouses that have that touch of fantasy to them yet look totally practical! Nice work! Glad to see more of your bird series!

OH - for those of you who didn't know... tomorrow is Curt's birthday - so be sure to wish him well!

[Don Carter]

Happy Birthday, Curt....tomorrow.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Very fancyfull birdhouses Curt, real nice.
Reaction to Thuja and Juniper and others in the Cypress family is quite common, it seems to build up till one does react to it and gets worse with more exposure, you probably have to curtail the use of it, same happens often with the use of Rosewood, luckely there are many more species of wood you can turn :-)))

[Bernie Weishapl]

Those are beauties Curt. Really well done. I made a couple and need to make a couple more for my sister. I turned the bottom with a tenon on it so it would slip into the birdhouse itself and used screws to hold it in place. That way you take out the screws and clean it out in the fall when the birds are gone.

[Paul Douglass]

OK! next project when I get to do the next project! Great job. They really look nice and some birds are going to be singing the "move'n on up" song. you know, "to the delux appartment..."

[Richard Madison]

Curt,
What kinda birdies ya got out there? They apparently require some pretty upscale housing!

[Skip Spaulding]

Happy Birthday Curt, great looking houses!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Happy Birthday Curt.

[Mike Ramsey]

Curt I always enjoy seeing your birdhouses, great job!

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Happy Birthday Curt

and many more :D

[David Walser]

...They're both about 9" at the widest and 15" tall. Supposedly about the right size for some of the birds that live around here. Staved, tenoned, glued, turned, and Thompson water sealed. ...

Curt, some questions about construction details:


Did you turn the inside as well as the outside? (Other than giving the little birdies more square footage, I don't see why you'd need to hollow out the inside of the birdhouse.)
Did you do as Bernie suggests and provide some way to remove the top or bottom so the birdhouse could be cleaned out at the end of the season? (If you did, could you explain how? It's certainly not visible in the pictures.)
How much are you charging the birdies for use of the home? Do you get a multi-month lease or is it a month-to-month kind of arrangement? I've two kids attending school in Utah, and it seems these rental contracts can get fairly complicated.

Very nice birdhouses. If I remember, I'll glue up some blanks and make some for my backyard. I think they'd look nice hanging from one of my tangerine, orange, or grapefruit trees. Maybe, when your tenants leave for the winter you can send them my way.

[Curt Fuller]

Curt, some questions about construction details:


Did you turn the inside as well as the outside? (Other than giving the little birdies more square footage, I don't see why you'd need to hollow out the inside of the birdhouse.)
Did you do as Bernie suggests and provide some way to remove the top or bottom so the birdhouse could be cleaned out at the end of the season? (If you did, could you explain how? It's certainly not visible in the pictures.)
How much are you charging the birdies for use of the home? Do you get a multi-month lease or is it a month-to-month kind of arrangement? I've two kids attending school in Utah, and it seems these rental contracts can get fairly complicated.
Very nice birdhouses. If I remember, I'll glue up some blanks and make some for my backyard. I think they'd look nice hanging from one of my tangerine, orange, or grapefruit trees. Maybe, when your tenants leave for the winter you can send them my way.

David, yes the inside is hollowed. It follows the contour of the outside shape and has about 1/2" thick walls. They're made from redwood lumber scraps from my daughters new deck, 8 staves cut at 22.5 degrees. That leaves the inside about right to mount on my talon expanding the jaws into the end opening. I round both ends inside and hollow them that way along with shaping the outside. The bottom and tops are tenoned to fit that inside opening, and the other finial type things are 1" tenoned. The door opening is 1 1/2". These are glued together so if they need to be taken apart to clean them it will take a sharp smack to the underside of the roof with a mallot. And I let the birds live in them for free, but I plan to charge about 60 bucks if someone else wants the birds to live in one for free in their backyard.
Hope that makes sense.

[David Walser]

Curt,

Thanks for the reply. I appreciate it.

[Clara Koss]

my most favorite thing in wood is the fairytale like bird house...yours are right up my alley... soooooo great looking and the shapes are wonderful...i have one IN my house that looks like a mini 7 dwarfs cottage... no birds, just decoration... thanks for showing those to us!!!!:p

[Dewey Torres]

Lov em Curt!