I am not handy at woodworking. I can do basic things, but even my birdhouses turn out a bit wonky. But I cut down a huge Bradford Pear tree two years ago and the bark and the wood just doesn't deteriorate. I've got a bunch of it stacked for firewood. I decided to cut some open and see what the wood looked like. It's really stunning wood. So I split a piece of wood and peeled some bark to mount on the front face of my birdhouse. I thought it turned out kinda decent. Still a little tacky in the photos and needs to be steel wooled and a second coat put on it.



LOL, I had to use weather stripping to fix a gap between the side wall and the hinged roof.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Micropterus,

Your local birds will be proud! and happy

Looks great to me! Love the front! Curb appeal!

Good looking, what size hole ? Did you just start building or did you get plans ?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: bendable,

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
Good looking, what size hole ? Did you just building or did you get plans ?

The hole is 1 1/2 inch. Supposedly good for smaller songbirds like bluebirds, chickadees and titmice.

No, I didn't use plans. I'm not that advanced. I eye-ball everything. I've built a few so far and used an old bird house as a model.

What I usually do is cut the face to a size that is "about right" then cut all the walls, floors, and roof based on fitting them to the face and marking them. I don't measure anything - I'm not that advanced. I do use a square, though.

I use countersunk 2 1/2" wood screws and Gorilla wood glue to hold it all together.

After my first two birdhouses I learned that the inside of the box needed to be rough so fledgling birds can get a toe hold to get out. So in every subsequent box I built a sort of ladder system that a baby bird can use to get out. On this one, I used cut strip so bark on the inside to form ladder rungs.



Here is it before the finish applied to the face.



This was the house I made before this one. It's a woodpecker or large songbird box with a 2 inch hole. I had a cut stump of Bradford Pear sitting in the backyard and the bark came off in one big sheet. I was like, "that's kinda cool. Wonder what I can use it for?" So I soaked it in water for a day then flattened for a week under bags of concrete. I used is to mount to the face of the woodpecker house. I was able to preserve the woodpecker holes that were already in the bark.







These are the first three I made.

#3 in the pic was my first attempt. A little too small and the hole is a bit too big. And I didn't make a way to open it to clean it out. Nevertheless, a chickadee now calls it home.

#1 was my 2nd attempt. Still, no way to open it to clean it out. And the hole is too low on the face. And, I was careless and put 7 rows of shingles on one side and 8 on the other. Still, some shameless chickadee is living in this now, too.

# 4 was my 3rd house. The first one that I did right, but only after learning I did it wrong. I nailed it all together and when mounting it found that it was coming apart so I disassembled it, glued and screwed it. The front face slides off once you take those brass screws out. A titmouse is now in this one.

#2 isn't mine. It was at my mother-in-laws house until recently. She died about 9 years ago and this was left to deteriorate in her backyard. I took it and replaced the rotted floor, and used a dremel to mill out all the rot that formed along various cracks and used plastic wood filler to build those areas back up. I tried to repaint it the way it was when I found it, though most of the paint was already gone. A bluebird now lives in this.

I sold most of my power tools , I am in an apt. now and did not want to disturb the neighbors.

If I had a 16 x 16 ft. shop I'd build bird houses and feeders , pretty much 5 days a week.

If you contact the county and state parks , they might have a list of the feeders or houses or nest boxes that they have a need for.

I quit making houses and boxes for people because they did not want to take the time to put them where they belong or maintain them .

Very nice! Now you got me thinking about all the downed Black Locust wood I have at my disposal....I may have to make one now.

Nice. The 1.5” hole sounds right for Bluebirds, Tree Swallows & a few others.

Bluebirds like open areas, kinda like golf course settings. Near trees & brush Wrens May move in. The only birds I evict are English(House) Sparrows. Starlings know enough to stay away.

I use metal poles, wood poles are a death sentence to MANY broods. After a while you’ll see scratch marks from climbing scavengers.

I know their common, but birds don’t really need a perch below the hole. It’s less an issue but can also be used by an aggressive species to look for lunch.

Great job! I'm sure the birds will be glad to move in to their new homes. Did you also build that bench too in the past? Reminds me of when I built our front deck and benches. I also built a standing table that palms grow thru in the middle. Now many years later, though the benches and table/palms are still there, the original wood decking has been replaced by artistic stamped concrete.

I used to enjoy building and constructing my original front deck project, it was great to sit out among my front yard jungle at night and enjoy the fresh coastal breezes. Still do once in awhile.

Great job though, and thanks for the memories

My benches have now been up almost 25yrs and thru all hurricanes and steaming hot humid rainy South Florida weather it has survived, The wood decking, not so much as now replaced by the stamped concrete. It was my first wood building project and has lasted...so far, that is.
I say great job Micropterus and any new wood projects please post, would enjoy seeing them!

Micropterus, I you'd get the chance, (I'm getting bored to death each day) I'd love to see some photo's of your deck and bench area in the photos. I was a complete amateur when I did my front benches. I had just purchased my first compound miter saw and needed a quick project so I did the front benches. The deck was already there when I purchased the house.

Nice work. Reminds me I have to put up a Hummingbird feeder I have.

Looks like something I can pass time doing myself. Your work is very nice.

quote:

Originally posted by just1tym:
Micropterus, I you'd get the chance, (I'm getting bored to death each day) I'd love to see some photo's of your deck and bench area in the photos. I was a complete amateur when I did my front benches. I had just purchased my first compound miter saw and needed a quick project so I did the front benches. The deck was already there when I purchased the house.

If you'll notice, the bench is square and well done. That means I did not do it. It came with my house. In fact, I'm starting to get to a point where I want a new deck to replace the one in the pics.

quote:

Originally posted by Micropterus:

quote:

Originally posted by just1tym:
Micropterus, I you'd get the chance, (I'm getting bored to death each day) I'd love to see some photo's of your deck and bench area in the photos. I was a complete amateur when I did my front benches. I had just purchased my first compound miter saw and needed a quick project so I did the front benches. The deck was already there when I purchased the house.

If you'll notice, the bench is square and well done. That means I did not do it. It came with my house. In fact, I'm starting to get to a point where I want a new deck to replace the one in the pics.

Whoever did it by the photos, it looks like they did a pretty good job!

I built a birdhouse today, as well. We're have one with a nice chickadee nest and eggs so I built another one.

Those are awesome!

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:

Wood duck boxes?

That is correct. I,
made a dozen other,smaller bird houses, but didn't take pic's of them.

I found six very old barn boards at a garage sale for $15.00 to make the wood duck boxes.

we are talking 90 years old

This message has been edited. Last edited by: bendable,

Very cool. I like those.