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This project is for the birds...#5

Project by Brad_Nailor posted 636 days ago 522 views 0 times favorited 16 comments Add to Favorites Watch
This project is for the birds...#5
This project is for the birds...#5 No picture No picture No picture No picture No picture
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Ok, so I finally finished this little project! Actually I finished a while ago this is just the first chance I have had to shoot some pics and post them! When I last left you, I was about to start shingling the roof with mini cedar shakes! Here is the result complete with the base!

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I went to great lengths to try and keep everything in this project Cedar, and was able to except for the base and plywood dividers and some of the screw cleats.

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I custom made the dowels and also improvised a thin strip ripping jig and ripped all the trim out of the same dark brown Cedar i used for the dowels

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Your looking at approximately 1300+ individually glued shingles on all the roofs and dormers! I love the way it looked but it was too time consuming…it took forever!
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A few more close up shots…

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This is still not finished…I still have to put some waterproofing on it and in the spring once the recipients pick out a spot I have to set a post and mount it. Overall I am pleased with how it came out, but if I build another one it will definitely have a metal roof!

-- David, South Windsor, CT "I love the smell of sawdust in the morning"


16 comments so far

View DAN 's profile

DAN

6396 posts in 861 days


posted 636 days ago

great work David !

-- work from your heart and your spirit will live forever

View jockmike2's profile

jockmike2

7222 posts in 1125 days


posted 636 days ago

Cool looking bird house. Almost too well made for birds. mike

-- Mike. mwurm13@yahoo.com

View ChicoWoodnut's profile

ChicoWoodnut

894 posts in 693 days


posted 636 days ago

Fantastic! I really like the shingles and the siding.

I know some people up in the foothills here in northern California who have some cool bird houses like this on poles in their back yard. The woodpeckers filled them up with acorns. Packed em so tight they can’t shake em out. I don’t think the woodpeckers can get them out either LOL.

-- Scott - Chico California http://chicowoodnut.home.comcast.net

View mrtrim's profile

mrtrim

1700 posts in 758 days


posted 636 days ago

great piece of work there david ! i humbly bow to your patients and workmanship ! great job

View john's profile

john

1161 posts in 1260 days


posted 636 days ago

Wow That turned out very nice David !!!
The roof looks great and it sure looks like a lot of cutting.
How long do you figure it took you to do this house ?

I have wanted to build one with cedar shingles but after seeing this i,m guessing it would be a lot of work to shingle a 8 ft birdhouse .lol

Nice work David

-- John in Belgrave http://www.extremebirdhouse.com ....http://community.webshots.com/user/cranbrook2

View GaryK's profile

GaryK

9496 posts in 866 days


posted 636 days ago

Yea, too good for birds!

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

View Scott Bryan's profile

Scott Bryan

20061 posts in 700 days


posted 636 days ago

No, Gary this project is definitely for the birds. Seriously David this is a wonderful project. I can’t imagine the patience and perseverance it took to put this together.

This is definitely an upscale housing unit and will command a “high” rent I am sure.

Is it hinged so that you can get to the interior?

Thanks for the post.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

View Sawhorse's profile

Sawhorse

279 posts in 1318 days


posted 636 days ago

One of best looking bird houses I’ve seen, classy and functional without being too ornate. Your going to have some very fortunate birds that will probablt tell their friends about their new digs. Great job!

-- Sawhorse - Sulphur Springs, TX - www.sawhorseworkshop.com

View Richard Williams's profile

Richard Williams

140 posts in 670 days


posted 636 days ago

Very Very Nice. Great Craftsmanship, Great Ideas, Great All Around. I think it beats out my Solar Heated Duplex Birdhouse, that is being studied right now by the University of Nevada in Las Vegas. A Computational Fluid Dynamics computer analysis is being done and I was going to wait until the results were in before posting it but even if it fails the strict guidlines I set for the test, you might get a kick out of it. It does get mighty cold here so I thought I would help out our little feathered friends a little bit so I designed one that uses no electric and no moving parts. I’ll post it on my Blog. Once again that is a very nice job you did there. Excellent work.

-- Rich, Nevada,

View cajunpen's profile

cajunpen

5970 posts in 944 days


posted 636 days ago

Great looking bird house. Should be a productive spring in you neighborhood.

-- Bill - "Suit yourself and let the rest be pleased." http://www.cajunpen.com/

View rikkor's profile

rikkor

11338 posts in 753 days


posted 636 days ago

Nice! I admire your patience and perseverance.

View MsDebbieP's profile

MsDebbieP

14090 posts in 1039 days


posted 635 days ago

I was wondering how you were doing with this!
Rick hasn’t started his yet – I’ll pass on the info about the cedar shingles :)

You have done a super job. Well done.

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

View john's profile

john

1161 posts in 1260 days


posted 635 days ago

It looks better then mine. lol
The cedar shingles really add to it nicely.

-- John in Belgrave http://www.extremebirdhouse.com ....http://community.webshots.com/user/cranbrook2

View Brad_Nailor's profile

Brad_Nailor

1192 posts in 835 days


posted 635 days ago

Thanks for all the great comments everyone! Nice of you to say that John, but this is just an execution of your design…you are the giant birdhouse zen master! A few thoughts in hindsight..

I would use a cheaper materiel…..I love the western red cedar, but unless your buying a decks worth it’s not cheap. The only barn board I could find was almost as expensive as the WRC and really would have been dimensionally unstable. If I do another I will make it out of a less expensive decking grade of cedar, or maybe pine.

Forget the shingles! Even though I am happy with the result, getting there was a pain. You can only go so fast, you have to let the glue set or all the shingles start moving around. It was taking me 35-40 minutes per row not counting the cuts around the dormers. And that opens another can of worms. The shingles are fragile and have a tendency to snap along the grain when you try to cut them. I ended up turning my Porter Cable mini belt sander upside down and scribing a pencil line on the shingle and sanding to the line. That actually worked really well. If you like the shingle look, it’s not hard to do..or expensive..I think 1500 shingles cost me $30 bucks..it’s just real time consuming.

If anyone looks at Johns or my birdhouse and wants to build one I say go for it! It was allot of fun, and Johns plans are well written and easy to follow. I made a few dumb errors like not milling enough log material at the start, but other than that it went really smooth. Just make sure you can get some seamed metal roofing material!

-- David, South Windsor, CT "I love the smell of sawdust in the morning"

View john's profile

john

1161 posts in 1260 days


posted 635 days ago

Once i get these 10 birdhouses done that i am starting soon i will build one with wood shingles to just to share your pain. lol
Yours turned out great. It,s too bad the red cedar is so expensive because it looks great.
I get the barn wood free so i will stick with that for now .

-- John in Belgrave http://www.extremebirdhouse.com ....http://community.webshots.com/user/cranbrook2

View jeanmarc's profile

jeanmarc

1750 posts in 594 days


posted 526 days ago

Great job!

-- jeanmarc manosque france

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