Friday, July 6, 2018

How to make a wooden DIY birdhouse












I made my DIY birdhouse out of 9mm birch plywood. The inspiration for this project, came from a challenge that's taking place on youtube. I won't participate in the challenge but you can learn more about it here.

My birdhouse is made out of 9mm birch plywood. First I made a few rip cuts on the table saw.

I found the center of the front piece with my compass and created the diagonals of the roof.

Using my cross cut sled, I cut the front and the back pieces to size.

I taped the two pieces together. Then I used my miter sled to cut the angles of the roof on the table saw.

With a forstner bit I drilled the entrance.

I used a jig to create a straight hole for the peg on which the bird lands.

I cross cut the sides to size. I tilted my table saw blade to match the angles of the roof.

Then I glued and nailed the pieces together. 

I then marked the size of the bottom and cut it out on the table saw. Again I glued and nailed it in place.

I glued and nailed one piece of the rooftop in place. I decided to join the rooftop parts with a piano hinge. This way I can open the birdhouse easily when I have to. Using the angle grinder I cut the hinge to size. I temporarily secured the other part of the roof with two nails. Using a block plane I planed things flush to correct my table saw’s inaccurate cuts. I then secured the hinge in place with screws and removed the temporary nails.

With my rotary tool I trimmed the excess screws flush.

Using the angle grinder with a sanding disc, I gave everything a rough sanding. I then used wood filler to cover up the imperfections on the wood. The next day I sanded again.

To make the perch I turned a piece of beech on the lathe. I used the roughing gouge, the parting tool and the skew chisel for this job. After I did that I cut the perch of the lathe with a handsaw and finished shaping it, on the belt sander. I glued the perch in place.

The birdhouse will be hanged on the wall with a french cleat system. This is just two pieces cut at a 45 degree angle. One piece goes on the wall and the other one on the item. This way the item is kind of locked in place. I made the cleat on the table saw. 

I connected the wall piece on the concrete wall with a special stud for concrete. I also set my drill on hammer mode in order to penetrate the concrete.

I drilled and counter sinked the wood piece that goes on the wall and screwed it in place.

I finished the birdhouse with latex paint. I chose that because it dries easily and it is eco friendly. I sanded with 200grit sandpaper between each coat. I applied two coats of paint. To speed up the drying process I used my heat gun.

Then I created some wood shavings with a block plane, to act as bed for the birds.

At this point my birdhouse was ready, I hanged it on our yards wall. Now I am waiting for my little flying friends to discover it!

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