Friday, October 26, 2018

How to make a toy bird whistle on the wood lathe













I made this toy bird out of laurel wood ( daphne ). It is an interesting woodturning project because it involves many different turning techniques! It sounds really cool too!

Tools and materials I propose:


First of all I cut my wood to size with a handsaw.

Then I roughly found the center and mounted the piece on the lathe between centers. 

Using my roughing gouge, I turned the piece true.

With my skew chisel and the parting tool I made the tenons for my chuck. I then cut the blanks on the bandsaw.

Next I started hollowing the first blank with my bowl gouge. I created the tenon with my parting tool. I shaped the exterior using my spindle gouge.

Moving on to the next piece. Again hollowing with the bowl gouge and shaping with the spindle gouge. I used the parting tool to make the mortise. Only this time I used friction to achieve a snug fit. Maybe too snug!

Using similar procedures I made the head. I actually miscalculated my wood and had to make the head, as a separate piece.

Next I drilled the hole for the head on the lathe. 

I had a little crack which I filled with super glue.

To make the mouthpiece I first used the bowl gouge to remove material fast. When the piece became too thin, I used my hand as a steady rest.

Next I drilled the long mouth piece hole. 

I would use a forstner bit to create a hole for the mouthpiece, so I matched the end of the mouthpiece using my skew chisel. 

Finally I shaped the mouthpiece tube as a cone using a sanding block. 

And it fitted really nicely on my test piece.

I then parted the mouthpiece off and cleaned it up on the belt sander.

I enlarged the mouthpiece hole on the drill press using a forstner bit. Not the safest method, but that’s what I did.

Next I made a stop cut with a small handsaw. I then used a sharp chisel to create the opening.

I turned a plug on the lathe, and shaped one side flat on the belt sander. 

I placed the plug in place and did a test blow. 

I continued to fine tune the mouthpiece slowly, until I reached that sweet spot were the whistle actually worked.

Next I glued the plug in place.

Then I drilled the hole for the mouthpiece.

I glued the head in place.

I drilled an escape hole for the air and I glued the body.

Next I used my skew chisel to turn everything flush. I sanded with 100grit sand paper.

I used the skew again to gently shape the head and finished it with sanding.

I used an 8mm dowel as a nose. I used the drill as a lathe and a rasp, a file and sandpaper to shape it. 

I drilled the nose hole and the eyes.

Finally I glued the nose in place.

The glue on the mouthpiece was now dry, so I finished shaping the mouthpiece on the belt sander.

Next I glued the mouthpiece in place.

I started painting the bird on the lathe using latex paint.

Next I masked the lathe and started varnishing the piece. I applied several light coats with a spray can.

To speed up the drying process, I used my heat gun.

The first couple of coats raised the grain of the wood, so I lightly sanded with 220grit.

Using my flush trim saw, I parted the piece off the lathe. I cleaned the bottom on the belt sander.

Finally I used my buffing kit to polish the piece. My kit has three wheels. I skipped the first and more aggressive wheel and used the second and the third.

And it was done.

It came out really nice and I really enjoyed making it!

I hope you like my little singing buddy too.  

But that was it, see you soon with a new woodworking project!


Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, that at no cost to you, I get a small commission if you click through and make a purchase.

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