So here's my first "real" project in the woodshop. I thought about taking progress pictures, but this was very much a learning experience for me (lots of mistakes made along the way). This started out intended to be a simple christmas present for my Mom, but ended up expanding into an opportunity to learn how to use most of the tools I owned at the time (I piddled away at this thing for quite a while so I've since gotten more tools 
).
Tools used on this project:
Delta Unisaw
Makita SCMS (LS1014)
Felder AD731 Jointer/Planer
Delta 18-900L Drill Press
Festool OF1400 Router
Festool DF500 Domino
Festool RO150 Sander
Festool MFT/3
Clearvue CV1800 custom install (DC for big machines)
Festool CT22 (DC for little machines)
Lie Nielson Bench Chisels
All CMT blades/bits/forstners (except Domino)
Cheapo Lennox hole saw from Menards for 3" hole
Sort of a rambling bunch of notes about the project:
Finish is 6-7 coats of pure tung oil (first coat was 1/2 tung oil, 1/2 mineral spirits), steel wooled with 0000 between each coat.
The only screws in the entire thing are the 8 screws holding the hinges for the top on. Everything else is held together with dominos where necessary. Any flat edge/edge joints are just jointed and glued...no dominos there.
The wood started out as machined 5/4 tigerwood deck planks (air dried since it'll be living outside). The sides, back, and front are glued up 6" wide planks. The top is made up of 4 widths of 4" wide planks. The bottom is a mishmash of what I had left over (one of my mistakes mentioned earlier...didn't order enough wood...).
The dimensions for the birdhouse are supposed to be for either Kestrels or Screech Owls. Notice that there is venting in the bottom for drainage and airflow, as well as venting under the lid for airflow (obvious in the second side shot).
The bottom is dado'd in and is floating in the dado. This should hopefully allow for plenty of expansion in humid SE Texas.
The mortises were hand cut with chisels...once I got the hang of it, that was actually pretty easy
Couple of the other mistakes I made...started to cut the bottom in the wrong spot...had to cut a sliver and wedge it in the slot left by the blade as good as I could. Visable in the upper right corner of the bottom picture. The other big mistake was with the top...when I was trimming it to final size, I got in a hurry and cut WAY too much off...ended up gluing it back together using dominos for strength. You can see the glue line about 1/5 down from the top in the top closeup.
Not totally obvious from the pictures, but the top mounting holes are angled down slightly to make it easier to hang on a tree.
And finally, the interior has no finish on it at all. From what I read, its a bad idea to finish the inside of bird houses. Also, I cut notches on the inside of the front so that little baby birdies can climb up to the hole when they're ready
).Tools used on this project:
Delta Unisaw
Makita SCMS (LS1014)
Felder AD731 Jointer/Planer
Delta 18-900L Drill Press
Festool OF1400 Router
Festool DF500 Domino
Festool RO150 Sander
Festool MFT/3
Clearvue CV1800 custom install (DC for big machines)
Festool CT22 (DC for little machines)
Lie Nielson Bench Chisels
All CMT blades/bits/forstners (except Domino)
Cheapo Lennox hole saw from Menards for 3" hole
Sort of a rambling bunch of notes about the project:
Finish is 6-7 coats of pure tung oil (first coat was 1/2 tung oil, 1/2 mineral spirits), steel wooled with 0000 between each coat.
The only screws in the entire thing are the 8 screws holding the hinges for the top on. Everything else is held together with dominos where necessary. Any flat edge/edge joints are just jointed and glued...no dominos there.
The wood started out as machined 5/4 tigerwood deck planks (air dried since it'll be living outside). The sides, back, and front are glued up 6" wide planks. The top is made up of 4 widths of 4" wide planks. The bottom is a mishmash of what I had left over (one of my mistakes mentioned earlier...didn't order enough wood...).
The dimensions for the birdhouse are supposed to be for either Kestrels or Screech Owls. Notice that there is venting in the bottom for drainage and airflow, as well as venting under the lid for airflow (obvious in the second side shot).
The bottom is dado'd in and is floating in the dado. This should hopefully allow for plenty of expansion in humid SE Texas.
The mortises were hand cut with chisels...once I got the hang of it, that was actually pretty easy
Couple of the other mistakes I made...started to cut the bottom in the wrong spot...had to cut a sliver and wedge it in the slot left by the blade as good as I could. Visable in the upper right corner of the bottom picture. The other big mistake was with the top...when I was trimming it to final size, I got in a hurry and cut WAY too much off...ended up gluing it back together using dominos for strength. You can see the glue line about 1/5 down from the top in the top closeup.
Not totally obvious from the pictures, but the top mounting holes are angled down slightly to make it easier to hang on a tree.
And finally, the interior has no finish on it at all. From what I read, its a bad idea to finish the inside of bird houses. Also, I cut notches on the inside of the front so that little baby birdies can climb up to the hole when they're ready
