Woodbloke
Sequoia
When I was working for Ax some years ago, I was asked to do a series of articles for 'The Knowledge' blog, one of which was a birdhouse. The projects in this series were designed to be relatively easy to construct and if memory serves there were a few of them inc bookends, a pull along child's toy and and one or two others.
The first time I did this I just made a bird box, with a hole and a peg....nothing fancy. It was subsequently published on The Knowledge blog and created veritable howls of protest from the twitcher brigade
The box was too big, the hole was too big, there shouldn't be a peg etc, etc, blah, blah. Dear God, we couldn't believe in the office what we'd started, so within a very few days the storm of abuse was nicknamed 'birdgate' and the article was removed.
I did a bit of research, contacted the RSPB who were pretty forthright about what was and was not wanted in a bloody birdbox! I then remade the box which was then published and the article is still on the website.
However time and tide haven't been kind to my birdhouse...
...and as it was now a source of constant irritation, it was time to replace it, even though we'd had plenty of finches nesting in it over the last few years.
What inspired me to make it was a post from the turner Richard Findley a couple of weeks ago on InstaG. He made a superb coopered box with a mounting bracket that was fixed to the tree with strips of rubber. The box was then fixed to the bracket using a couple of keyhole slots so that it could easily be removed each year for cleaning.
Scratching round the 'shop for some suitable material, I came across some bits of Douglas Fir from and old blanket chest that I recently broken up:
This stuff is reasonably easy to work with and is very durable, so it seemed ideal.
Construction was done entirely with No.0 size biscuits and Everbuild D4 glue. I also made a solid, very 'floaty' base with numerous drainage holes:
The bracket was made from a few bits of substantial fir and and some oddments of 25x3mm thick brass strip. Each 'arm' was joined to the vertical with a dollop of glue and a pair of 50mm brass c/s screws...belt n'braces
The roof was made with a couple of bits of fir biscuited together and it's held onto the box itself with four, 4mm birch ply 'tabs' with slot screwed brass r/h screws to secure it.
Yesterday afternoon, I used some strips of velocipede inner tube (incredibly useful stuff in the 'shop) to lash the bracket to the tree;
I finished the box with severial coats of Osmo external oil and when it was dry, I nailed on a bit of roofing felt, screwed in the two ss pan head screws into the back and then hung it onto the bracket;
I'm sure we had some green finches visit the old box this year, but my neighbour who's a ecologist by profession informed me that they were quite rare and if we see any more, I was to drag him round to our garden asap We shall see what avian visitors pass by next year and decide to set up home for the Spring - Rob
The first time I did this I just made a bird box, with a hole and a peg....nothing fancy. It was subsequently published on The Knowledge blog and created veritable howls of protest from the twitcher brigade
The box was too big, the hole was too big, there shouldn't be a peg etc, etc, blah, blah. Dear God, we couldn't believe in the office what we'd started, so within a very few days the storm of abuse was nicknamed 'birdgate' and the article was removed.
I did a bit of research, contacted the RSPB who were pretty forthright about what was and was not wanted in a bloody birdbox! I then remade the box which was then published and the article is still on the website.
However time and tide haven't been kind to my birdhouse...
...and as it was now a source of constant irritation, it was time to replace it, even though we'd had plenty of finches nesting in it over the last few years.
What inspired me to make it was a post from the turner Richard Findley a couple of weeks ago on InstaG. He made a superb coopered box with a mounting bracket that was fixed to the tree with strips of rubber. The box was then fixed to the bracket using a couple of keyhole slots so that it could easily be removed each year for cleaning.
Scratching round the 'shop for some suitable material, I came across some bits of Douglas Fir from and old blanket chest that I recently broken up:
This stuff is reasonably easy to work with and is very durable, so it seemed ideal.
Construction was done entirely with No.0 size biscuits and Everbuild D4 glue. I also made a solid, very 'floaty' base with numerous drainage holes:
The bracket was made from a few bits of substantial fir and and some oddments of 25x3mm thick brass strip. Each 'arm' was joined to the vertical with a dollop of glue and a pair of 50mm brass c/s screws...belt n'braces
The roof was made with a couple of bits of fir biscuited together and it's held onto the box itself with four, 4mm birch ply 'tabs' with slot screwed brass r/h screws to secure it.
Yesterday afternoon, I used some strips of velocipede inner tube (incredibly useful stuff in the 'shop) to lash the bracket to the tree;
I finished the box with severial coats of Osmo external oil and when it was dry, I nailed on a bit of roofing felt, screwed in the two ss pan head screws into the back and then hung it onto the bracket;
I'm sure we had some green finches visit the old box this year, but my neighbour who's a ecologist by profession informed me that they were quite rare and if we see any more, I was to drag him round to our garden asap
We shall see what avian visitors pass by next year and decide to set up home for the Spring - Rob
