Birdhouse Ornament

Larry Hancock has always worked with his hands. A mechanic by trade, he also loved woodworking in his spare time. He started out making furniture but found buying drawer pulls and cabinet handles too expensive. The solution? Hancock bought a lathe and his love of woodturning began. He taught himself to turn handles and drawer pulls and then ventured into more complicated creations. Today, among other things, he wood turns ornamental birdhouses that are truly artistic.

Materials:

Madrone--a reddish-brown fine grain hardwood for the roof
Holly--a white hardwood for the body of the ornament
Ebony*--a hard black wood for the top and bottom finials and the perch for the ornament
band saw
Jacobs drill chuck
safety glasses
lathe
set of gouges and chisels
calipers
parting tool
drill
wood burning tool
rotary carving tool
finish
instant glue
sandpaper (coarse to fine grit)
* Ebony is a hard black wood that works well for small parts because of its ability to hold crisp, sharp edge details when cut.

Steps:

1. The wood for the base and roof are turned on the lathe. The wood for the ornament parts are cut to shape on a band saw.

2. The holly body section and the ebony parts for perch and finials are cut in square sections that will fit in a 4-jaw scroll chuck mounted on the lathe. The wood is cut slightly longer than needed for the finished pieces to allow for the wood the chuck jaws grip during the turning process. The wood for the roof is cut to a round disc shape on the band saw.

4. The wood is turned round with a roughing gouge, a strong wide spindle turning gouge. A parting tool is used to make narrow cuts in the rotating wood and calipers are used to measure the diameter.

5. Once 1-1/2 inches in diameter is reached the wood is turned down to that diameter along the exposed area not gripped in the chuck. Using the tool rest as a straight edge, which is parallel to the surface of the turned wood, a line is drawn on the wood for reference to align the holes for the opening of the birdhouse and the perch beneath it.

7. A Jacobs drill chuck is now mounted in the tailstock with a 1-1/4-inch fastener drill bit, used to drill flat-bottomed holes. The tailstock spindle screws in and out of the tailstock housing allowing the spinning wood to be drilled to a depth of 2-1/4 inches (figure C). This removes the interior wood of the body to make it lighter for hanging and to simulate the look of a real birdhouse. The body of the ornament is now cut free of the wood in the chuck and a short tenon is turned on the remaining wood that fits the 1-1/4-inch hole in the body.

8. The body is pressed on to the tenon as a means to spin the wood for final turning and drilling of the hole in the bottom for the acorn shaped finial.

9. Turn the body to the desired shape with spindle gouge and chisels.

10. Sand the wood on the lathe working from coarse grit to fine.

11. Drill a 3/32-inch hole to accept the shaft of the acorn finial using the Jacobs chuck in the tailstock.

12. Rub a little finish on the body and it is finished (figure D).