Birdhouse Ornament Contest - We Have a Winner!

[Drew Watson]

I was able to finally get a run done on some bird house orniments yesterday as I figured it might be a good gift to hand out to friends as we go visiting. I was limited to wood availibilty and did them all out of red cedar as it is light enough to hang from a tree. I tried some different shapes on the bodies and am still working on them. I thought ya know why not post and show anyways.

[Rob Keeble]

Drew yours is an absolute beauty. What is the wood. I am guessing spalted maple top but bottom????

Sure like your bird it matches the tone of the wood well. I can see how smooth it is just from the picture. Has that wanna touch it look to it.

You would get my vote if i could recast my vote.

[Mohammad Madha]

Wow! Drew must have a production line setup in his shop.

[Drew Watson]

The wood is Horse Chestnut top and Arbutus ( Madrona) body. Thanks for all the compliments as that was the first one I have ever made.

It was fun doing a run of the bodies as I was using the safe driver and just left the lathe spinning while changing the blanks.

[Don Orr]

What? There were rules? I didn't see any rules. We don't need no stinkin rules.

Very nice work all around. I am having a tough time voting.

I'd also like to know where you can get the nice birds like on #4 & #6. They are much nicer than the ones from Michaels craft store.

[Bill Lantry]

i dont think it would matter Drew if #2 had a bird or not. Heck even i voted for it. Good work is good work inmho.

And thus was born the concept of 'jury nullification!'

Throw out existing law in the interests of serving justice!

Or, in this case, in the service of Beauty and Art!

Thanks,

Bill

[Drew Watson]

Hey maybe the bird is just shy and hiding inside the house? maybe its just...... Chicken

[Vaughn McMillan]

Alrighty gang, the voters have voted, and it's time to reveal the winners. I'm saying winners (plural), since the ornament that received the most votes may or may not be qualified due to not having a bird, depending on who you ask. To avoid controversy, the powers that be have decided to award prizes to all the participants, because that's just the way we roll. Plus, there are no losers here...just a bunch of oldish guys making little birdhouses.

Here's the tally:

The most votes went to Curt Fuller, ornament #2. As promised, here is his photo of a Robust American Beauty...



The next most popular ornament was #6, made by John Daugherty. His prize is this photo of a Serious Toolworks SL2542, nearly 1,600 pounds of cast iron goodness...



The third most popular ornament was #7, made by Paul Douglass. His prize is this photo of a Oneway 2464, the Mayo Monster...



Ornaments 1, 3, 4, and 5 all tied as the fourth most popular ornaments, and for good reason. There's not a bad one in the bunch. These ornaments were made by Don Orr, Rob Keeble, Bernie Weishapl, and Don Orr, respectively. For their efforts, they are each awarded this photo of a John Jordan model Stubby 750, complete with partially turned maple burl...



And lest we forget, the Earlybird Award goes to Drew Watson for his ornament, which was entered early then forgotten by the company we outsourced our contest administration to. For his hard efforts and punctuality, Drew is awarded this photo of a Powermatic 3520B...



All kidding aside, many thanks go to each of you who participated. We couldn't have done it without you.

[John Daugherty]

Thanks Vaughn for heading this up. I'll display my award with great pride. Coming in second with this group of turners is a great honor in itself. They all look great and I'd be proud to hang any of these on my tree.

[larry merlau]

congrats to all,, and don in your last entry what kind of wood is the bottom part? its sharp