hu lowery
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I found an hour and change video on making birdhouse ornaments from Grinnett Woodworkers on Youtube. Almost sure to be good, they have plenty of other excellent video's posted. I haven't watched it yet, decided to make one first. Haven't turned in a couple weeks and just wanted to turn something light. Had a fresh sycamore branch and these two pieces were side by side in the branch. One is end grain turned one side grain turned.
Hollowed to about a quarter to three-eighths inch, nothing fancy to throw outside. I did manage to get to the top of the cone with my five-eighths bowl gouge, a bit of a surprise. The total size is about 3.5"x6.5".
The piece de resistance is of course the perch. I can't tell you how hard it was to turn, carve, and paint that. Trying to get the patina right on the "aluminum", the texture on the rubber, and of course masking off those tiny little letters to paint. I can't tell you any of that because I drilled a hole with the bit that happened to be in the drill and when I eye-balled the hole I said to myself, "Self, it looks like a number two pencil would fit that hole. It did indeed so I left it a little long to catch all the lettering as I threw the other end in my tool box. Didn't have any wooden dowel stock and had been planning to turn a little perch but the pencil struck me as a final bit of silliness.
The two pieces are actually a design error, wasn't trying to make them flow together at all. They flow pretty well so not being perfect seems like a failure to execute now. I did pay attention to weather seal and put a drain hole in the bottom. Have to see if a tweety bird likes it or not.
No glue used, everything fits pretty snug. The birdhouse hangs level, apparently I was a bit tilted when I took the pictures!
Hu
Hollowed to about a quarter to three-eighths inch, nothing fancy to throw outside. I did manage to get to the top of the cone with my five-eighths bowl gouge, a bit of a surprise. The total size is about 3.5"x6.5".
The piece de resistance is of course the perch. I can't tell you how hard it was to turn, carve, and paint that. Trying to get the patina right on the "aluminum", the texture on the rubber, and of course masking off those tiny little letters to paint. I can't tell you any of that because I drilled a hole with the bit that happened to be in the drill and when I eye-balled the hole I said to myself, "Self, it looks like a number two pencil would fit that hole. It did indeed so I left it a little long to catch all the lettering as I threw the other end in my tool box. Didn't have any wooden dowel stock and had been planning to turn a little perch but the pencil struck me as a final bit of silliness.
The two pieces are actually a design error, wasn't trying to make them flow together at all. They flow pretty well so not being perfect seems like a failure to execute now. I did pay attention to weather seal and put a drain hole in the bottom. Have to see if a tweety bird likes it or not.
No glue used, everything fits pretty snug. The birdhouse hangs level, apparently I was a bit tilted when I took the pictures!
Hu