Birdhouse ornament

Turning the body

  1. turn a cylinder to 1.5” in diameter
  2. Layout to 2” length
  3. Cut ends square
  4. Cut a 5” shoulder for the chuck. Select the end of the cylinder that will be the bottom
  5. Layout perch & entrance holes. Decide on the front, mark a parallel line where the holes will be drilled
  6. Center punch the hole points
  7. Make a V block. Center on the drill press & clamp securely
  8. Drill the ¼” entrance hole a ¼” or so deep
  9. Drill the 1/8” perch hole ¼” or so deep
  10. Place the body in a chuck
  11. Use the skew point to make a small entry hole so that the drill will stay on center
  12. Drill a 1 ¼” diameter hole 1”deep. Finished house body is 1 5/8” deep.
  13. Turn the outside to shape as much as you can without hitting the chuck jaws
  14. Hollow out body to 1 3/8” deep. Use round nose tool & mark the depth on the tool with a marker or tape. Leave a 1/8” shoulder where the drill stopped
  15. Turn a cylinder from scrap material. Select something hard like oak or maple. The cylinder should be about 3” long & 1 ½ to 1 ¾” in diameter. Cut a shoulder on one end to fit into a chuck
  16. Place the cylinder in a chuck & center it. Make a chine shaped indentation on the exposed end.
  17. Place a cone center into the tailstock, move it up to the cylinder & insert the tip into the end of the cylinder
  18. Cut a spigot on the end of the cylinder. The spigot will be 1” long & 1 ¼” diameter. Check the fit by fitting a drilled birdhouse body over the spigot. The fit must be snug, but not too tight or the body will crack if it is forced over the spigot
  19. Slide the body onto the spigot at least 1/2way
  20. Rotate the assembly by hand to make sure it is running true.
  21. Move the cone center up to point of contact with the body
  22. The finished body length is 1 5/8”, so about 1/8 of an inch will be turned off the body.
  23. Turn the body diameter to al littler more that 1 ½”. Sanding will bring it to 1 ½”
  24. Mark a line on the body at 1/8’ above the perch
  25. Turn the lower part of the body to a pleasing curve
  26. When most of the curve has been cut out, slide the cone center out of the way & complete the shaping of the bottom
  27. Insert a drill chuck with a ¼” bit into the tailstock & drill a ¼” hole to the bottom of the body. This hole will fit the bottom finial
  28. Sand the body
  29. Apply finish

 Turning the Roof

  1. Cut out a piece of stock ¾” thick x 2 3/8” dia.
  2. Mount disk, bottom side out in chuck
  3. True up the disk. Turn to a finished diameter of 2 ¼”
  4. Drill a hole 1/8” deep by 1 ½” dia
  5. Hollow out an area inside the drilled hole about ½” deep & 1” dia. This will romove some of the wood inside the disk, but leave a flat area about ¼” wide to glue the body to the finished roof
  6. Drill a 3/16” hole through the center of the disk
  7. Sand & finish the bottom side of the roof
  8. Turn a cylinder about 1 ¾”dia & 2 ½” long. This will be used to make a spigot chuck to hold the roof stock.
  9. Turn a shoulder on the cylinder so it can be held in a chuck
  10. Turn a ¼”x 1 ½”dia spigot on the end of the cylinder. Cut a cone center hole in the end of the spigot
  11. Jam fit the 1 ½” hole in the bottom of the roof stock over the spigot chuck. Drill a 3/16” hole in the center of the roof
  12. Move the cone center in the tail stock up to the assembly. Advance the cone into the ¼” hole to hold the roof securely to the 1 ½” spigot
  13. Shape the outside of the roof to final shape
  14. Sand & finish

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