Turning the body
- turn a cylinder to 1.5” in diameter
- Layout to 2” length
- Cut ends square
- Cut a 5” shoulder for the chuck. Select the end of the cylinder that will be the bottom
- Layout perch & entrance holes. Decide on the front, mark a parallel line where the holes will be drilled
- Center punch the hole points
- Make a V block. Center on the drill press & clamp securely
- Drill the ¼” entrance hole a ¼” or so deep
- Drill the 1/8” perch hole ¼” or so deep
- Place the body in a chuck
- Use the skew point to make a small entry hole so that the drill will stay on center
- Drill a 1 ¼” diameter hole 1”deep. Finished house body is 1 5/8” deep.
- Turn the outside to shape as much as you can without hitting the chuck jaws
- 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
- 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
- Place the cylinder in a chuck & center it. Make a chine shaped indentation on the exposed end.
- Place a cone center into the tailstock, move it up to the cylinder & insert the tip into the end of the cylinder
- 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
- Slide the body onto the spigot at least 1/2way
- Rotate the assembly by hand to make sure it is running true.
- Move the cone center up to point of contact with the body
- The finished body length is 1 5/8”, so about 1/8 of an inch will be turned off the body.
- Turn the body diameter to al littler more that 1 ½”. Sanding will bring it to 1 ½”
- Mark a line on the body at 1/8’ above the perch
- Turn the lower part of the body to a pleasing curve
- When most of the curve has been cut out, slide the cone center out of the way & complete the shaping of the bottom
- 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
- Sand the body
- Apply finish
Turning the Roof
- Cut out a piece of stock ¾” thick x 2 3/8” dia.
- Mount disk, bottom side out in chuck
- True up the disk. Turn to a finished diameter of 2 ¼”
- Drill a hole 1/8” deep by 1 ½” dia
- 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
- Drill a 3/16” hole through the center of the disk
- Sand & finish the bottom side of the roof
- Turn a cylinder about 1 ¾”dia & 2 ½” long. This will be used to make a spigot chuck to hold the roof stock.
- Turn a shoulder on the cylinder so it can be held in a chuck
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Shape the outside of the roof to final shape
- Sand & finish
