St. Francis Bird Feeder Project

Well the repair of the Enertech 1800 wind generator got put on hold for the winter. Gave it a pretty good shot when we got a couple of warm days but decided to wait until I could count on two good warm days in a row before I did the job.

In the mean time I have been busy working on making 5 St. Francis bird feeders like this.

Each one of these is made from fine, weather resistant, Cedar wood. The figure consists of 30 individual parts. Many of the pieces that make up the body and head have compound miter joints to help give it a natural shape. The feet, hands and face are hand carved and painted. A small hand carved, painted Finch, Cardinal and Bluebird will also be attached to each finished feeder simulating wildlife coming for food that can be placed on the tray or plate.

All of the Cedar is rough on one side and smooth on the other. This must be kept in mind when cutting the tapers that form the sides and front of any parts. Rough side of the wood must be kept out for appearance. After cutting, the edges were then rounded over on the shaper. The hole in the top piece matches one in the bottom piece. This for mounting over a steel fence post to keep it from tipping over when displayed outside.

The robe side pleats were added next. The assembly process went smoothly. The side pleats are made from the body side taper cut offs! You can see that the front and back pleat has also been added to the bodies.

Assembly of the heads was the next task. Again having layed out the mitered, tapered, routered and drilled pieces made the process go smoothly.

 The head is only placed here for the picture. Heads, collars, trim and arms will not be assembled until they are stained or painted. Since my shop is not heated I will have to wait until the weather warms up. So this will be it for awhile.

If you have time on your hands and an interest in Duct Tape you might want to click on the link below and check out the World Duct Tape Collection. Another one of my side interests. Enjoy!
ducttape2thefuture.blogspot.com