Hillbilly Birdhouse

This took alot of time to build. There were alot of steps. First of all there is no drawings for this birdhouse. Every inch was a on the spot measure and cut.

1 - First step is don't be afraid to use memories to build things from your past.

2 - Second step I measured out how long I wanted the base to be . After getting the base peaces marked I cut them to length then sanded the top and bottom and then all 4 ends of each board. After sanding I glued all 4 boards together and let them sit clamped up over night.

3 - While the glue was left to dry I cut long peaces of plywood ( about an inch wide and 12 inches long ) to build the frame . 12 to be exact. 4 for the bottom floor and 4 for the top floor and one for each corner.

4 - I glued and nailed the bottom boards to the base. I just used little panel nails.

5 - I glued and nailed all 4 corner boards and then I built the second floor frame and glued and nailed it to the corner posts. I used spring clamps on the corner boards to sit the second floor frame on so I could glue and nail the frame to the corner boards.

6 - I used 4 peaces of hard board for the walls so I would have something to glue the hand cut siding to . I glued and nailed each peace of the hard board to both frames and corner boards and clamped them up over night to let the glue dry.

7 - While I let the glue dry I started carving the whiskey still , the rain barrel , the corncob pipe that is sitting on the side table and the double barrel shot gun and the banjo sitting in the chair . After carving the peaces I painted them and then clear coated each peace. The spring looking peace between the still and barrel I used a peace of an old wire clothes hanger.

8 - I cut small twigs to make the rocking chair and the side table . I glued them together and let them dry. While the glue was drying I cut small limbs to make the fire wood stacked next to the house and cut and split the fire wood that is stacked at the back of the house next to the back porch. I also cut a smaller limb and glued it to the base to make it look like a huge un-cut log. All the fire wood was glued together.

9 - The siding on the right and left side of the house I slide with my scroll saw into 1/16th inch slices. Each slice was glued to the side of the house on the hard board. All together there are around 30 slices .

10 - The front and back siding I cut peaces of ply wood into 3rds and measured and cut each peace to the exact length. There were very tricky cuts to make sure that the siding around the window would line up with the longer siding. Each peace of wood was glued to the hard board.To make the window and door frame I just used a few peaces of scrap wood I had. I used a 1 inch whole saw to cut the whole in the front of the bird house for the bird to get in and out.

11 - After I had all the siding cut I also cut 2 peaces of hard board for the roof and also cut 5 1 inch long peaces of ply wood to use for the roof frame. I glued and nailed the roof frame to the corner peaces and then glued and nailed one peace of the hard board to the roof frame. The other peace of hard board I used 4 1/2 inch wood screws and screwed the hard board down to the roof frame so I could take the peace off and clean the old bird nests out.

12 - After I cut and screwed the hard board down I started cutting the shingles for the roof. I cut each shingle at and angle so they would be longer then the 1 inch long peace of wood. There are close to 300 shingles that were glued to the hard board roof. I also used a 3 inch wide peace of hard board for the porch roof.

13 - After the shingles were put on I started gluing the front and back peaces of siding. I also cut 1/4 in peaces of ply wood to make the floor for the front and back porch floors. Those peaces were all glued down. I cut the 4 pillars for the front porch from a small limb. Each pillar was glued on the top and bottom and put in place then I used a weight to hold them in place while the glue dried.

14 - While the glue dried I glued and placed the chair and other things on the porch. After everything was placed and the glue dried I cut a 12 inch peace of lite tin and bent and glued it in place on the roof peek .

15 - The last step was to make sure the whole bird house was water proof. I sprayed 5 coats of clear coat on the bird house .

This is a huge bird house and the weight is I would say between 15 and 20 pounds.