Cedar Bird Feeders

A Good Plan, and Good Lumber

Ye Olde Signage to The Workshop

Introduction:

The shop is closed due to COVID-19 so I am posting some of the hundreds of photos re the 100s of projects I pursued when life was a bit easier.

Old cedar form a dock works well for feeder. The grey tops provided good 

lumber and the bottom slabs made good camp fires

Before I got down to work I held a Christmas party in the shop. 

I like feeders with a wide, over-hanging roof in order to keep snow and rain out of the feeder box.

I worked both indoors and outdoors to keep up with orders : )

More photos to follow from The Workshop.

Please link to Swap Boxes and a Squirrel Nesting Box

Photos by GH

Swap Boxes and a Squirrel Nesting Box

The Swap Boxes are from the Early Days

The One and Only Squirrel Nesting Box

I can tell it's my first Swap Box... the hinges are visible on the outside.

And I soon switched to plexiglass doors. Ahhh... the Early Days

Introduction:

Squirrels have, on occasion, been the bane of my existence : )

They were always a nuisance when I had a bird feeder or two in the back yard. My wife likes to remind me that I tossed a lovely tiled trivet (her gift to me) out the back window one winter's morn to chase a squirrel off the feeder.

Squirrel and trivet survived. Note slight damage, lower left corner : )

"I wasn't trying to chase it," I'll say. "I was trying to knock it out!"

So, I built a nesting box for wood-working experience only... for someone who lived far away.

One of my first swap boxes went far away as well, to Ottawa, and was featured in a new's story there. I said I was available for a full-length TV interview but I never heard back. The second went to a friend's house a few blocks away.

Photos follow from The Workshop:

More photographs from The Workshop will follow.

Please link to A Fine Batch of Cedar Houses

Photos GH

A Fine Batch of Cedar Houses

The Cedar from Fenelon Falls Comes in Handy

Old Cedar Even Works on Tap Handles

Today I have to sneak past The Garden Gloves to get to The Workshop

Introduction:

Though I have not been building any birdhouses or Little Free Libraries or Reitveld chairs, etc., in the shop this year, it is still no closer to being 100% tidied up in September than it was in March when COVID-19 slowed just about everything down.

I keep busy with the GREAT Canadian Comeback (training to become a steady - and svelte - running machine) and building my "1,000 Men, 1,000 Stories" blog re the role of Canadian sailors (RCNVR) in Combined Operations during WWII.

Still, I believe I will get back to The Workshop for one or two important projects someday soon, and when I do you will be the first to know. Or at least second to know, since my wife is still tuned in to what I'm doing around here 99% of the time : )

Old cedar from Fenelon Falls, Ontario (formerly Joe Flagler's old dock) makes beautiful tap handles for a local brewer's "tap room":

The handles have been varnished. Metal inserts are next, then delivery.

I don't know how many batches of cedar birdhouses I made over the years. Many, like this batch, were made from red cedar fence slats (for the body) and Joe Flagler's old western cedar, for the base and roof panels:

The sides are attached to the outside of the face to increase the size

of the interior floor space. Brilliant move : )

Red paint on red cedar puts on a good show!

More photos from The Workshop will follow.

Please link to more photos of more red cedar birdhouses by GH

Photos by G. Harrison