Bird House Build with Great Nephews

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Project Information

Moved this over from LJ's.

My sister in law's grandsons helped me build two bird houses.

They measure approximately 6" x 6" x 12" tall and have a back that is 7" x 14" to nail to a tree or post. Materials used for the roof and back is 3/4" cedar that is still very green, the sides are made of 1/2" RS plywood, door and floor is cut from a 6" wide cedar fence board.

Material costs were minimal. Only the 3/4" cedar and fence board were purchased for this project. I could have used some maple boards, but a cheap cedar fence board would allow the maple for a better use. There is enough material left to build about 1.5 more.

The boys are 8 and 5 y/o. The older one is pretty adept in the shop, knew how to unscrew the doors so they could have a door drilled in them. The riskiest part of this build was painting the houses, and table and hands.

They stood on a short stool to drill the holes with a 1.375" diameter Forstner bit. The boys drilled the holes but my hand was on the drill wheel handle to insure that nothing that would cause blood happened.

They are drying right now and will have the doors reattached tomorrow.

They had fun and I did too.

Great Uncle Dave

daveg, SW Washington & AZ

12 Comments

very cool dave. memories that will last a lifetime.

working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.

Those two boys are 1 year older than when posted on LJ.  They are great little shop vacuumers.


daveg, SW Washington & AZ

Wonderful craftsmen at work,    It is fun working and helping the young ones along.    Great rewards for all.

Ron

I bet you enjoyed teaching as much as they enjoyed learning. Very cool project Great Uncle Dave.

.................. John D....................

Great project! I did one with my grands a few years ago - I need to do another one.
It is great fun. I have done similar projects with my son and later his sons. 

I just hate to sound a negative but using a large forstner bit on a drill press as shown in the picture gives me the willies. The board should have been well clamped down so the spinning bit can't catch in the hole and spin the board.....I guarantee your hand won't hold it if that happens..
So excellent seeing the little bloke learning new skills, well done sir. 

Life’s Good, Enjoy Each New Day’s Blessings

simply love this 😍😎👍

*TONY ** Reinholds* ALWAYS REMEMBER TO HAVE FUN

Nice project for some quality time, Well done Dave.

Main Street to the Mountains

LOVE IT!   Quality time with the kids is well spent and something they will never forget and will always cherish.

Yolanda

Tell the boys they did some nice work.   You did too great uncle.  Getting them out in the shop is great.

Sasha. - Life is not a draft, you can't redo it tomorrow