| Project by jbmaine | posted 02-26-2021 07:58 PM | 605 views | 1 time favorited | 8 comments |  |
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Hi everyone,
I haven’t been able to spend as much time in the shop as I’d like lately but here’s a little something I made.
My wife and I are avid back yard bird watchers ( easy to do when you live in the woods) . We keep a bird feeder going all year, and this year we decided to keep a bird bath going also. I would keep filling it with water during the day and empty it at night ( so it didn’t freeze). However, during a cold snap the plastic became brittle and the bowl cracked, right where it screwed into the stand. I duct taped over the crack to keep it going and ordered another bird bath. When it came in I realized the bowl was thinnest at the point the stand screwed into it and ripe for failure so I decided to build my own stand.
This is our current bird bath, note the ice on the left of the stand from leaking water.
as soon as the snow melts I’ll replace it with the new one. It’s made from white oak, contoured to the bowl profile, cross braces half lapped together , mortice and tenon to complete the assembly.
All the mortice and tenon work was done on the Leigh FMT. I love the precision and engineering that went into the jig. I have to say this was bye far my best craiglist find. It popped up fifteen minutes from my house and came with every possible accessory for three bills. Think it’s going to be a long time before I find a deal like that again.
Here’s a few picks of the built.
The half laps on the cross braces were done on the router table.
Then it was glued together, a coat of dark stain, a couple coats of spar varnish and it’s done.
I thought it looked kind of ” clunky”, I was going to curve it somewhat, but the wife loved it as was and I wasn’t going to disagree. Thanks for looking.
Jim
8 comments so far
987Ron
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785 posts in 368 days
#1 posted 02-26-2021 08:52 PM
Better looking than our cast concrete one. Very good workmanship.
-- Ron
mtnwild
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#2 posted 02-26-2021 09:21 PM
I also like to keep a bird bath. Especially in the summer.
Nice one!
-- mtnwild (Jack), It's not what you see, it's how you see it.
AJ1104
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1282 posts in 2711 days
#3 posted 02-27-2021 02:27 AM
Nice build! You did a great job on the joinery. I like the overall design too!
-- AJ
woodbutcherbynight
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#4 posted 02-27-2021 02:45 AM
The birds have better accommodations that I do. LOL Nice work!!
-- Live to tell the stories, they sound better that way.
LittleBlackDuck
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6919 posts in 1872 days
#5 posted 02-27-2021 10:15 AM
Nothing against your workmanship JB, but that Leigh FMT does a bloody great job…
-- If your first cut is too short... Take the second cut from the longer end... LBD
jbmaine
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159 posts in 521 days
#6 posted 02-27-2021 11:27 AM
I couldn’t agree more.
Tad La Fountain
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2 posts in 44 days
#7 posted 02-27-2021 01:58 PM
That’s a thoughtful (and well-executed) solution to the problem. I’d like to be surprised at the bowl’s design flaw, but I’m afraid stuff like that happens more often than not; good on you to come up with a solid fix.
There may be a way to address the “Clunkiness”: use a batten to discern what would be a pleasing curve on the outside of the legs (from the wide base to the wide top – just curving the sides in 1 to 1.5” would probably work, but your eye is the best judge). After you’ve settled on the shape, transfer it to a template (maybe 1/4” MDF) that you can use to then consistently transfer the shape to the legs in such a way that you could bandsaw or jigsaw close to the curve without disassembling the piece. Then clamping the template to the legs gives up a way to rout with a trim bit so the curves end up clean. A roundover bit would complete the process.
-- "All this insight, and you want a clever quip in the signature as well - fat chance!"
EarlS
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#8 posted 02-27-2021 03:21 PM
Your bird bath has a very Craftsman look to it which is perfect for something that will be sitting in the middle of nature. I don’t think it looks clunky. It looks grounded to me, which is one of the precepts of the Craftsman movement. Is the bowl copper?
I have a Leigh FMT and it is really nice to use. Sounds like you got a much better deal than I did (bought it new).
-- Earl "I'm a pessamist - generally that increases the chance that things will turn out better than expected"
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