General Directions for Starting Work on the Bird Boxes.
First decide upon the bird for which your house is to be made and, referring to the drawings, select the one which best suits your fancy.
Look the various pieces over and estimate about how much lumber will be required, then plan your work so as to cut your board with as little waste as possible. Take pieces of a similar width and get them out in one long piece from your board.
Fig. 12. Putting Up a House.
Plane one edge of the board straight and smooth and call this the working edge, or edge from which all measurements are to be taken. Square one end square with the working edge and the surface. Measure from this square end, the length specified on the drawing, and square a line across the board, placing the try square handle tight against the working edge.
Next take the cross-cut saw and saw carefully just outside your line on the side away from the piece to be cut off. Plane now back to the line and no further. The width must next be obtained either with a marking gage, if you have one, set at the required distance, or by measuring carefully with your ruler.
Now saw and plane to your line. Treat each piece in this manner and mark with its proper letter, to be ready for assembling later.
We shall consider, for illustration, that we are making the Blue Bird House shown in Plate [3]. We have our pieces all cut out and numbered and shall now cut the shape of pieces A, which are the front and rear of the house, from our pieces that we have previously cut 8½ inches wide by 10 inches long.
A School Exhibit of Bird Houses at Crosby-Ironton, Minn.
Find the center of one end, which will be one-half of 8½ inches or 4¼ inches. Measure down on each side 4 inches and draw from our edge center to these points.
Find the center of our bottom edge next and measure 2½ inches each side to make our bottom edge 5 inches wide, as shown. Draw from the ends of this 5 inch lines to our points on the sides and we are ready to carefully cut out the form as shown in the drawing. Always remember when sawing to a line to leave about 1/16 inch between our saw cut and the line and finish with a plane to the line.
Be sure that the front and rear pieces are exactly the same size and shape to insure our house going together nicely later.
Take the bottom piece E and draw light lines from corner to corner, and with a dot locate the points where we are to bore our drainage holes.
In boring these take care not to split through on the opposite side.
Locate the holes for ventilation next and bore these carefully.
Some Bird Houses Made in the Schools at Rochester, N. Y.
Take our back brace F next and draw a light pencil line from end to end, through the center, and locate the holes for nailing to the tree 1 inch in from either end. The holes for screwing piece F to the box are 3½ inches beyond these outer holes. Bore carefully.
Bore the entrance hole with an expansive bit set so as to bore a hole 1½ inch in diameter. The center for this hole is 3 inches down from the top and 4¼ inches from either side.
If the house is to be painted it should be thoroughly sandpapered with No. ½ sandpaper, going with the grain.
Take the sides and bevel them to fit the front and back pieces, that is plane them so that when they are placed in proper position against the front and rear, the edges will follow the same sweep as the eaves and the bottom edge. All cutting should be finished before sandpapering so as not to dull our plane blade with the fine particles of sand left in the wood by the sandpaper.
Nail the sides to the front and rear, using 1¼ inch brads, placing about five on each edge, and taking care that they strike fair in the center of the edge to prevent splitting.
Next nail on roof C, having the rear edge flush with the rear of the box allowing all projection to come in front. Have ridge edge just level with peak. Next nail on roof B, seeing that it overlaps and is nailed to the edge of C.
Next attach piece F to the rear of the box with screws, allowing equal projection above and below the box. Take the bottom E and screw on an inch butt hinge to the under side at the middle point of the rear edge. Then place in position and screw the other part of hinge to F, taking care that the bottom fits tightly against the bottom edges of the box.
Retain in front by means of a small flat hook and eye as shown.
Fig. 13. A Food Shelter.
Our box is now ready to be either painted or covered with bark as desired.
If it is to be bark covered use a pair of snip shears to cut the bark to the size required. It is generally a good plan to cut the bark a little large and trim off after attaching it to the box. Use 4 oz. tacks, using as few as possible. Have the bark run uniformly in the same direction over the box. Bark directly over all holes and when finished cut these out with a sharp knife.
If a house is to be painted and have a bark roof only, paint first and allow to dry, perhaps giving a second coat and then place the bark on the roof.
This same method of construction as described will be practically the same for any of the houses shown.
Lumber should be used that will withstand the weather. Cypress, spruce and soft pine are perhaps the best.