This Old Bird House

I'm sure almost everyone has built one in school or at home as a child. I've built several over the years. All have been run of the mill designs though. This one is no different. I have plans to make more complex designs later on down the road, but for now this will do. The house is more decorative since I didn't include a way to clean it out every season.

One thing I like to do is build my bird houses out of repurposed materials. This one was made from some old Oak 1 x 4's that I found lying around in the storage building out back. Most were badly warped, but there was just enough straight material for the project. The house measues 10" tall and 4-1/2" deep and wide. The perch is 3/8" doweling. The hole was drilled using a 1-1/4" hole saw on my drill. The house is put together using carpenters glue and finish nails.

The house to the right is one I built about six years ago from boards from an old barn door.

I finished off the house by giving it an aged look. I wanted it to look like it had already been out in the weather for twenty years. I started by staining it using Dark Walnut. Normally your suppose to wait 15 minutes, wipe the excess, and then wait about four more hours and apply a second coat if necessary. In this case however, I used a different technique to get the look I wanted. I applied a coat, wiped the excess, waited five minutes and then applied another coat. I did this a total of six times. It sounds excessive, but I wanted to make sure that as much as possible would soak in. After the final coat, I let it dry for about four hours. Then I went back and sanded it, first with a heavy grit and then with a fine grit paper.  The result is a bird house that is worn and distressed and looks like its been sitting outside for twenty years.