The Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival is an annual event each May in Homer, Alaska. In keeping with the “birding festivities” Ted designed and turned a collection of wooden shorebirds. We are now offering these little birds in our store – maybe they will flock to your home?
Turned Wooden Shorebirds
Selecting the Wood
The first step is selecting a wood species with a lot of interesting grain and contrast. The correct wood will produce a turning that gives the appearance of wings and feathers. Our favorite woods for shorebirds are ambrosia maple, spalted maple, spalted beech, spalted birch, magnolia, and cherry.
Magnolia Turning Blanks
Cutting the Turning Blanks
The second step is cutting the wood into rectangular blanks slightly larger than the finished bird. Ted turns each bird individually on his wood lathe – no patterns or templates are used – and basically “eyeballs” the shape. Some birds turn out to be slim. Others are on the portly side. As in nature, no two birds are ever exactly alike.
Adding Legs and Bills
The third step is adding legs and bills. Ted uses ¼” dowels of birch or maple. The color of the dowel provides contrast to the bird body. Leg placement is tricky, and it all comes down to intuition and a few lucky guesses. Ted drills angled holes in the body for the legs and a hole in the head for the bill. All of Ted’s shorebirds are positioned as if they were feeding, as they need the tripod support of two legs and a bill for stability. But due to the angle of the legs, whether it be intuition or luck, no two birds are ever exactly alike.
Feeding Shorebird
Applying Finish
The last step is applying finish. We use a durable Danish oil finish. Danish oil produces a satin sheen and repels dust and fingerprints. Ambrosia maple, spalted maple, spalted beech, spalted birch, and magnolia are all very porous woods and require as many as six or seven coats of finish. Each coat dries for 24 hours before the next is applied. These lightweight and porous woods act like a sponge and soak up what seems like their own weight in finish during coats one, two, and three. Cherry, which is a more closely-grained wood, soaks up less finish and requires only three coats. Applying finish requires some intuition, too. Apply one coat too many and you risk ending up with a slightly tacky surface. Experience tells you how many coats of finish are enough and know when to call it good. After the final coat has dried, we set the turned wooden shorebirds aside for a week or so to fully cure.
At the Finishing Station
Where To Buy These
We sell individual shorebirds in the store section of our site. The birds are listed by type of wood so you can select just the one you want, or mix and match to make your own flock.
A Flock
