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Andy Standing helps you feed the wildlife

1 Mark out your plank

2 Cut out the parts for the back board, table and bottle neck support

3 Take the neck support board and bore a hole in the centre. 35mm should be about right. Clamp it securely on the bench on top of

some scrap pieces. Alternatively, use a pillar drill

4 To make the bottle sit more securely in the hole, use a rasp or file to round the top edge to match the contours of the bottle

5 Cut a slot in the front to make it easier to insert the bottle

6 Clean up with some abrasive paper. Round the corners and remove any sharp edges

7 The table is held in position by a couple of screws through the backboard. Mark the position of the table using a square, then

place the table in position and mark its thickness

8 Drill a pair of holes through the backboard in between your two marked lines

9 Position the table and screw through the backboard to hold it in place

10 The table lip should be about 30mm wide and 10mm thick. Cut a 30mm strip off your board and rip it down to produce two

10mm thick pieces

11 For a neat finish, mitre the ends of the strips in a mitre box

12 Then pin it around the table

13 Trim the rear ends to length

14 Fit the bottle neck support in the same way as the table. Set its height above the table so that there is space for the seeds/nuts to

come out, without swamping the table.

15 Cut a couple of pieces of timber 15-20mm square and about 140mm long. Place them either side of the base of the bottle and

mark their positions

16 Drill a single hole for each and screw them in position

17 Measure the gap between the two uprights and cut a crossbar to fit between them. Slot it in place and adjust it so that it is about

10mm away from the bottle. Mark its position

18 The last job is to tie the whole assembly together with a pair of diagonal braces. These are 20mm wide and 10mm thick. Fix to

the backboard just above the table and connect to the top frame at the corner... they screw directly through into the crossbar. This

is a little fiddly as you need to hold the crossbar in position with a clamp while you screw through into it

19 Another pair of screws connect the brace to the backboard and the bottle support. Turn over the assembly and repeat the

process, though this time you will not need the clamp

20 Trim off the ends of the sidebars and the braces

21 Clean up with some abrasive paper

22 The finished job

23 And the finished bird feeder

Woodworkers Institute - Bird Feeder (Print) http://www.woodworkersinstitute.com/print.asp?p=1575

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8/3/2019 The Woodworkers Institute - Bird Feeder (Print)

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Wild birds always appreciate a little extra food at any time of year and once you start putting food out for them, more and more

birds will come into your garden. There are all kinds of treats that birds love, in particular seeds and nuts. Here is a design for a

seed feeder that uses a bottle to store the seed. You can use any bottle, but you may need to modify the dimensions slightly to suit.

I used a normal wine bottle for the feeder.

Printed from http://www.woodworkersinstitue.com || 27/09/2011

Unless otherwise stated, all content is Copyright 2011 The GMC Group LTD. All rights reserved.

Woodworkers Institute - Bird Feeder (Print) http://www.woodworkersinstitute.com/print.asp?p=1575

2 9/27/2011 10:27 A