For the birds

Alex wanted to do a "big" project from his Bear Cub Scout book and we decided on a bird feeder. There's no real plans in the book, but I had seen a picture of a simple one somewhere (where I don't remember) and it gave me a starting point on writing up a plan for him to follow. 

Starting with a 12"x24" craft plywood board, Alex measured and Jas cut - using power tools - a 12"x12" section. 

 Then Alex took the two 1/2"x4"x24" boards, measuring and cutting them into four sections, using a handsaw. Two of the sections were 12" long and the other two were about 11 1/4". As they were building the frame, we realized that a little section had to be cut off the shorter pieces for it to fit together correctly.

Alex got to hammer the pieces together with Jason bracing them for him. He did really well with the hammer. Nobody ended up with any swollen digits!

Finished frame

 Next, they attached the bottom 12x12 piece to the frame with some small nails.

Dad adding a couple of starter nails to hold it in place for Alex

"Put one right here to start"

Look at that guy!

Next, they drilled a small hole in each corner, and screwed in 4 small screw hooks.

Using s-hooks, he attached two chains (each 2 feet long) diagonally, connected them with an additional s-hook in the middle, and attached a 3rd 1-foot long chain to hang it from.

Finished project!!

It's now hanging in a tree in our front yard. We are hoping to get some neat photos in the future of different birds.

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