Introducing the Squiggle Bird

[jmischel]

I'm making a whole lot of those comfort birds. I saved the side cutouts with the intention of sanding them flat and using them for refrigerator magnets or for a hanging display. But when I tried to sand them flat on a belt sander, I found that it's rather difficult to hold on to something that's less than 1/4 inch thick.

I was at my friend's shop. He took out one of his power tools (he does auto body work for a living) and said, "I have an idea." And thus was born the Squiggle Bird.

The only problem I'm having now is figuring the center of balance so I know where to attach the string.

The first picture shows the side cutout. The battery is there to hold the thing upright. The next shows my guideline. Third picture is the result after some quality time with the Foredom, and some hand sanding. And the last picture is two completed squiggle birds. These are sycamore.

Now to come up with something to do with the tail pieces. My wife says they look kind of like fish. . .

[Mottles]

Hi Jim, your 'Squiggle birds' turned out great and certainly excellent use for the waste wood.
I love the sycamore wood very pretty.

I'm having a little trouble getting my head around how steps images 1-3 turned out to look like image 4. I feel like I'm not seeing or missing something.

Oops never mind I see now..........Great idea!!!! Will give it a try too..

[jmischel]

Kathy

Glad you got your head around the process. I was thinking I might have to take some in-progress pictures. I suppose I should have mentioned the part where I rounded the thing from top to bottom. That gives the finished piece more of a 3-dimensional look even though it's mostly a 2-dimensional figure.

[Claude]

Good use of cut offs, Jim. Makes nice looking bird ornaments. An easy way to figure out the CG is to lay a dowel on the table, then lay the ornament across it (like a teeter-totter); move the ornament back and forth until it balances on the dowel, then mark it on the birds back where the dowel is.

Claude

[Dan Wegiel]

Hi Jim,
Love the little "squiggle birds". You sure don't waste any wood, do you?
Dan
P.S. Send me a PM with your address, I've misplaced it.

[Mottles]

Tee hee, thanks Jim

Claude, great tip thank you for posting for Jim let's me benefit too!

[Sharon of the Dell]

Pretty cool Jim!
I'm finally getting to the mesquite. My band saw was out of alignment and I messed a piece of it up, but it spawned an idea with the bad cut- a fish! Took one slice of it with a gouge, it is hard. I know I will enjoy carving it!

[jmischel]

Excellent idea, Claude. Thanks. I tried attaching an aligator clip to a piece of string, but it wasn't sensitive enough. I was looking for a smaller clip. Perhaps the teeter-totter idea will work better.

[jmischel]

Dan, I try not to waste much. But I'm not shy about throwing cutoffs into the BBQ pile. The fruit woods, mesquite, and oak make for some good BBQ. But the bird cutoffs are already so perfectly shaped, it seemed a shame to toss them. I might regret it. By the time I'm done with my birds project, I'll have hundreds of the silly things.

[jmischel]

I'm interested to see what you make from the mesquite, Sharon. Beautiful stuff, but you're right--it's hard. Well worth the effort of carving, though.