bird legs,on a bird

[steve in houston]

Morning, I carved a kingfisher and another bird of somewhat unknown lineage, Im calling it a chickadee. But now I want to put legs and feet on them and maybe wrap the feet around a branch then mount the branch. You know giving it a perch. I dont want to buy premade leg/feet. I want to make them myself. Any suggestions on type of metal soldering etc. ? Im really in the dark here, any help would be really appreciated.
Thanks Steve

[feb]

Richard Butz, book on How to carve wood has a step by step on how to do bird legs. You might check back ssues of WCI feb

[mark yundt]

I used to use the precast,pewter I think they were to mount my birds with,,but as I 'm sure you realize you are really limited as to what you can do with them.I always used regular copper wire,,various gauges,regular solder.You can use for example 14 with a thinner gauge for the little bone that runs down the backof each leg.Each toe is formed individually,with the nail included as one piece. It really helps to form the nail first,curved, tapered and pointed before you stick them all together.Then when you have what basically looks like a birds foot,you can use regular bondo to add the "meat" and little wrinkles and such that you find on them. Depending on their size ( some get really little as you know) I would sometimes use a t-50 to fasten the individual pieces to a block to hold them in relative position ,then finish forming and adding the various pads and such.Remember a bird doesn't really hold on with just it's nails,,it does have the pads I mentioned that it really uses.Oh,,be sure to really clean off the flux,,it will stop both paint and the bondo from sticking.Have fun!

[steve in houston]

Thanks Mark. That really helps. I think Ive got some copper wire at the house. I hadnt even thought about putting something on the wire like bondo. I think Ill try it. My birds are pretty folk art looking , this might spruce them up . Thanks again
Steve

[Donna_T]

Another option to bondo for making bird legs/feet is to use 2-part ribbon epoxy (blue/yellow)--you work it til it's green, roll it out in a tiny thread and wrap it around the wire leg and feet, stopping just before the toenails. Once wrapped, work it with your fingers until it's somewhat "mushed" together and smooth. You can take a various small sizes of tubing (brass or copper) and cut a notch out of about 1/3 of the end so that you get a "u" shape and use it to press into the leg and toes to give it scale like texture. It's usually hard enough to paint the next day, but it allows you some minor bending to help with the mounting process. It's usually best to shape the legs and feet around the mounting BEFORE you apply the epoxy so you don' t have to do much bending afterwards.

I've also wrapped and glued buttonhole thread to bird legs and feet to add "meat" to the wire...wrapping it heavier at the joints. I've used the epoxy over it and just textured it.

Golly that's hard to explain but I hope you get the picture.

Donna T

[woodbutcher]

The gentleman who got me started carving 30 years ago had taken his dremel tool and made a cast in a small piece of steel. He would than hammer a piece of lead into the cast to form the feet. He than used ringed nails for the legs and built up epoxy around the ring nails to form the legs.

[woodtrapper]

I know this does not have anything to do with your subject but I once saw a pelican carved and the legs were small gage rebar painted.It looked realistic.

[songbirds]

if you use thin wire for the tarsus and toes, they can be built up with Kulis Karvit or Apoxie Sculpt. They are a two piece apoxy and not messy like bondo. They do take longer to dry, but when they are, they are hard as a rock and can be carved to shape. Also when using solder, use a very thin solder .015 it makes it much easier, just a dap will do. Songbirds

[Bill V]

I use copper wire then build up with two part wood epoxy from HD .not as messy as bondo, and you have working time before it start to get hard.

Bill