The Bat House

No Bat Man doesn't live there but we will be trying to draw some tenants next year. My Sister-In-Law has a little bat problem so we decided to make her a bat house for Christmas, and when your are making one why not two, one for us. I did a little on line research and found that cedar is OK for a bat house. I was told by a friend it wasn't, so we'll find out if they stay empty, and if so I'll build more. After looking around I found as simple design, modified it a bit and this is what I came up with.

Small and simple, vent in the front.

Three chambers with mesh for them to hang on to.

Murratte's Writing Slope

This writing slope is made from cooked birds eye maple, with maple spline in the lid, I veneered cherry to the bottom, on both sides of a piece of hard board and my wife's hand died material for the underside of the lid. I haven't been able to build much this past year because of working on the "Farm" and it was nice to just get into the shop and create.

One of the small ones, 10 x 13, leather surface for a writing top.

The hand died material looks great against the dark wood.

Maple splines at the corner on the lid.

I really like birds eye maple, a great look.

A New/Old Bird Feeder

We got this feeder a few years ago, the roof was poorly done and fell apart after on season, along with the base. I saved the columns and seed holder along with the cable to hang it, and since work on "The Searsville Project" has progressed to a point were I am taking a few weeks off, I decided to work on the feeder. My friend has two new decks built on his place and offered me the cutoffs from the cedar decking, and they were great. I used trial and error to make the roof, there are 10 segments and were beveled to 7½ º to help with the pitch. The base is made up of two boards joined with biscuits and glue. I smoothed the edges of the roof line and I've been told it has a mushroom look and "she" likes it, so I do.