Thought I would share these two bird house's in case someone was looking for a winter project. Few tools are required.

The multipart is made from scraps of one inch board using a jigsaw. If I can remember from 20 plus years ago, the blade was set at a 20 degree angle. The bottom board as well as from the entrance hole up are solid. The layers in between are cutout leaving an inch and a half wall thickness. The bottom two boards are hinged together with a single hinge- it just tilts to the side for its' annual cleaning. All the remaining layers are screwed together. A wood rasp was used to blend all the edges, create the cable groove and round the edge on the umbrella. A little elbow grease with coarse sandpaper finished the project. If you have a wood lathe the finishing would be quick and easy. After it's all assembled, a quick spin - trim and sanding, then remove and rasp in the cable groove.

With a little bit more work, this could be mounted on a homemade wood pin - screw down through the bottom board into the top of the pin. A longer pin for a king pin or shorter ones for crossarm locations.

You can see that the top no longer matches the bottom in colour. Having received more exposure to the sun and it's UV rays, it has become darker .................

The second house is even quicker, faster and easier than the first. A short pole top. Split in half lengthwise with an axe, or cut with a big bandsaw. Hollow both sides out with hammer and chisel, or the tip or a chainsaw (not recommended but really fast) . Drill entrance hole in one side. For this house I used a jig saw and simply enlarged a bolt hole that was strategically placed. To secure the two halves together I was fortunate in that this came with a large bolt already installed near the very top. Below the entrance hole I wrapped a piece of copper wire with a nice patina. To clean it in the fall, I undue the copper wire and pivot the two halves on the top bolt. The T bar came cemented onto the screw type bracket, so was simply screwed in place. To tell the truth, I've never seen any bird perch on it, so go ahead and use your favourite insulator and bracket as it's only decoration.

A longer pole, 6 -9 feet could be used like a fence post. In that instance I would cut halfway through the pole about two feet from the top, and split the pole down only that far.