In this article, Amu, the author of the YouTube channel “功 食道”, will tell you how to make a weather vane - scarecrow from bamboo.
This homemade product is very simple to manufacture, and made by a master without the use of a power tool.
Materials
- Bamboo trunks
- Log
- Board, planks
- Sandpaper.
Instruments, used by the author.
- Bow saw, hacksaw
- Rasp
- Hand drill
- A chisel, a blade from a plane, a hammer.
Manufacturing process.
First of all, the master makes bamboo blanks with a diameter of at least 50 mm. They are needed for the base and stand of the weather vane.
The base will consist of two legs and a cross member.
Using a chisel, two rectangular holes are made into a chisel in two side legs.
At the ends of the cross member, a cut is cut out on both sides. In the center, two long teeth are left. These are improvised spikes.
Now the legs and crossbar are connected.
In exactly the same way, the master attaches the weather vane stand to the center of the cross member.
With the help of the same chisel, already in the upper part of the weather vane body, he hollows three holes: two more, one smaller. The edges of the holes are aligned with a rasp.
At the bottom of the case makes a hole for the rack, the case must sit on the rack freely, and rotate easily.
Three segments of equal length are cut out from a separate bamboo trunk of a smaller diameter, in each of which a small hole was drilled before. The first two segments are racks for mounting the axis, and they are much larger than the third, on which the woodpecker figure will be fixed. In addition, a deep U-shaped slot is pierced in it. They are all installed in the holes in the upper part of the housing.
The case is put on the rack, it is desirable to lubricate the upper part with wax for better gliding.
Now he cuts eight blanks for blades from the board.
Further, the workpieces are roughly processed with an ax and a plow.It is important to make them as thin as possible.
Then comes the finish sanding with sandpaper. You need to try to make the blades of the same weight. This avoids unbalancing the propeller.
A round log about 10 cm in diameter is cut from the trunk of a young tree. It is on it that the wind vane blades will be fixed.
With a blade from a plane, Amu removes the bark from it, and evens the surface. It should be as round as possible.
At the place of cutting, the master marks the projection lines of future holes with lines and transfers these lines to the outer surface of the workpiece. Thus, he finds the center of the round log, and the drilling point for installing the blades. At these points he drills holes.
Now in the round timber there is one central, through hole and several radial blind holes.
Then, from thin strips, he cuts the blanks for the rods on which the blades will be mounted.
In each of which saws a groove under the blade.
The blades are installed in the grooves.
And so that the blades do not slide off, two or three through holes are made in the slats, into which thin sticks are driven in and cut off.
The blades are set in place.
In the central hole, the master tightly clogs the long axis.
Bushings with an inner diameter equal to the diameter of the axis are cut from bamboo.
The first sleeve is put on, which will move the propeller away from the rack and body.
The long sleeve is located between the supports.
A dog is cut from a piece of wood.
The last sleeve is put on the end of the axis, and the dog. They must be very tightly fixed on it.
On a separate wooden block, the master depicts the silhouette of a bird with a crest, probably a woodpecker. Then cuts, and cuts it.
The finished bird is attached to the holder on a wooden axis.
Now you can check the operation of the mechanism. Please note that there is no metal part in this design!
The final touch is the tail of the weather vane. It is made in a manner similar to the blades.
The tail itself is connected to the body using two dowels.
It remains to check the balancing of the body, and the vane-scarecrow is ready.
Now, when the weather vane rotates, the “woodpecker” will “peck” the body. And due to the fact that it is hollow, a very loud sound is obtained.
For a greater effect of scaring away birds, the master attached flaps of bright fabric to the ends of the blades.
None of such a homemade weather vane made of bamboo would have refused summer resident or a villager. If the sound effect of repelling is not required, just put a soft cloth under the bird's beak.
Thanks to the author for the simple but useful device to scare away birds!
All good mood, good luck, and interesting ideas!
Author video can be found here.