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I was
asked if I'd repair the roof of a wooden bird table that houses two bog oak
sculptured crows (Fred and Aristotle). Originally, they were free-standing and
could be moved about and posed. But once the Gibberd Garden
was opened to the public, they became damaged and it was necessary to fix them
down.
Here's a picture of the birds in a sorry state with the roof missing. Claire Guest is the original sculptress.
One
crow has no feet. The other has one foot missing and the other foot fixed the
wrong way round. The structure of the bird table was much worse than was
apparent, too. The bottoms of the legs were rotten, as were several of the
other pieces.
Getting Started
Ash trees felled in the grounds last autumn provided the timber for the new
roof (de-barked, split, and dried over winter). Treated timber fence posts
provided new lower sections for the four main support legs and the cross
bracing.
I rebuilt the structure as close to the original as possible. The roof is most
peculiar as the horizontal ridge pole has no support! I had to use temporary
supports while I nailed on the roof slats. (These had a discreet, thin bead of
clear silicone sealant between each to seal the gaps.)
The
cross bracing is bonkers and does little for the rigidity! I did ask if I could
improve it, but the trustees were reluctant for me to change anything. (I was
ready to post on CR4 asking for suggested bracing schemes)
Having
completed the hard work, the structure was much more solid than it had been for
a long time. At last I started on the fun bit - the crows. I brought them home
so that I could work in relative comfort. They were in a worse state than I
thought.
The First Crow
The crow
with no feet had a loose beak. So I had to machine away the thick epoxy which
had held it on. I ground the end of an old drill bit flat like an end mill and
used that in my pillar drill (drill press). Then the beak was refitted with two
short stainless steel pins (cut down nails) and epoxy adhesive. There was no
record to show if the crow ever had feet, so I left it as was. Inspection of
the ends of the legs makes me suspect that it may have had individual toes
fitted, which would have been very susceptible to damage.
The Second Crow
The second crow had one tail feather missing. The other tail feathers &
wings were loose, but at least the missing foot had been found. I completely
dismantled this crow (except the beak), revealing that one leg was pinned on
with a steel pin. Cleaning and re-assembly revealed that he'd been mounted
wrongly and that his tail shouldn't be touching the decking.
It took all my powers of persuasion to convince the trustees to let me restore
him to stand on just his two feet.
"Trust me, I wouldn't offer to do it unless I knew I could", I said. Oh dear,
me and my big mouth! I had a heart-stopping moment as I was drilling up through
one of the legs to accept 6-mm stainless steel threaded rod. That's when the
leg started falling apart!
Funny
stuff bog oak. Some of it is sound, but some of it is nearly all cracks and
brittle, coal-like material. I carefully teased the leg apart into 3 pieces,
glued it back together, cleaned up a huge split and glued in a thin strip of
oak, the edges of which I blackened over a flame. Then I very carefully
completed the drilling.
The replacement tail feather was difficult to make look old. I burned it and rubbed
it with mud, but it was still too brownish-red. I consulted Mrs. Cat, who has
good colour vision. "It needs some green. Put some algae on it", she said.
So I
scraped some green off a fence post and rubbed that onto it. It was a vast
improvement. Give it a few years and it will look fine!
Editor's Note: CR4 would like to thank Del the Cat for sharing this project and writing a fine blog entry. Next project:
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Re: DIY Wooden Sculpture Repairs
