Whittling Birdies with Boo Like Mere Mortals

Starting with a simple block of wood

After a ruptured appendix and two return trips to the Emergency Room with Boo, I think we finally have her on the right track to wellness. The last visit netted us stronger pain medication to help her through the rough spots of this HSP (Henoch-Schonlein Purpura.)

So today we decided to whittle a couple of little birds and add them to a bird house that she had already build at a Home Depot workshop for kids. She has never whittled before and I took great pleasure in teaching her the basics.

After whittling it down, she sanded the bird smooth.

Boo got to learn some basics on my Corner Cat Finish Sander by Ryobi. So we can mark whittling AND sanding off our learning list. Hooray! To start her on her "knife classes" as she calls them, I found a YouTube video that explained all the parts of the knife and went over them with her until she could name every part. We covered knife care and safety. Next we'll cover "proper sharpening", as WranglerStar would call it.

All sanded down and ready for color.

First, we started by finding a basic starter whittling project on YouTube. One of my favorite woodworkers on YT is Steve Ramsey and he has a large array of DIY woodworking projects on his channel Woodworking for Mere Mortals. The project we settled on was titled "Whittling a Bird out of a Creative Block."

We found a couple of blocks of random 2x4s in the front yard and drew out a template of a bird. We whittled down the wood as close to the drawing as possible. She was excited to use her new pocket knife I bought her from Amazon. It is hunter orange with pink inlay and has a recessed image of an elk head in the handle. It stays on my night stand and comes out to play for special occasions.

Daddy and Daughter pocket knives

After whittling down to size and sanding it smooth, she took to painting the bird with a pretty blue color. I drilled small holes in the belly and used two small nails for legs. I gently pounded them into the body and clipped off the heads of the nails so that the opposite end will fit into holes on the bird house.

We made two birds and the whole project took us about three hours. It was a terrific way to spend a Saturday afternoon and Boo is enjoying showing them to everyone. This was a fun little craft project for anyone looking for something to do on a lazy summer day.

Adding the paint

Tada!

Now, let's hope we can get back to having fun on a routine basis and get passed all this horse-hockey nonsense we've been going through for the last 14 months!

~OJD