DIY Dual Purpose Platform Bird Feeder
In general both consist of a 3 foot by 3 foot bird feed platform mounted on a 4x4 post with a place to hang potted plants on the underside. Even though both are designed for the same purpose, to provide a place to put bird feed and a means to hang plants, other than the 3x3 piece of plywood the platform construction and mounting method are completely different. And as mentioned we'll take a look at both and you can build yours however you like.
The Mounting Post:
Since both builds use the same mounting post we can get that out the way. In this case it's a Pressure Treated 4x4, eight foot in length. Mounting height from the ground to the top of the post is 5 foot 6 inches. The owner is happy with this height and it allows plenty of height for hanging potted plants.
I'm not going to get into how to put a post up. A quick internet search will pull up countless videos on putting a wood post in the ground. Personally I prefer to creosote the portion of the post being put in the ground. This helps prevent wood rot and insect damage. Just make sure your post is level on all sides. Once you have your post set, you're ready to build the platform which is the primary subject of this post.
The Original Platform:
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| The Original Platform Bird Feeder |
The Original Platform feeder is ultra simple to make, minimal cutting, minimal materials and an alternative method to the madness. You may be happy with it. I can say it lasted about year and half to two years though started falling apart much earlier. When I took it down it three quarters of it was completely rotted and one 2x4 had fallen off. That said I believe it it didn't last as long as it may have due to things that could have been done that weren't. Such as gluing the wood, sealing edges, and continued maintenance of re-applying a exterior grade finish when needed.
Original Platform Materials:
I'm just going by what I can see was used to build the original platform. If you want to build it this way, this is what you''ll need:
1 - 4'x4'x3/4" sheet of exterior grade plywood.
1 - 12' pressure treated 2x4
1 - 12' outside corner molding (wood)
4 - Simpson Strong Tie A88 - 8" Angle Brackets
4 - 4" Zinc Plated Screw hooks
Putting it together:
The plywood is cut to 36 x 36 inches (3'x3') and save the scrap you'll need it later.
Mount the 8" Strong tie angle braces to the 4x4 post at the top like so...
I only show three placed where they go in the above picture but you get the idea. The angle braces are what holds the platform on to the post.
As you can see in the picture of the original platform bird feeder above he used the cut-offs of the plywood (1'x3' and 1'x4') to box over the angle braces on the post. You'll need to measure as I don't have dimensions other than the one foot side.
He cut two 3 foot lengths from the 2x4 and mounted them flat on the bottom edge on two opposing sides on the underside of the platform. Cut 2 more for the opposite edges to length and mount those.
Do the same with the outside corner molding. Mounting that to the top edges.
You can do box cuts for the corners as he did, or 45 'em for all a joining ends. It's up to you.
The 4 inch hooks like the ones below were installed centered in the 2x4's on the underside.
Mount the platform.
Walk away... your done.
The owner later put a urethane finish on it - which you can too. You can make what ever improvements you see fit, such as mitered corners, gluing, and a finish to start with and it should last a fair bit longer than hers did.
A note on the original from the owner: It was the owners idea to put corner molding on the upper edge. She thought it would be useful to hold the bird seed on the platform but what she found was that it wasn't needed as she feeds them a daily ration of about 3 pints of bird seed which stays on the platform with out issue.
She found that the corner molding also helped retained water on the platform after a rain. In fact, it's the molding that rotted and fell off first, but it also served to trap water on the platform and slowly drizzle it over the edge. Which in turn soaked into the edge of the plywood and rotted the plywood away.
As mentioned, you can improve the construction method of the original build design easy enough and it should last longer than hers did.
My Platform Bird Feeder Build:
As mentioned previously I opted to build the platform a different way. The construction method is different, mounting method is different, takes more material and though easy enough, is a little more involved to build. If you choose to build the above as I did, the following is what you'll need.
Materials:
1 - 4'x4'x3/4" (half sheet) Exterior Grade Plywood - (BCX was used for this build) cut to 3'x3' and save the cut-offs
1 - 2x4x8 Pressure Treated
2 - 1x2x8 Pressure Treated
4 - 1x3x8 Pressure Treated
1 - Box 1 1/4 Deck Screws or Coated Construction Screws
1 - Box 2" Deck Screws or Coated Construction Screws
8 - 3" Coated Construction Screws
8 - #4 Eye Screws
8 - 5/16 Zinc Coated Washers
Exterior Grade Wood Glue
Exterior Grade Wood Filler (or make your own)
Your Prefered Exterior Wood Sealer/Finish
A note on materials:
BCX Plywood was used in this build only because it was the only thing I could findin a half sheet locally. If you can find pressure treated exterior grade in a BC or CC or even a CD grade it will last longer... supposedly. Try to find one with one side with very few knot holes or and fill any you do have if going with a C grade on one side.
Glue - Make sure the glue you use is exterior grade. Waterproof even better. Titebond is the brand I used, but there are others you may prefer. I found for this build about 6 ounces of Titebond was needed. Get the 8oz size of whatever glue and you should be fine.
Construction:
Again you need to cut your half sheet of plywood to 3x3 feet. Best side up.
You'll have two cut off lengths approx one foot in width. A 3 footer and a 4 footer. Use the 3 footer for this and the 4 footer you can use for another project.
We're going to make a wrap using the 3 foot plywood cut off for the top of the 4x4 pole. You don't have to, but I did. You can see it better in the following image.
How you make the corners is up to you. You can miter them, you can make two long two short or you can pinwheel them around the pole as I did. It really depends on the tools you have on hand and your skill set using them.
Given I only had a 5 1/2" cordless circular saw with me, and all cuts where made using a speed square as a straight edge. This saw will not go over my speed square at a 45 and I didn't feel skilled enough to free hand a cut a miter joint squarely with it. A pin wheel is easy. And it can be cut in place using a speed square as a straight edge. I used 2" Construction Screws for mounting the wrap boards. Make sure you glue a joining edges and to the pole regardless of your method of mitering corners.
Give the glue time to dry and go ahead and seal the entire pole. In my case I used Thompsons Waterproofing sealer with transparent stain... I forgot what color. And did two coats. The whole pole including top. As it dries build I built the platform itself as at this point the pole is finished and ready for the platform to be mounted.
Moving onto the Platform build:
I used the 2x4x8 cut into 4 equal length pieces to make a cross lap center support. Accounting for the curf of the saw blade they should be just under 24 inches in length and equal in length.
I used a circular saw to make the cuts but you can use a handsaw etc etc. Unfamiliar with Cross Lap Joints? Here's video someone posted that shows how its done and what they look like.
Making them is simple as you can see from the above video. Personally once cut I just take a hammer and knock out the cut out. Then clean up with a chisel or since I didn't have a chisel with, I used the circular saw to clean up the notch.
Taking a look at the image below you can see the cross lap joints as well as other things I did which I'll talk about in a second. It's a very simple build as mentioned.
Once you have the cross laps cut make sure you test fit it assembled including on the pole.
As you can see I added a angle to each end of the support 2x4's. Real simple to get the angle. Measure in 5 inches from each end and 1 1/2 inches from the top. Draw a line and make the cut. Perfect for the 1x2 frame I added, which I did miter the corners at 45 degrees.
I added a 1x3 frame flush to the outer edge with again 45 degree mitered corners. Then added a 1x3 facia all around it.
2 inch screws where used to attach the plywood and 1x2's to the main support 2x4's and for attaching the facia boards. 1 1/4" screws were used for attaching the 1x3's.
All screws where put in from the plywood side into solid wood.
A couple tips for you if you're making this yourself.
1) Position the 2x4 support on the top side and trace around it so you know where center of each board is to put the screws.
2) Mount one of the cross lapped board with a couple screws that will hold the other two up, then test fit it to the pole again and put the last one in with a couple more screws once on the pole. This insures a snug fit but not too snug. Then remove it from the pole and put the rest of the screws in.
3) Glue every where wood meets wood. It'll be stronger and last longer if you do.
Now that it's together fill all screw holes with the wood filler. Sand it all down breaking the edges.
Drill 8 pilot holes for the Eye Screws
Put your exterior grade water sealer on the underside. Let it almost dry then add your Eye screws using a washer on each. These are the Screw Eyes I used
I added a washer to the Eye screws before installing all eight of them. The washer prevents the eye from biting into the wood. Then mount the platform on the pole using the 3" screws. This is the only area I didn't use glue as I wanted it to be able to be removed if needed.
A couple pics taken after the sealer was applied the the bottom and Screw Eyes installed.
Once mounted I then sealed the top side...
And that's it, it's done!
Hang a plant or two or three...
Once dry throw some bird seed on top.
Now that it's tested out, add more plants!
Up to eight hanging, some plants around the pole on the ground would look nice too...
And there you have it. One very stout dual purpose platform bird feeder that should last you a number of years. Or simply put, a DIY Hanging Plant Platform Bird Feeder...
For shits and giggles here's a comparison pic of the original Platform Bird Feeder and the new one I made.
Though I'm a tad bias on my prefered build style. I suppose it's a matter of personal preference as both accomplish the same task in the end. So pick your preferred and build your own since you now know how to build one two ways.
Additionally you might want to add a rope or wood dowel perch around the perimeter of the platform. Though the birds and squirrels that frequent this bird feeder do fine as it sits, the perch is something I'm considering adding myself. If I do so, I'll add further instruction and some pics. It should be rather easy to accomplish and a variety of ways to do so.
That's about it for this post. Till next time...
Stay Happy, Stay Creative!
Cheers...
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