Block Perches

[Ooby]

yer also gonna have to sand the living crap out of it once you are done lathing it, and then put a couple of coats of finish on it to make sure its weather proof.

And probably gonna need to buy a spike to attach to the bottom.

Making perches is expensive as hell. My sponsor makes em and if you want one from him, its over a year waiting list, and i don't think ive seen one go for under 600 bucks.

lathe, sand, route, drill, finish. done.

[Weasel]

$600 bucks! Is he nuts! I can by a rare wood block from south africa for half that price.....with the spike!

[Ooby]

Lol, well people pay it. He has 4 he is working on right now, one is for doug pineo. They are really d**n nice, ill see if i can get a pic.

[Weasel]

Cool! I would like to see them.

[Weasel]

I made a cheap block perch that looks great for about $10. The Harris I will be taking on is used to standing on one of these so I am getting things prepped. I will post pictures of the perch when I get a little time.

[Ooby]

Ya sorry, havn't been able to get a pic of my sponsors blocks.

So you are transfering a harris then? Not trapping one?

[Weasel]

Well, I will still probably go down to trap with friends, but yes, I am taking this passage taken male when the time comes. ;D

[00 Turok]

That doesn't sound right. A one year waiting period, and $600. That's exessive.

One: It realy is not that hard to make a block perch, unless you are carving it by hand. I took me 2 hours to carve out and sand a perch 9" long, 7" round tapering to 5.5 " at the base with a 3/8th inch inset at the top for your choice of perch fill matieral. And it doesn't take a whole lot of sanding to get the wood smooth. Thats what scarpers are for. The lathe does 95% of the work. I make bowls all the time and after 30 minutes of sanding I got the wood baby smooth. And several applications of self leveling clear coat apoxy, (the stuff wooden bar tables are finished with), and the perch is 100% water proof. The acid from bird poop can't eat through it and any nicks and scratches that may develop can easily be repaired without taking off to old finish. Plus an added bonus, the epoxy stays crystal clear forever and never yellows. And for those who really like smooth, I can hit the final finish coat with 15 micron sand paper and that surface will be slicker than teflon on oily glass. I did that with a bowl I made for a friend and it felt like it had a ceramic glaze on it but it was wood. ;D

Two: Unless this guy is using the rarest of rare woods, inlayed with ivory, and covered with 24k gold leaf, jewel studded, and artisticly sculpted with detailed carvings, $600 is just a tad bit extreem.

Three: A block perch is NOT expensive to make. The cost is strickly based on the wood being used and time to make it. Time is based on how hard the wood is; ex: pine verses birds-eye-maple, and the amount of detail put into it. If someone just wants a simple perch, Then all you do is make a taper.

[Weasel]

Let's see some pictures! Are you going to start making them for sale?

[ccrobbins]

I would get one just because chicks think block perches are sexy!

[Weasel]

[Ooby]

Well its obvious you know a lot more about wood working than i do.

All i can say is i didn't lie or exadurate, and people pay that much, and wait that long for em.

[00 Turok]

Ooby,

I didn't say you exadurated. I'm just saying that this guy is taking people for a ride. I wouldn't dream of charging $600 for a round block of wood unless it was an intricate piece of art with fine carvings and maybe some inlays.

To Weasel,

No pics. No scaner, and no digital camera be the reason. I guess I could bring the perches I made to the picnic, but they don't have a finish on them. I'm still waiting for my order of clear coat to come in, which is taking an eternity, which is rather annoying, which is a whole story on to itself, which if I dwell on it too much I'll drive myself mad, which if I say anything more about this it will become a run on sentence... Two of the perches I made a little fancy and I was hoping to have them done to show at the picnic, but I'm very liery about hauling naked wood in the car as they will crack from the heat, because they don't have a finish.

As far making them for sale, I would do it if people asked for it. We'll see what happens after I advertise a little. ;D

[frootdog]

Hey ooby did you ever get a pic of the infamous $600 block? Maybe if we could see them it would clear up some of the skeptisism?

[ccrobbins]

I would imagine it would. I made a couple chests a few years ago. One was out of Birch and one was out of Purple Heart. The Purple heart one was almost $500 more than birch, being as Birch can be had at the Depot or such.