Bird's Builds

Bird's Builds Specializing in custom 3D Printing, Designing, and Woodworking. With a can-do attitude, the sky is the limit!
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(A day late😬, but...)🧰TOOL TIPS & TECHNIQUES TUESDAY  #3🛠️✨06/30/2026: WOOD CHOICE✨When figuring out the details of a pr...
07/01/2026

(A day late😬, but...)
🧰TOOL TIPS & TECHNIQUES TUESDAY #3🛠️

✨06/30/2026: WOOD CHOICE✨

When figuring out the details of a project, one of the first things to consider is wood choice. More often than not, the first question to consider is "Will this be inside or outside?" Some other considerations:
💥Light or dark color preference

💥Durability requirements

💥Special use-cases

💥Moisture exposure

💥Painted, stained, cleared, or left natural finish

I decided not to include pine in this post due to how readily available and forgiving it is, but some quick details about pine in case you want to know are:
💥Not very hard, but is flexible so it's still durable

💥Poor outdoor option due to no rot-resistance (pressure treating it turns it into one of the best outdoor choices for longevity)

💥Used a lot in construction along with Douglas Fir, very structural

💥Good general project option since it is so cheap

All of these considerations go into the ultimate wood choice to get the project going. Even then, sometimes you are still left with a few options. This slide deck should help you pick the very best wood option for your project!

🧰TOOL TIPS & TECHNIQUES TUESDAY!🛠️06/23/2026✨TIP  #2: CHOOSE THE CORRECT WOOD FINISH✨Every time I finish building a new ...
06/24/2026

🧰TOOL TIPS & TECHNIQUES TUESDAY!🛠️
06/23/2026

✨TIP #2: CHOOSE THE CORRECT WOOD FINISH✨

Every time I finish building a new project or use a new species of wood, I find myself asking the same question: "How do I finish this?" I will sit on Google or a forum reading what everybody suggests, reading the fight happening between the 2-3 people on that forum from 15 years ago before going to the next, just to end up with a half-answer to my question and an hour of time wasted...👎

The slides below cover the pros and the cons, the yays and the nays, the right from the wrong on picking wood finishes; there are even some extra tips and tricks sprinkled in to help you succeed in applying the finishes.🥳

My favorite finishes, featured below, that I use most often are:
💥Rubio Monocoat for a super durable, super
luxurious ultra-matte finish (free sample on their
website). This finish makes the big tables make the
big bucks!

💥Varathane Oil-Based and Water-Based
Polyurethanes and Spar Urethanes for superior
durability and an all-around great protective finish.
These are easily my workhorse option.
(Water-Based options go on white and dry clear🤘)

💥MinWax Water-Based Polycrylic for the most
crystal-clear finish around (Goes on white and dries
clear🤘🤘)

💥Hope's 100% Pure Tung Oil will have any slab or
table strutting it's stuff in no time

💥Total Boat makes some all-around great epoxies
that are easy to work with and are very predictable
in how they dry, unlike some other brands🤫

Anyway, here it goes, my second week of hitting my goal to learn some knowledge then spread some knowledge. Hopefully I can save you that next hour-long deep dive on Google and the fighters on those forums!

06/17/2026

⭐Hey everybody! Sorry for a longer post, but it has a bunch of good info in it about plans for the future. TLDR: I am making changes to Bird's Builds in order to regain some time so I can return to being a human that does human things.🤖⭐

Anyway, here it goes:

A few days from now is the 1-year mark for Bird's Builds being in business! It has been a busy year and I am proud of this business with how successful and fun it has been to touch each of my customers' lives and their businesses.

With 1 year fast approaching, now is a great time to reflect on past projects and start refining my business model to focus on time efficiency after working a few too many 20+ hour days lately.

Looking back at the projects from the past year, I have had a good mix of custom orders and repeat business.
💥Custom orders: planters, benches, wedding arbors,
chess boards, bars, TV stands, rotating
bookshelves, photo walls, tables, and
epoxy-involved projects.
💥Repeat business: backdrops and carts.

After every project I like to reflect on ways to improve next time. With foldable backdrops easily being the majority of projects, I have developed them into being what my clients often call "the best in the business."
💥Highly robust fold locks
💥Solid hinge style designed around constant use
💥Seam alignment locks to hide seams as best as
possible
💥Support blocking to allow clients to put other cargo
on top as they go to an event
💥Fold latches to lock into ttansport or storage mode
💥Overbuilt handles made for two-person carry or
single person carry
💥Strong foot support to handle outdoor winds with
optional in-ground mounting available

All of these features were designed to be the best, but they were also designed to speed up the build process so now I can build many foldable backdrops very fast; a really good step towards time efficiency!

Even though my backdrops are now super efficient and raved about around St. Louis, that is not enough to sustainably run Bird's Builds as-is and still have a life. This brings me to the changes I plan to make in order to take this next leap.

1️⃣ To free up time, I need to focus on the most efficient and best product, foldable backdrops. I plan to only accept backdrop projects. Any other projects will still be considered, but the focus needs to be on time saving and backdrops allow that.

2️⃣ A small portion of this freed-up time will go toward developing the blueprints and build plans side of my business. I make build plans for all my builds and sell them for a great deal on Etsy. They are pretty close to a true passive income at this point and they allow me to teach others and allow them to be proud to say they built something themselves. They allow the ability to inspire others.

3️⃣ I am limiting how many projects I take on each month. Currently, I have been averaging 6 to 8 projects per month and I am limiting that to 1 to 2. I have realized that all of my time has gone to the business and I have lost focus on what is most important to me. This will allow me time to rebuild relationships and still be able to further advance Bird's Builds while also having more time in general to stay healthy!

4️⃣ As you saw with yesterday's post, I am starting a weekly teaching update focused on empowering others to improve their abilities and use better techniques that may be overlooked until the second or third attempt (ask me how I know that part haha). My goal is to remove any fear of building things simply because someone may not know how, may not feel they are capable, or may not have a tool they think they need. We are all capable of much more than we think we are, sometimes it just takes a little push to get us going; I aim to be that push if possible!

I make this announcement as a way to communicate with future and existing clients, but it mainly is an official starting point on this journey. I can't wait to see how this progresses and I expect it to allow Bird's Builds to continue to grow while giving me back a large chunk of time that I can realign back to what matters most to me!

🧰TOOL TIPS & TECHNIQUES TUESDAY!🛠️✨Tip  #1 (06/16/2026): Fixing Wood Warp✨We all know the feeling of picking through the...
06/16/2026

🧰TOOL TIPS & TECHNIQUES TUESDAY!🛠️

✨Tip #1 (06/16/2026): Fixing Wood Warp✨

We all know the feeling of picking through the wood pile at the hardware store for the best boards or plywood, then getting home and finding everything is warped. It happens from time to time and is important to know how best to fix the situation!

I have made some slides in a step-by-step format to go through the best method to fix wood warp. There are four main types of warping: cupping, bowing, twisting, and crooking.
💥Today we will focus on the most common type,
bowing.
💥Technically cupping can also be fixed this way,
but it is much more difficult since it tends to
overcorrect itself easily. Follow these steps for
cupping, but do everything less intensely.

Here are a couple important considerations:
💥Sometimes, warping is just too much to correct.
It is always worth a try to correct it, but after the
second or third attempt, you will see the wood
correcting itself less and less.
💥Simply forcing or bending wood back the other
way will only temporarily fix warping as it will
eventually pull back to match its moisture levels
throughout its thickness. You have to use water
or steam to your advantage, due to the
underlying cause of warping.
💥After you fix warping, it is important to properly
store the wood; to allow airflow all
around, stand the wood up as perfectly
vertical as posible. If you lean it against
something, make sure to check on it and flip it
around every couple days as the lean will also
cause warp if left too long.

Warping is caused by wood not evenly drying throughout its thickness; as wood dries, it slightly shrinks in size. If side 1 of a board or plywood dries faster than the opposite side 2, then side 1 will shrink more than side 2 and the wood will bow towards side 1.
💥The shrunken side (side 1) is known as the
concave side as it is smaller and pulls the edges
of the wood inward around it.
💥The normal side (side 2) is known as the convex
side.

Now with some basic background knowledge, let's get into the process!

This backdrop is like several other backdrops I have done; however, it proved to be quite a challenge!As we have felt, t...
06/10/2026

This backdrop is like several other backdrops I have done; however, it proved to be quite a challenge!

As we have felt, the weather has been extremely humid, so much so that my 3D printers have had to stop printing because the filament can't stay dry enough inside their sealed chambers! Humidity does a lot of nasty things to wood, and the damage increases with how much humidity there is.

Over the past several weeks, we have averaged around 70% or higher humidity, which led to two major issues with this backdrop:

1. The lower section warped really aggressively. I
figured out a decent way to fix warp permanently
and plan to make a post explaining the best
approach to fixing it.

2. The grain kept raising on the plywood until I was
able to get a solid seal coat applied, which also
needed some humidity control to properly dry. At
one point it seemed like I would sand an area
smooth and within 5 minutes it would be bad
again...

It was a challenge to figure out the best way to fix these issues as they happened, and I am glad to have gone through them and had the opportunity to refine my skills!

Hopefully soon we can see some pictures of this backdrop being used at an event, stay tuned!

Remember my April 17th post about building all the major props for a local school's auction fundraiser event?  Here is t...
05/24/2026

Remember my April 17th post about building all the major props for a local school's auction fundraiser event? Here is the update you were waiting for!

They were able to finish all of their decore setup, have the event, and get the pictures back from their photographer! Overall, the event was a massive success for them and I would be thrilled to work with them again!

Here are before and after pictures from when I delivered my work to how it looked during the event! I am very happy to have built everything and donate more than $1,000 to their school!

A little birdie told me this set up was a hole in one!I had the wonderful opportunity to build another fabulous backdrop...
05/24/2026

A little birdie told me this set up was a hole in one!

I had the wonderful opportunity to build another fabulous backdrop scene! I made 3 backdrops, 2 fold in half and the last is short enough that it makes more sense to keep it whole. I also got to build the golf ball and tee, the golf cart prop, and did the vinyl work!

Alexis Carrico did the balloons and arranged everything to host a wonderful event!

There is so much more to post, stay tuned for more updates!

I've been building lots of foldable backdrops lately and have locked in on what works the best.  I figured I'd share som...
05/19/2026

I've been building lots of foldable backdrops lately and have locked in on what works the best. I figured I'd share some of my findings!

1. Hinge structure is very important. Most people tend to use door hinges on either side of the backdrop, I started this way as well. I found that door hinges have too much play in them to open and close the same way every time without a door hanging off of them to provide tension. They tend to allow the top to wiggle slightly. These new long "Piano" hinges shown in the picture have a much tighter tolerance and are much more reliable in opening and closing the exact same every time. The whole backdrop just feels sturdier overall with them!

2. There are several different support styles for backdrops. A lot of the time, a dual swingarm is used with an elevated cross brace that sandbags can hang on. This is a good solution, but it limits backdrop placement since it takes up more room and the sandbags can fall off the elevated crossbrace. I have found this center triangular swing out brace is much more convenient as it allows for sandbags to never fall off since it is so low, it takes up minimal room, and it still secures the backdrop amazingly!

3. HANDLES! Wooden backdrops can be a challenge to carry at times, they tend to be pretty large squares of some sort; I found that handles fix this issue completely. Now, the backdrop is folded and locked shut, rotated to its side with the handles up, and then someone can simply carry the backdrop like a briefcase! There are also handles on both corners if you want to carry it with 2 people. Handles also provide a nice location to hang a spare parts bag!

4. Seam lock levers! Wood will always warp, flex, and bend its own way in different environments whether it is sealed or not. Humidity is something we can fight, or we can try to work with it; I chose to try and work with it. I could sand the seam perfectly smooth for the first event a customer uses the backdrop for, but then they will find at the next event that the seam is no longer perfect and that it was sanded too much. At the next event after that, it may be a slightly different alignment again. I found it much more reliable to sand the seam enough to make it look great, then rely on 3D printed turn locks (the white things on the sides of the seam in the picture) to force the seam to align everytime! Now customers don't need to worry if a backdrop seam will line up as it should in an outdoor event vs an indoor event, it will be the same every time!

5. The fold locks have gone through several iterations over the past year. I have tried what other prople have success with and what others say to try. They all work well, but I found the fold locks to be hard to store when transporting. Nobody wants to have to go back to the car to grab the lock pieces after just transporting a backdrop across an entire venue. Now these can sit comfortably in the backdrop during transport and be pulled out and locked in place so easily!

I am coming up on my 1 year mark as a business and I love the input my clients have been able to give me. Without their feedback, these backdrops would still only be average and match all the other backdrops. I never want to settle for average, I want to be the best I can be and make the best backdrops possible!

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Ballwin, MO

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