BirdHouses From Maine

American workmanship.

I do believe american made does stand for something, its not that other countries do not produce good products, many of course do, it seems to me that many imported products are made to fit a price point, and poor quality is the price we pay. Of course many of the imported products are manufactured at an americans companies request. Many of our american box stores, needing to keep prices lower than their competition, do so through offering products that look good on the outside but are cheapened on the inside, thinner wire, a plastic cog in place of a metal one, thinner material, because it cost more to ship heavier products. The bottom line is though WE buy them, partly because we do not have time to research how well an item is made, but mostly the lure of the lower price. Our goal it to produce great products at reasonable price, unique products, products that in 10 years are still going strong.

Making birdhouses and bird feeders, I tend to check out the competition. The thinner wood used in the manufacturing of the cheaper, often imported birdhouses, of course will not last as long as the thicker wood we use, but their wood will still last for many years, the biggest difference I see is how it is held together, whats the point of the wood lasting years if the birdhouse itself is falling apart. When constructing a birdhouse with thinner wood, the builder does not have much wiggle room when it comes to nailing, stapling or screwing it together, a little bit off with your aim and it splits the wood. One way other companies compensate for the lack of area in which to shoot the nail or staple, is to use smaller, shorter nails, staples and screws, so when the 1/2'' nail goes into the wood, its not going to pop out the side. But its easy to understand that a 1/2'' nail will not hold as well as a 1+'' nail. When they use a 1/2'' nail to build a birdhouse, it improves output and profit, less splintered or damaged wood, so less waste, so faster production and hey, the customer cannot see how long that nail or staple is anyway. Because people have experienced that items stapled together many times fall apart, I now see people advertising their products as not being held together with staples, but thats not the problem as I see it, the problem is not the staple or nail, its the size that counts, nails and staples are used in housing construction all the time and they last for decades, but, they are much longer and so have "teeth" to hold the wood together, and if you use exterior wood glue as we do, the joints are even stronger, just because its time consuming and the customer cannot see it does not mean it shouldn't be done.