Wind vane Swans (2011)

A woman at our Fruitcorso club asked if I could make a wind vane with swans for someone's birthday.

It seemed like a nice idea so I made it for her.
She had a template of 2 swans with their heads against each other so a heart shape was formed.

The finished wind vane

I took this template and sawed it out of some thin plywood.
The rest of the vane is also constructed out of plywood. This was done because MDF would get mushy after staying in the rain or any moist environment for too long.

The wind vane stands on a small rod with a sharpened end.
In between there's a cylinder preventing the vane to be taken off.
Then there's another cylinder, but it's from the vane itself, preventing it from tipping over. This cylinder also contains a bearing to prevent friction from wood on wood.
And another cylinder to finish off.

The 4 wind directions are made from solid plywood; this means the letters and the rod are all from one piece, making things more sturdy.
I used a dremel and a sanding machine to round things and flatten the letters.

In the end the woman wanted me to paint the swans in a more realistic pattern.

A close up from the heart shape.

If you ask me if it works. Let's just say that it turns easily, if it really points towards the direction of the wind; I don't know (but that didn't matter for this assignment)