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Country living, DIY, & a Dash of Fun!

DIY Rustic Fall Wooden Turkey


DIY Rustic Fall Wooden Turkey-Video


Isn’t this DIY Rustic Wooden Turkey adorable? Wouldn’t you love to have him sitting on your front porch, surrounded by hay bales and pumpkins, happily greeting your family and guests? I really like how his weathered feathers give him that rustic country feel, and love, love, love that cute fall bandana tied around his neck.

This past weekend I made a trip over to my grandparent’s house, because my mom wanted to make this cute little guy for her own home.  Mr. Tom has been greeting visitors on Grandma’s front porch every fall for as long as I can remember.  Since Grandpa was the one who had made Grandma’s turkey, we needed his expertise on making another.  Naturally, this was the PERFECT opportunity to make an awesome tutorial so I quickly dashed on down to Grandma and Grandpa’s, where all the action would be…it was time for a family project!

My “DIY Rustic Wooden Turkey for Fall” was featured on The Pioneer Woman (see pic below).  To view it at The Pioneer Woman, click HERE.


DIY Rustic Fall Wooden Turkey Tutorial

Supplies:

  • TeeDiddlyDee-Wooden Turkey Pattern
  • Pencil-for tracing stencil onto wood
  • Tape-to tape paper patterns together
  • Plywood-4ft x4ft at 3/4 thickness
  • 1x4s-approx 16ft (we used old fence panels that already had the ‘dog ear’ cut at the tips)
  • Box of Wood Screws-1 1/4in long
  • Spray paint-red & black
  • Old wood stain-To make the wood for the turkey feathers look old (if you bought new wood).  To see my tutorial on how to make cheap, weathered wood stain, click HERE.)

Tools:

  • Jigsaw
  • Sander
  • Hand Drill with bits
  • Scissors-to cut patters out

DIY Rustic Wooden Turkey for Fall Instructions

Cutting the wood:

First, print out the patterns (making sure to tape together the patterns with more than one page), then cut them all out.

Next, trace the patterns onto the plywood and cut out the wood.  You can see (in the picture below) my mom cutting out the wood pieces with a jigsaw.

Now, use the sander to smooth out the uneven areas.  🙂

Painting the Wood:

First, Spray all of the body parts black.

You can see here what parts we actually sprayed black.

Last, spray the two wattles red with a quick spritz of black on the bottoms.

The feathers were left natural because they were old fence pickets (no paint).

Note: If you bought new wood, you can stain them with my DIY cheap weathered wood stain to make them look more weathered and old, if desired, or you can leave them natural.

Assembling the Body and Head:

First, set the turkey neck/head perpendicular along the center of the small circle, centering the top of the head/neck inset 1/4 inch from the edge of the circle.  Now, drill two holes through the back of the center circle and into the skinny side of the neck/head.   (Click HERE to learn about pilot holes).

In the picture below, you can see where my dad has drilled the two pilot holes.

Next, screw both the circle and the neck/head together.  This is how he laid it out to drill it together (see picture below).

Tuh-Duh!  Grandpa approves!

Here is how your turkey head should look now.

Now it’s time to attach the body.  Dad made sure all the pieces were centered…

Next, he carefully flipped it all over and drilled in through the back of the body.

Your turkey should look like this now.

Attaching the Feet:

First, make pilot holes in the bottom of the legs, to avoid splitting the wood when you screw in the feet.

Note:  The smaller toes on the feet need to face towards the center of the turkey.

Next, screw the feet onto the legs by screwing through the bottom of the feet…sorry for the fuzzy pic!

We attached the feet so that the smaller toes were on the inside.  Also, the feet don’t have to be perfectly straight.  In fact, they look cute when they splay outwards a little.  Attach yours how you like them best!

Adding the Feathers:

First, start with the middle feather (you should have only one feather that is cut the same on both sides).  We placed the bottom of the middle feather approx. 3 inches down from the outer part of the circle, but you can adjust yours how you like.  You can see Grandpa showing us the details on this below.

Now, attach the side feathers to the back of the body, screwing two screws into the center of each feather, by working from the center out, until all of the feathers are attached on each side.  The side feathers have a slanted side and a straight side so make sure to place them as shown below.

Here is another example of how the feathers are supposed to lay.  The left side is opposite from the right

Your feathers should now look like this (see below).

Attaching the Wattles:

Screw the 2 wattles onto the neck with one screw, making sure the wider end hangs down

To give him more of a rustic look, you can ‘rough up’ some of the edges with sandpaper.

Grandma added a little bandana that dressed him right up.  This cute turkey is done! Gobble Gobble!

DIY Rustic Fall Wooden Turkey


My DIY Rustic Fall Wooden Turkey can be found at these Link Parties:

http://mariaelenasdecor.blogspot.com/

https://www.ishouldbemoppingthefloor.com/2018/11/thanksgiving-desserts-at-inspiration.html

https://www.findingsilverpennies.com/silver-pennies-sundays-link-party-289/

http://celebrateanddecorate.com/celebrate-your-story-154/

Make it Pretty Monday – Week 274

https://myuncommonsliceofsuburbia.com/must-try-cookie-recipes-at-inspire-me-monday-241/

https://eclecticredbarn.blogspot.com/2018/11/wonderful-wednesday-blog-hop_13.html#more

http://confessionsofaplateaddict.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-scoop-352.html

https://mythriftstoreaddiction.blogspot.com/2018/11/vintage-charm-159-and-announcement.html

http://flusterbuster.com/2018/11/great-ideas-306.html

https://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/

http://mstoodygooshoes.blogspot.com/

https://www.thepaintedhinge.com/2018/11/15/the-farmhouse-friday-link-party-week-83/

https://www.frenchcountrycottage.net/2018/11/feathered-nest-friday_15.html

https://underatexassky.com/friday-favorites-linky-party-week-451

https://www.grandmashousediy.com/wednesday-link-party-113/

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18 Comments

  1. Karen

    This is the cutest little Thanksgiving turkey I have ever seen! Thanks for the pattern. We will be making this for sure, next year! I sure do enjoy your blog! Great ideas! Happy Thanksgiving Tee!

  2. Jessie Hamm

    Do you have plans how to make the turkey feathers.

    • Tee

      Hi Jessie,

      I sure do! It’s under ‘Supplies’ at the top of the post called ‘Rustic Wooden Turkey Pattern’. You can print out the pattern on your printer and then trace the pattern onto your wood. Hope that helps!

  3. carol wenthur

    I love it will get on in today making this

  4. carol wenthur

    I do not see the pattern for the turkey feather either, and I have printed the pattern

    • Tee

      Hi Carol,
      You are right! Thanks for letting me know…I’ll get this fixed right away! My site has been under construction and there have been all sorts of glitches to tackle, lucky me! LOL I’ll let you know when the working pattern is back up! 🙂

    • Tee

      Ok the turkey feather pattern is up! Thanks for your patience and happy building! 🙂

  5. b

    wow, this is super cute!
    b

  6. How cute! Thanks for sharing at Vintage Charm!

  7. Burt Graham

    what are the lengths of the feathers on your design Burt

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