Cuckoo Bird Carving and Repair

Modern cuckoo birds are plastic molded, simplisticly stylized and painted, and usually have an articulating beak. Antique Cuckoos are more elaborately carved and painted, and in addition to the articulating beak have intricate mechanical linkages to flap their wings.

Cuckoo Bird Creation

Antique Cuckoo Clock

Destination Clock

This lovely antique cuckoo clock was missing its cuckoo bird.

Image courtesy of Lorne Koehler

Newly Carved Cuckoo

A cuckoo with flapping wings and moving beak was created from scratch. First, a starting blank as created.

It was important for this bird to complement the case in all aspects, specifically being period correct. The carving was intentionally left with raw cuts, not sanded smooth and the paint was "weathered."

Linkages were added to articulate the beak and wings when the tail is lifted.

Cuckoo Bird Repair

Unsigned Cuckoo Clock

As Found

The cuckoo in this clock was missing most of its head.

After Restoration

A replacement head was carved and attached, and then the whole bird was repainted and conditioned to appear appropriately aged.

Cuckoo Bird Repair

Moving Eye Picture Clock with Cuckoo

As Found

This is an interesting cuckoo clock in which the eyes move back and forth with each tick-tock.

Image courtesy of Mark Motzko

Unfortunately, the cuckoo in this clock lost its head.

Image courtesy of Mark Motzko

After Restoration

A replacement head was carved and attached.

Initially, the thought was that it would need to be repainted, but after cleaning, it appeared to be in better shape than first thought. Only the head was painted to match so that overall it remains appropriately aged.

Here is the cuckoo returned to its original perch.

Image courtesy of Mark Motzko