JANUARY 2017 - What's on your Workbench ?

Middle of the season has cut down on shop time.

Mallard hen urn started in December is finally carved, sealed, & ready for painting.


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[size 5]Roller-coaster weather here in the tri-State corner. Ohio River is way up this week. Tried a slough in Kentucky yesterday. Saw some ducks, but there's lots of places for them to spread out and sit in. Will just have to keep showing up and hope for the best. [smile]

While "shooting" the decoys yesterday, I did get two nice shots of one of the Ringbills I had out.

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Bob
I hate to even think about the need for one someday, way off in the future, but that sure is an elegant and peaceful looking container for someones beloved companion.

Tim
 
Love the lines of that urn decoy. With my lab past 11 at her demise I would like to have similar constructed for her in a blk. duck. What approximately does something like that run?
 
After a two year hiatus from carving due to finishing a degree I have been able to set down and sling some paint on birds I carved in 14' and early 15'. Still rusty on the paint but I believe it may come back.

Both these birds were carved in 12/14 or 1/15 and will soon be headed to new homes to be gunned over.

Nothing fancy just simple gunning birds. It feels good to be back.
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This month I have a couple of LLbean rebuilds. First started life as one of those Super magnum Mallards, and since I rarely puddle duck hunt from a boat and those decoys are tanks, I morphed it into my favorite sea duck, a white-winged scoter. I added a chunk of cedar to the forehead, and reshaped it a bit. On the body, I sealed it with spar varnish per my usual, but the black is spray on truck bed liner.

next was a mallard turned black duck from what i consider the ugliest of the bean decoys! I again reshaped the head dramatically, rounded the head to chest transition, and rounded out the body as these blocks were truely blocky when they were made. I also used the truck bed liner, however instead of leaving them black I dusted it in a flat dark brown afterwords. The head was painted in oils and scratch painted.


 
Good morning, Bill~

Beautiful work as always!

I guess I am not alone in my willingness to mess around with (improve?) Bean decoys....I find it difficult to NOT re-carve the heads around the head-to-bill transition - and I am glad if I have an excuse to put new eyes in.

(Actually, I always ask customers to make sure that their Beans birds are not more valuable in original condition before I contaminate them with a Sanford paint job.)

All the best,

SJS

 
No Strongsville for me this year. I would not have a decoy to bring. Up in the air if I make it back again. Next year in March we will be on Grenada Lake in Mississippi to fish for 3lb crappie.
 
3 lbs Crappie Bass, ya got my attention! My favorite panfish to eat. I would have to take that over a decoy show, even a good one like the ODCCA.
 
We grow crappie big down here.
Back when I fished the Alabama River lakes for them, 14-16" crappie were not uncommon.
My two best were 18", not sure what they weighed.
 
Bill et al ~

Pretty sure these 2 are Beans. The carving on the bodies challenged my paint patterns - but, they are now ready-to-hunt.


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All the best,

SJS

 
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