October Workbench

[MLBob Furia]

Finding an "interesting place to stop" is a natural part of the carving & painting process, but a few days ago I finally decided to go back and re-work some details on a carved dead-mount tableau with a mallard drake that I had done some time back. For quite a while now, kept thinking that the mantle, back, & upper tail coverts needed to be improved.
Here's the piece with the re-painted areas completed:

 

[William Reinicke]

Got a few more mallard done. 6 skimmers headed to Cali and 6 uprights headed to NY. Sending some proto stuff to some friends. I am still not happy with many things, but in 8 months, I am not terribly unhappy with how some of my birds are turning out. I will never have the talent many have here, but I am just happy to be making something of my own that I can kill birds over. Shocked when some of my friends asked for some pieces. I hope to have bills cleaned up next go around (these are atrocious but I tried something and it didnt work). I am working on one "custom" bird that will end up in Florida one day. I hope to get it finished next weekend with molds sent to the hunter so he can make his own as well. Thats all the workbench posts for me until 2025. Love seeing you alls work, definitely motivates the young decoy maker in myself.

 

[Rick Pierce]

@jode hillman, @MLBob Furia, & @Rick Pierce

I appreciate what you guys are saying and the anecdotes from older hunters you've run across certainly jives with things I've heard said over the years. I have zero doubt that some carvers harvested their own and they specifically went for the bell bottom, positively. But I sure would like to see some comparisons between wood from different parts of the tree to better understand any differences and their magnitude. In my shop right now I have a big hunk of tupelo that we cut four or five years ago from a stand on the property I have permission to hunt. It was taken above the bell. It's about 30" long or so and was approx. 18" before I quartered it on my 36" bandsaw. It feels VERY SOFT to me. In fact, the pith is probably too soft (not rot) to do anything with. I need to take a knife to it just to get a better feel but kind of doubt you'd consider it hard. Taking into consideration Rick's dad's wood duck experience and you all's comments maybe there is a lot of hardness variation within a tupelo, or between tupelos, and the base is the only consistent place to carve from. But for the carver buying bell wood, I would be very leery that what I was getting was from the bell. My hunch is the likelihood I'm getting wood somewhere up the trunk is high, unless the vendor is upfront, honest, and in control of the sawing.

Speaking of wood from the hunting property. Last fall we cleared a swampy area when it got really dry and cut five large white oaks (26" - 38" diameters) and drug them out of the swamp with a D3 bulldozer and bucked them (see below pictures). Just last night these logs were pulled from the bottoms and hauled to a gravel lot near the lodge. I have a portable sawmill coming this weekend to saw them. I'm afraid I may have bitten off more than I can chew! If the sawyer can cut them I have A LOT of hauling and stacking to do, to the tune of 3500 board feet. I am going for quarter sawn. Hopefully the mill can handle the logs, and we can flip them for quarter sawing. Getting these logs sawn, moved to my shop, and stacked is going to be a challenging task to say the least.View attachment 59783

Love those white oaks...3500 bf...wow. Enough to keep you for a year or two with various projects.

You bring up a good point. If you are just buying tupelo blocks, there is NO way to know, and as a matter of fact, it was pretty common knowledge (historically) that the guys who cut it saved the best blocks for themselves or their preferred customers, and what they sold was whatever was left over. Again, rumors, but historically at least some of it was obtained without regard for who actually owned the land or timber.

 

[Eric Patterson]

@Rick Pierce

About twelve years ago they widened a road here on base. That road runs right through a large tupelo swamp. The trees were cut down and the stumps (3-4' dia) pushed over and hauled off, probably to be burned. If I had a means at the time I would have talked to the foreman and see if I could have carried some of the stumps away. I do have access to a several private tupelo stands now. If the need to cut, even one, arises you can be darn sure I'm sawing those logs.

The white oak is for the gunning boxes I'm going to make in retirement. If all goes well it will be quarter sawn. In my mind's eye quarter sawn and ammonia fumed duck hunting boxes will be exquisitely unique.

 

[Rick Pierce]

@Rick Pierce

About twelve years ago they widened a road here on base. That road runs right through a large tupelo swamp. The trees were cut down and the stumps (3-4' dia) pushed over and hauled off, probably to be burned. If I had a means at the time I would have talked to the foreman and see if I could have carried some of the stumps away. I do have access to a several private tupelo stands now. If the need to cut, even one, arises you can be darn sure I'm sawing those logs.

The white oak is for the gunning boxes I'm going to make in retirement. If all goes well it will be quarter sawn. In my mind's eye quarter sawn and ammonia fumed duck hunting boxes will be exquisitely unique.

Nice.

I haven't tried to find any tupelo in a few years; I have enough cedar and basswood to last me for a while yet, but I would still like to carve "native" species.

 

[Eric Patterson]

Rick

Native? You mean like Hickory?

 

[Huntindave McCann]

@jode hillman, @MLBob Furia, & @Rick Pierce

I appreciate what you guys are saying and the anecdotes from older hunters you've run across certainly jives with things I've heard said over the years. I have zero doubt that some carvers harvested their own and they specifically went for the bell bottom, positively. But I sure would like to see some comparisons between wood from different parts of the tree to better understand any differences and their magnitude. In my shop right now I have a big hunk of tupelo that we cut four or five years ago from a stand on the property I have permission to hunt. It was taken above the bell. It's about 30" long or so and was approx. 18" before I quartered it on my 36" bandsaw. It feels VERY SOFT to me. In fact, the pith is probably too soft (not rot) to do anything with. I need to take a knife to it just to get a better feel but kind of doubt you'd consider it hard. Taking into consideration Rick's dad's wood duck experience and you all's comments maybe there is a lot of hardness variation within a tupelo, or between tupelos, and the base is the only consistent place to carve from. But for the carver buying bell wood, I would be very leery that what I was getting was from the bell. My hunch is the likelihood I'm getting wood somewhere up the trunk is high, unless the vendor is upfront, honest, and in control of the sawing.

Speaking of wood from the hunting property. Last fall we cleared a swampy area when it got really dry and cut five large white oaks (26" - 38" diameters) and drug them out of the swamp with a D3 bulldozer and bucked them (see below pictures). Just last night these logs were pulled from the bottoms and hauled to a gravel lot near the lodge. I have a portable sawmill coming this weekend to saw them. I'm afraid I may have bitten off more than I can chew! If the sawyer can cut them I have A LOT of hauling and stacking to do, to the tune of 3500 board feet. I am going for quarter sawn. Hopefully the mill can handle the logs, and we can flip them for quarter sawing. Getting these logs sawn, moved to my shop, and stacked is going to be a challenging task to say the least.View attachment 59783

Eric,
Glad I'm too old to offer you any help in your loading, flipping, stacking and stickering project.

 

[Rick Pierce]

Rick

Native? You mean like Hickory?

Lord...I wouldn't want to carry six hickory decoys...even hollow...much less try to carve it...

With what they've done to our hardwoods here, "native" at this point is loblolly pine...

I wouldn't mind cypress, but I've had good, dry cypress lumber check or split for no reason all of a sudden. I know they also use cypress root for decoys, and occasionally cypress knees.

I didn't see that it was you that responded initially, so I deleted the tupelo reference...smart aleck.