Restle coated Tundra Swans

B. Heitman · 2024-11-20T11:45:13-0600

At 74, I never dreamed of making my own dekes. But, with considerate help and inspiration from Don Mintz, a whole, new aspect of waterfowling has opened up for me.
These are some "foamer" sleeping Tundra Swans I carved and coated with finely ground walnut shell. They weigh 3# have a hollow bottom and a water keel. I dislike all of the monochromatic head positions of generic dekes and decided to "change up" my spread. You can't shoot swans in my state, but, they are GREAT confidence dekes for White fronted geese. Thank you Mr. Mintz. I'm sure glad I found you!!!
( The Tanglefree deke is for size comparison)

Don Mintz · 2024-11-20T14:24:12-0600

excellent work, who says an old dog can't learn new tricks. It's really nice to have decoys that big that don't weigh anymore than a plastic duck decoy. The head positions are great too.

William Reinicke · 2024-11-20T14:43:20-0600

B. Heitman said:
At 74, I never dreamed of making my own dekes. But, with considerate help and inspiration from Don Mintz, a whole, new aspect of waterfowling has opened up for me.
These are some "foamer" sleeping Tundra Swans I carved and coated with finely ground walnut shell. They weigh 3# have a hollow bottom and a water keel. I dislike all of the monochromatic head positions of generic dekes and decided to "change up" my spread. You can't shoot swans in my state, but, they are GREAT confidence dekes for White fronted geese. Thank you Mr. Mintz. I'm sure glad I found you!!!
( The Tanglefree deke is for size comparison)

How hard was this carving foam? How much carving experience have you done in the past? Did you burlap and then restle coat or did you restle coat right to the pink foam? These look spectacular by the way! Helluva job. One has told me before, the foam carving is harder than wood carving. Don makes everything look easy, so wondering what your thoughts are on this?

B. Heitman · 2024-11-20T17:54:55-0600

Carving the foam for these was pretty simple. I'd say that medium grit sandpaper and a sharp knife were my go to "instruments" for the carving. I did not burlap them as I wanted to keep them as light in weight as possible. Direct restle coat to foam. They'll be subject to some wear and tear I'm sure, but, nothing that can't be repaired. I have never carved wood. Carved some shovelers last year (next post). I'm a rookie at best. BUT, There are some EXCELLENT instructors on this Forum!!!

William Reinicke · 2024-11-20T19:09:20-0600

B. Heitman said:
Carving the foam for these was pretty simple. I'd say that medium grit sandpaper and a sharp knife were my go to "instruments" for the carving. I did not burlap them as I wanted to keep them as light in weight as possible. Direct restle coat to foam. They'll be subject to some wear and tear I'm sure, but, nothing that can't be repaired. I have never carved wood. Carved some shovelers last year (next post). I'm a rookie at best. BUT, There are some EXCELLENT instructors on this Forum!!!

What did you use as the binder for the walnut shell? Titebond3? These are fantastic and I am super impressed. I only ask because I am seriously contemplating a carve next summer. I just dont know if I have the grit in my bones to get after a true custom carve. You sir.... you are well on your way!

B. Heitman · 2024-11-20T19:25:01-0600

I'm a complete novice at restle coating, to say the least. I sifted the walnut shell over wet enamel paint. When all was dry, I did an overspray of Gorilla glue spray foam ( when I saw the price of Titebond I took a cheaper approach). These dekes have currently been in service for 2 months and are holding up well.

Don Mintz · 2024-11-20T20:23:06-0600

The cost of materials is beginning to take the fun out of making foamers a little bit. Hopefully getting cheaper energy with a new president will relax that a bit, Nearly everything I use is now double the price. I have done restle coat type, but used rustoleum for glue and fine sawdust of which I always have a lot of different grits. I did two coats just like I do when I flock and was hoping to cut the cost some. I ended up with a restle coat style on the first coat, then a second coat of flocking on all parts black. On anything white, I like the restle coat, the white flocking isn't very white anyway, so I paint over it with flat rustoleum. The rustoleum spreads a lot easier than the thinned titebond. These are my personal decoys. They weigh far less than my burlapped decoys and I do have a long walk to my hunting grounds. I can carry a dozen duck decoys in a 6 slot goose decoy bag, a pack frame, one slot has two five gallons buckets and the whole thing weighs 15 pounds. I don't have weights on my decoys, just mesh bags made out of laundry bags that i cut up and put a depth adjuster as a way to secure rocks I pick up at the river and take out before I go home. I did the restle coat first layer with sawdust, then did it a second time on everything that isn't black. Anything black I flocked.

I make sure when I glue the layers together that I smear the gorilla glue over all of one surface and spray a mist of water on the other side.

First layer of rustoleum and sawdust