Alaskan winter

[Ronald Bock]

Spent the weekend in the shop. I'm makinh slow headway on this batch of wigeon . I need to fix the bill on the sleeper, put an oak keel, and sand her. The other sleeper needs to be rounded as the week goes by.
These are for my spread. A nice little bunch of relaxed birds. All hollow white spruce.

 

[Don Mintz]

you've been busy. I think about you and the cold, hopefully your shop is warmer than mine the last few days. Windy and 11 degrees here which meant the temp in the shop was only 54 yesterday. But then I remember winter in Fairbanks and 40 below for weeks and it doesn't seem so bad and I just add another layer. two days ago the furnace went on the blink again and the house was only 60 for a couple of days, wife not happy. We just had it "repaired" three weeks ago. It wasn't even warm enough in the craft room to paint without a coat.

Sleepers are about the most difficult thing for me to carve, just something about figuring out where all the neck curves are supposed to go and how to deal with the bill. I love wigeons, I probably make as many of them as mallards. I shot my first wigeon in 1981 in the area of the fish and game cabin on minto flats, of course it was pretty brown.

I like seeing that respirator on your bench, most people rely on a simple dust mask which really doesn't do much. I have two respirators that I rotate every few days. I pull the filters off and then wash the rest of the mask in hot soapy water and hang them over a heater vent in the house, then change out the dust filters. I've learned this year that black mold was forming in my mask, so I took measures to stop it. I can tell when the carbon part of the filter is done when I start smelling stuff like airbrush paint and spray finishes.

 

[Ronald Bock]

you've been busy. I think about you and the cold, hopefully your shop is warmer than mine the last few days. Windy and 11 degrees here which meant the temp in the shop was only 54 yesterday. But then I remember winter in Fairbanks and 40 below for weeks and it doesn't seem so bad and I just add another layer. two days ago the furnace went on the blink again and the house was only 60 for a couple of days, wife not happy. We just had it "repaired" three weeks ago. It wasn't even warm enough in the craft room to paint without a coat.

Sleepers are about the most difficult thing for me to carve, just something about figuring out where all the neck curves are supposed to go and how to deal with the bill. I love wigeons, I probably make as many of them as mallards. I shot my first wigeon in 1981 in the area of the fish and game cabin on minto flats, of course it was pretty brown.

I like seeing that respirator on your bench, most people rely on a simple dust mask which really doesn't do much. I have two respirators that I rotate every few days. I pull the filters off and then wash the rest of the mask in hot soapy water and hang them over a heater vent in the house, then change out the dust filters. I've learned this year that black mold was forming in my mask, so I took measures to stop it. I can tell when the carbon part of the filter is done when I start smelling stuff like airbrush paint and spray finishes.

Got alot of wigeon in Minto this year. Doubled on a pair of canvasbacks too. Like you said "all brown".
The cold air moved East into Canada then down into the lower 48. We got quite warm. It's 29 this evening and supposed to get near 40 the next two days. Shop is toasty. Between the Toyo and the woodstove it can get too hot. Next week we'll drop back down well below zero.

I agree on the sleepers. I can never get the neck and bill right especially on one piece birds. The one behind it with the head turned back is a little easier.
I've got a pair of spoonies cut out. Going to throw a pair in the spread. I haven't done one since the late 80's.

 

[Don Mintz]

I love shovelers, I've made lots of shoveler decoys over the years. I've only shot a handful in my life and only one in full color. Back in the late 80's I was competing in National Wood Carvers Assn shows for a few years. I made a shoveler full body drinking, the judge, Fred Cogelow, who was a human figure carver, quite good, judged me down because I hadn't put a curl on the tail of my green head. Of course in these shows, waterfowl was only one category of several dozen categories. He came around later on competition day and explained why it took 2nd, I didn't even bother to tell him it wasn't a mallard.

we had a month of 40 below in december in 1980 I believe and on the last sunday of the year it went to 30 above. After church that day a bunch of us got out on the Tanana on snow machines. We built a fire on the river ice and cooked lunch. Some of the guys were walking around in shirt sleeves. Of course as you mentioned it returned to the sub zeros.

 

[Ronald Bock]

sanded and sealed this pair of spoonies. I'll get a couple more coats of sealer and then some gesso. This is a simple pair of gunners to add to my spread for next season.

 

[William Reinicke]

View attachment 64031sanded and sealed this pair of spoonies. I'll get a couple more coats of sealer and then some gesso. This is a simple pair of gunners to add to my spread for next season.View attachment 64032

Do I see custom cabechons for eyes? Awesome job, keep the photos coming. Love the work you are doing. I am getting close to contributing some pics soon. Got nothing on most talent here though.

 

[Ronald Bock]

Do I see custom cabechons for eyes? Awesome job, keep the photos coming. Love the work you are doing. I am getting close to contributing some pics soon. Got nothing on most talent here though.

Just Van Dyke glass eye and eyelids bilt up with watered down filler. Works well for me. Carving and doing birds around a full time work schedule is a challenge. Another year and a half and I retire. Then I can carve full time.
I'm drying alot of white spruce in preparation. For now it will probably only be a dozen birds this winter. I have six wigeon on the other bench that need final sanding, eyes placed, sealed, primed. We have alot of winter left up here in North Pole.

 

[William Reinicke]

Just Van Dyke glass eye and eyelids bilt up with watered down filler. Works well for me. Carving and doing birds around a full time work schedule is a challenge. Another year and a half and I retire. Then I can carve full time.
I'm drying alot of white spruce in preparation. For now it will probably only be a dozen birds this winter. I have six wigeon on the other bench that need final sanding, eyes placed, sealed, primed. We have alot of winter left up here in North Pole.

I get it. I work 60 hr work weeks and have to find time to play it seems. I cant wait til I can slow down a bit and just enjoy doing what I want to do. Lucky soul though, a year and a half is very close. Still have 27 years lol.

 

[Don Mintz]

I like that green wing flyer. You working stiffs, going to a job is way overrated.

 

[William Reinicke]

You working stiffs, going to a job is way overrated.

aint that the truth, unfortunately, its all some of us know and are comfortable with.

 

[Don Mintz]

it's not always fun, I'm painting a sasquatch holding a pizza and a snake wrapped around a logo today. Had a guy back out of the redheads and canvasbacks I was getting ready to flock today (very good reason, so I'm not upset), so painting steel instead, the decoys will probably end up in Caleb's decoy bag. That's the bad side of self employment, sometimes things fall through. I could put them on my page and they'd be gone in 10 minutes, but I think they'd look good in Caleb's bag. A birthday is coming up, I'd like to fill another 12 slot bag for his birthday.

 

[William Reinicke]

it's not always fun, I'm painting a sasquatch holding a pizza and a snake wrapped around a logo today. Had a guy back out of the redheads and canvasbacks I was getting ready to flock today (very good reason, so I'm not upset), so painting steel instead, the decoys will probably end up in Caleb's decoy bag. That's the bad side of self employment, sometimes things fall through. I could put them on my page and they'd be gone in 10 minutes, but I think they'd look good in Caleb's bag. A birthday is coming up, I'd like to fill another 12 slot bag for his birthday.

Ill need a redhead and canvasback master at some point. Need to get these rocking first. Im days away from mixing foam at this point. Fingers crossed they put me on call again tomorrow.

 

[Ronald Bock]

View attachment 64031sanded and sealed this pair of spoonies. I'll get a couple more coats of sealer and then some gesso. This is a simple pair of gunners to add to my spread for next season.View attachment 64032

Started painting the hen spoonie today. My daughter took the drake home and will paint him. Long way to go but it's a start. They'll be hunting this fall.

 

[Don Mintz]

that's looking fantastic. Miles and miles of painted lines a quarter inch at a time.

 

[Ronald Bock]

that's looking fantastic. Miles and miles of painted lines a quarter inch at a time.

So very true. Breast and head tomorrow. Tail Thursday. Labor of love. Otherwise I'd just go buy some plastic junk made in China or Malaysia.

This year at the DU banquet they had an eider decoy. I turned it over and the made in China sticker was still on it. Sad. At least the teal I donated went for far far more. Just rubbed me wrong. Made in China.

 

[Don Mintz]

That made in China sticker sticks in my craw. There is so much stuff around that we have no choice to buy from foreign countries, even enemies of the USA. But there is also often options for USA made that we just aren't willing to support because of cost. At one point my son and I were molding and making decoys, we sold all we could make, but with only two of us that was certainly a limited edition. I've designed decoys for several different companies and have encouraged them to bring production back to the states, and with G&H offered to give them a pintail design to start updating their decoy line more than a decade ago, not to mention I designed for 1/5th of the going rate. All of those ideas fell on deaf ears. The skills gap is just too wide these days. Like I told my son, Caleb, the people who know how to do what we do already have a job and most of them are working for themselves.

These are some of the decoys Caleb and I molded over a decade ago, neither of us ever thought to keep any for ourselves, so we hunt over all customs carved foamers.


A lot of the decoys we sold went to New Zealand, pacific black ducks and blonde mallards, as well as regular mallard decoys

 

[Ronald Bock]

That made in China sticker sticks in my craw. There is so much stuff around that we have no choice to buy from foreign countries, even enemies of the USA. But there is also often options for USA made that we just aren't willing to support because of cost. At one point my son and I were molding and making decoys, we sold all we could make, but with only two of us that was certainly a limited edition. I've designed decoys for several different companies and have encouraged them to bring production back to the states, and with G&H offered to give them a pintail design to start updating their decoy line more than a decade ago, not to mention I designed for 1/5th of the going rate. All of those ideas fell on deaf ears. The skills gap is just too wide these days. Like I told my son, Caleb, the people who know how to do what we do already have a job and most of them are working for themselves.

These are some of the decoys Caleb and I molded over a decade ago, neither of us ever thought to keep any for ourselves, so we hunt over all customs carved foamers.
View attachment 64261View attachment 64262

A lot of the decoys we sold went to New Zealand, pacific black ducks and blonde mallards, as well The price would be insane. So I see the point in buying decent plastic decoys.

Affraid wooden

Started painting the hen spoonie today. My daughter took the drake home and will paint him. Long way to go but it's a start. They'll be hunting this fall.

A bit more progress. Trying to keep her colors toned down.