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Bob~ In light of your extensive knowledge of traditional canoes - and your geography - I thought of you when a friend brought over these old "raquettes"...... (As you can see, I should have put the right-footed shoe to starboard - and vicey-versey with the left footed litter-mate.) These...

All~ As many of you have no doubt learned, the life of a Duckboat Detective can be unpredictable.... Sometimes the “evidence” comes to you out of the blue. In classic noir detective stories, the clue would arrive “over the transom”…. Just last night I got an e-mail from an old...

All~ My Dad bought 7 Model Canada Bluebill decoys from Herter's right after WW II. These were Herter's oversize decoys with balsa bodies. After he replaced them with (dozens of) the foam-bodied Model 72s - for gunning Broadbill on Great South Bay - he asked me to convert them to Whistlers -...

All~ The last several days hereabout have been dominated by a visitor from Europe - a lone Taiga Bean Goose. I finally got to see it this morning. I have known about the Bean Goose for most of my adult life. Although we do not have any of the "Greylag complex" of geese - members of the genus...

All~ Some recent e-mails and other communications have put me in an especially reflective mood. I shake my head in wonder when I learn of the many connections that keep my life-long passion fully-nourished. Although I had truly anemic season hereabouts, I am in full swing preparing for the...

All~ As we continue to prepare for the March 8 Long Island Decoy Collectors Annual Show, I keep running into a few uncertainties. I have a bunch of old catalogs - running from ~1946 into the early '70s - but cannot nail down one particular decoy model. This is the bird in question. I cannot...

All (and especially Eric)~ Just yesterday morning I got a note from Eric that gave me a lead on a fine old decoy anchor made by D. C. Sanford Company of Bridgeport, CT. Eric thought I might like to add it to my "collection" of such anchors. I have about 80 decoy anchors - most of which I have...

All~ I have been in Berlin, Germany, with my daughter's family since before Christmas. Susan and I will be returning to the farm in a few days. So, I thought I'd give a brief update - on the tail end of 2024 and the start of 2025 - with respect to my world of waterfowl. I have been away from...

All~ I recently got an inquiry about the model number for a line of decoys that Herter's sold later in their long run as a maker/purveyor of gunning decoys. I recall this line from the 1970s and maybe 1980s, I think. Here's a Bluebill (Broadbill preferred!): Here's a Canada. Both were...

All~ I suppose I am known as an Old School fellow - and I cannot deny that characterization - even embrace it. Nevertheless, I try to keep an open mind and am always on the lookout for true improvements - or at least sound alternatives. Thus, I have put webbing on recent duckboat restorations...

Good morning, All~ The title of this thread came fom Jode Hillman at Tuckerton this year. I believe I had posted here about the merits of TrailerCoat - now RustLok - a Pettit brand paint originally made for galvanized trailers. I have been using it for over 30 years. I hauled the JAMES...

All~ Perhaps this post should be in Work Bench - but I thought I'd give a bit of back story along with this recent "chore" - accomplished recently in the midst of several duckboat restorations. American architect Louis Sullivan long ago stated a fundamental rule of good design: “It is the...

All~ My son and a friend just enjoyed Farm Aid this past weekend. Whilst they were listening to Willie Nelson and Neil Young, I figured I'd better open up the rig and make sure all the gear was in place before I hauled the JAMES CAIRD down to Jersey this coming Friday. I restored her last...

All~ NOTE: This post may belong more properly in Carvers Corner. Dax Hinton asked me for help in getting these dimensions so he could repair some LL Bean Coastal Black Ducks. I sent him a photo I had on hand - of a bird I had re-billed and re-painted: ...but the only Beans Highhead I had...

Good morning, All~ Lots of different projects on the bench in recent weeks. This one was spurred by an impending visit from my daughter - who is struggling with serious hip/leg pain. This is an E Allen bird - but not the Keith Mueller style that is more common. I'm pretty sure the...

All~ As you may have noted, I have been flat-out in recent weeks trying to complete the JAMES CAIRD for the ill-fated Tuckerton Show. You may not know that I was also trying to progress on a South Bay Duckboat restoration at the same time. Quite simply, I did not have the time to post...

Good morning, All~ Here's the latest Technical Bulletin from the R&D crew here at Pencil Brook Boatworks.....although I - I mean The Company - has not yet installed the new "device". I had a batch of these Prop Guards made up specifically for South Bay Duckboats - whose notched sterns are...

All~ A couple of years ago I decided that I finally had enough canoes. A have roughly a dozen - with all but 2 serving dedicated purposes. The "other 2" are my typical project canoe: minor repairs followed by replacing all or most of the aluminum with wood (usually Mahogany). However, my...

Good morning, All~ On the final evening of August, I pulled myself away from my bench to watch the Super Blue Moon - or whatever the current terminology might be...... I am still learning to use my new Canon PowerShot (SX 70 HS).....I was pleased with its digital zoom - a first for me...

Good morning, All~ I do not recall if I began this tale in earlier posts. I know I have included some snippets in the occasional Work Bench post. I built this vessel with a friend sometime in the early 90s - when we were both still on Long Island. He hunted it successfully for several...