Steve Sanford
Well-known member
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 my shop - but have been hard at DR (duck-related) work almost every day ('though usually in the middle of the night). A neighbor and my son Ben - who joined us for a week here - kept a fire in the shop wood stove when Mr. Mercury dove well below freezing.
I left just as I had begun my latest boat project - an Arthur Armstrong Blackjack. That's Dave Diefenderfer helping me to flip it onto my tallest horses. I'll be refinishing the bottom but also performing some important interior repairs whilst she's upside down. Some/many jobs inside the boat are easier when I'm sitting on a chair beneath the vessel, with the problem areas at eye level.
Before I left I delivered one gift in time for Christmas. This Harlequin - toy-sized - was for a friend's infant grandson.
This pair of Tufted Ducks is for my own grandson - here in Berlin. We were foiled at our first attempt to photograph live ones on a local pond - New Year security sealed off the Tiergarten. We plan to "hunt" them on Saturday. My 7-year-old naturalist has enjoyed watching them feed underwater on YouTube in the meantime.
I have spent lots of time assembling materials for the March 8 Annual Show of the Long Island Decoy Collectors Association.
https://www.lidecoycollectors.com/
One feature will be this "antique" gunning vessel - a Dodge & Krowl Scooter - built before WW II. I reported extensively here when I restored it in 2020. I am preparing both a brief poster - a dozen or so images + a succinct narrative - to be part of the display. The craft will be exhibited inside the hall - not with the Third Annual Duckboat Competition that Anthony Babich initiated a few years ago outside the hall.
The owner, my brother and I have been earning our Duckboat Detective badges. Dodge & Krowl built boats on Orowoc Creek in Islip (I grew up in East Islip). We have learned lots about Mr. Dodge and Mr. Krowl - but still hope to find an image of their shop, themselves or business records.
This ad is from the September 1931 issue of MotorBoating magazine.
In preparation for developing the usual poster-with-narrative to accompany the boat itself, I have been putting together a very complete - and lavishly illustrated - narrative that tells the tale of this restoration. It will be the "official record" that - I hope - will stay with the vessel over its next century.
The theme of this year's LIDCA Show will be: WILDFOWLER and HERTER's ~ Factory Decoys from the 40s, 50s and 60s.
As has been our practice, Craig Kessler and I - with lots of help from LIDCA members and others - will present the history of these two iconic companies - and also the men involved. Certainly, we will have scores of decoys on display.
A key aspect will be the maintenance associated with gunning decoys. "In-use re-paints" will be featured and not shunned. We will focus on models and species that were popular on Long Island waters. We will include original paint birds in fine condition - like this Model Canada Mallard -
...but also in-use re-paints.
Wildfowlers began in Old Saybrook, CT, of course, but moved to eastern Long Island - Quogue - for a few years. Most "specimens" on display will be from Connecticut and Long Island (including Babylon, too) - but will also include some from Point Pleasant, NJ.
New this year will be 3 demonstrations - all involving the "care and feeding" of working decoys:
Myself: Pointers on painting hunting decoys
Dave Diefenderfer: Molding foam decoys
Frank Zampariello: Burlapping foam decoys
These sessions - each 30 to 45 minutes long - will mostly talk about these processes with many examples of the different steps and stages on hand as visual aids.
If you have not been to this Show, please join us. There are hundreds (at least) of antique and collectible decoys for sale - and other gunning memorabilia as well. If your gunning boat is still ready-to-hunt from this season, please bring it to Anthony's event outside.
All the best,
SJS
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 my shop - but have been hard at DR (duck-related) work almost every day ('though usually in the middle of the night). A neighbor and my son Ben - who joined us for a week here - kept a fire in the shop wood stove when Mr. Mercury dove well below freezing.
I left just as I had begun my latest boat project - an Arthur Armstrong Blackjack. That's Dave Diefenderfer helping me to flip it onto my tallest horses. I'll be refinishing the bottom but also performing some important interior repairs whilst she's upside down. Some/many jobs inside the boat are easier when I'm sitting on a chair beneath the vessel, with the problem areas at eye level.
Before I left I delivered one gift in time for Christmas. This Harlequin - toy-sized - was for a friend's infant grandson.
This pair of Tufted Ducks is for my own grandson - here in Berlin. We were foiled at our first attempt to photograph live ones on a local pond - New Year security sealed off the Tiergarten. We plan to "hunt" them on Saturday. My 7-year-old naturalist has enjoyed watching them feed underwater on YouTube in the meantime.
I have spent lots of time assembling materials for the March 8 Annual Show of the Long Island Decoy Collectors Association.
https://www.lidecoycollectors.com/
One feature will be this "antique" gunning vessel - a Dodge & Krowl Scooter - built before WW II. I reported extensively here when I restored it in 2020. I am preparing both a brief poster - a dozen or so images + a succinct narrative - to be part of the display. The craft will be exhibited inside the hall - not with the Third Annual Duckboat Competition that Anthony Babich initiated a few years ago outside the hall.
The owner, my brother and I have been earning our Duckboat Detective badges. Dodge & Krowl built boats on Orowoc Creek in Islip (I grew up in East Islip). We have learned lots about Mr. Dodge and Mr. Krowl - but still hope to find an image of their shop, themselves or business records.
This ad is from the September 1931 issue of MotorBoating magazine.
In preparation for developing the usual poster-with-narrative to accompany the boat itself, I have been putting together a very complete - and lavishly illustrated - narrative that tells the tale of this restoration. It will be the "official record" that - I hope - will stay with the vessel over its next century.
The theme of this year's LIDCA Show will be: WILDFOWLER and HERTER's ~ Factory Decoys from the 40s, 50s and 60s.
As has been our practice, Craig Kessler and I - with lots of help from LIDCA members and others - will present the history of these two iconic companies - and also the men involved. Certainly, we will have scores of decoys on display.
A key aspect will be the maintenance associated with gunning decoys. "In-use re-paints" will be featured and not shunned. We will focus on models and species that were popular on Long Island waters. We will include original paint birds in fine condition - like this Model Canada Mallard -
...but also in-use re-paints.
Wildfowlers began in Old Saybrook, CT, of course, but moved to eastern Long Island - Quogue - for a few years. Most "specimens" on display will be from Connecticut and Long Island (including Babylon, too) - but will also include some from Point Pleasant, NJ.
New this year will be 3 demonstrations - all involving the "care and feeding" of working decoys:
Myself: Pointers on painting hunting decoys
Dave Diefenderfer: Molding foam decoys
Frank Zampariello: Burlapping foam decoys
These sessions - each 30 to 45 minutes long - will mostly talk about these processes with many examples of the different steps and stages on hand as visual aids.
If you have not been to this Show, please join us. There are hundreds (at least) of antique and collectible decoys for sale - and other gunning memorabilia as well. If your gunning boat is still ready-to-hunt from this season, please bring it to Anthony's event outside.
All the best,
SJS
