AE Allen Decoy breaking?

D

David Allen

Active member
Do AE Allen decoys get brittle with age? 3 of mine have broken this year. I have never had one break before. Thoughts?
 
I have a small rig I bought from Lou back in 1993 and they are still in good condition except for a few broken bills. I keep them stored in the shop during the off season. Never had a issue with them becoming brittle or material breaking down. Phil
 
What part of the decoy broke, was it at a neck joint, mid body? I don't think cold temps would cause it . I have hunted here in NC in some low teens and single degree temps using these decoys. You might send Lou a email and see what he thinks.
 
David~

I broke a wingtip once. To repair, I used a galvanized finishing nail for reinforcement then glued with a thickened (cabosil + microballoons) epoxy. I held everything together with tape while the epoxy cured (overnight). You can use masking tape but cellophane is better because the epoxy does not stick to it.

If you do not keep a supply of epoxy materials on hand, I think plumbers epoxy might be a good choice.

Best of luck,

SJS
 
The broken bills are usually the issue ,I do like Steve and use a small drilling bit to drill out a small hole going length wise into the bill then insert a finishing nail.I am usually careful with my decoys but with E- Allen's or my own handmade decoys bills and tail boards are going to get the most damage during the season. Lou and his team make a heck of a good decoy and I'm sure they have spent hours and hours trying to figure out a way to make the bills as durable as possible.
 
Many years ago there was a tip on this forum to insert carbon arrow shafts into E Allen bills. I got cut-offs from a local archery store and inserted them. It worked very, very well.
I broke some E Allen bills with nail inserts.
The bills are the weak link in the E Allens.
I have never broken a bill from the old Toledo heads.
 
I melt mine in.....galvanized nails...cut the head off and heat them in a pair of vice grips....when they're hot enough push them into the bill, or tail, releasethe pliers and bury them in the bill....a little epoxy or bondo in the hole, (while you're attaching the head), and you're done....use a big enough nail and you won't break another one....(I use three nails in the tails if they are the style that are prone to breaking.....one in middle and then one on each side halfway to the body)....even Dani can't break em when you do them that way...


Steve
 
Do AE Allen decoys get brittle with age? 3 of mine have broken this year. I have never had one break before. Thoughts?
Click to expand...



David,
Any urethane foam, if not properly painted, can get brittle with age if exposed for long periods of time to UV rays...sunlight. I have a bunch of painted birds that have been sitting on my lake house porch (enclosed porch, surrounded by windows) and they have not suffered.

Bill breakage can be an issue at times. Broken some myself, mostly when abused. Lots of guys have repaired with bondo or epoxy though neither are great ideas since they must have some "adhesive thickness" to achieve cure and bonding. That thickness is undesirable but a thin layer doesn't cure properly or hold as well as needed. What is needed is an adhesive designed to bond strongly in a thin layer. The answer is "C/A" (short for alpha cyanoacrylate)...short for superglue. The C/A that you want to use is from a model airplane hobby shop. Use the medium thick (gap filling) C/A by known manufacturers: Jet, Zap, Hot Stuff, Mercury, Bob Smith/etc.
When the bill breaks, save the end of the bill. Bond this back on with C/A, wiping the excess off while you hold it in place. While holding, spritz with some "kicker" (aka: accelerator) to speed up curing. Once it's cured, drill a 3/16" hole up through the underside of the bill, through the bill and into the head. Put some C/A into this hole and twist a piece of 3/16" oak dowel all the way into the hole and then spritz with kicker. When cured, trim off dowel and touch up the bill.
If you've lost the end of the bill, you can C/A a dowel into the head and then use Baking Soda (Arm & Hammer) and super thin C/A to reconstruct the bill. Be careful...the baking soda will "kick off", generate heat and harden. Example: you can drill a hole, fill with baking soda, drip in thin C/A...it'll smoke, kick off and harden. You can thin drill and tap it and it will hold threads. Great stuff.
If repairing a tail, use gap filling C/A and glue the tail back on...use kicker to cure. Follow that (like Steve S. does) with 3 hardwood dowels and C/A then into place.
Caution: C/A will instantly bond skin...that's what it was designed to do. It was designed for battlefield, stitch-less surgery that would hold until the victim could be moved out to a MASH unit for permanent surgery.
On bill breakage, we're still struggling with the bills of Mergansers. We're working on different reinforcing materials for strength...ongoing "research". ;)
Holler with any questions.
Lou
 
Thanks. I was going to repair them this weekend. I did loose the break, and was going to replace it with a wooden one and with a dowel and either 5 minute epoxy or gorrilla glue. I will repair as suggested.

I have had these for years, and never had any issues with durability.

I did say earlier that I never had one break. Well that was only haf true. I did have to repair one when my step son backed over a mallard. No damage to the "decoy" but broke the oak keel that I built. It is hard to fault the durability with that.

The beak break was a drop and hit on the break. The other two seem to be more of a mystery, but it did happen when it was pretty cold.
 
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