Al McCormick Broadbill Decoys

Steve,
After reading the wright up you gave on Mr. DECOY AL MC CORMICK Brought Back some fine memories Of Dealing & Working with him.BACK IN THE 70'S. I first met AL at the L.I. Show At His work station an was fascinated by the way he made his decoys out of the Black CORK & THE HOME MADE TOOLS HE USED I told him I make A Few myself but with different tools He Said Why Dont we get together at his house some day,So I called an we got together for a day in his shop & I learned a lot, Which most of us carvers out there would agree,. No matter who you visit we always learn something.Al Precided to ASK ME iF i WOULD WORK WITH HIM AT THE L.I. SHOW THE FOLLOWING YEAR I SAID YES ,& ONE YR. BECAME THREE YRS.FOR I WAS THERE TO COMPETE ANYWAY.
For helping him those years ,he made & gave me a solid turned head SLEEPING BROADBILL DECOY LAMP ,WHICH I TREASURE & HAVE TILL THIS DAY. MANY OF US WHO WATCH AL WORK AT THE SHOWS HE WOULD REFER TO A 8 by10 PHOTO HE HAD ON THE WALL THAT WAS MADE BY CHARLES DISBROW AL 's FAVORITE,decoy PART OF THE FAMOUS THREE FROM THE CONN.AREA. ALBERT LANG ,& SHANK WHEELER .I decided to make him a exact copy.When i gave it to him you think i gave him a $MILLION DOLOR'S he WAS SO HAPPY & EXCITED. SINCE AL'S Passing.I TRIED TO TRACK IT DOWN,I FOUND THAT A CARVER,COLLECTOR BORROWED IT TO COPY FOR HS OWN COLLECTION . I contacted him and he said he returned it to AL,I had my doubts ,I have never seen it since. God rest his soul.End of story.
 
Paul~


Thanks so much for this story! You guys are giving me a bunch of tales that will help me to enrich the "bio" of Mr. Decoy.


All the best,


SJS

 
I just realized that I have one of Mr McCormack's black ducks. It was given to me by the late Malcolm Bahrenburg a number of years ago.

The wide keel is stamped "Mr Decoy Al McCormack". It also has what I presume to be the owner's name "Langan" stamped in a keel weight.

Matt
View attachment IMG_0644.jpg
 
That is an original 4" Al McCormick blackduck decoy. Looks like he painted it. He used a dark brown paint that he mixed from Tudor Brown and Black Benjamin Moore Exterior Alkyd paint. To get the sides of the head shaded he used a Flit gun.

Joe
 
Good morning, Matt~


Sweet bird - a classic "4-inch" McCormick. He later went to his "humpback" model, made from 5-inch cork.


I think I recall a Tom Langan - from somewhere on the north shore of Long Island I believe.


All the best,


SJS

 
I remember those bug sprayers. Guess I never new they were called Flit guns. I looked up the active ingredient in Flit. It was permethrin, the same insecticide used today to treat bug clothing, and spray our clothes to keep chiggers and ticks away while turkey hunting etc.

Anyone know what vintage my bird would be?
 
Really enjoying this thread! Taking me back to many evenings spent with Al, either working on decoys or sitting around listening to stories while Al shared some of his squirrel peanuts with my Chesapeake. I was a bit of a youngster then and after making a rig of black ducks, a big rig of brant, and 42 broadbill I pestered him enough for some other projects. He quite begrudgingly helped me take the biggest pieces of scrap cork in the basement and make some crude bufflehead decoys. I made 18 cork geese with him and I wanted a sleeper goose. He had never made one before so I got him a picture and he carved the first sleeper goose he ever did. I burned Al McCormick number one sleeper and had him sign it and burned it all in to the bottom board. To my knowledge I think that was the only one he ever carved. If this thread is still going when I get some time off I'll have to take some pictures and get them up on the computer
 
Good morning, Pete~


Great story - one I'll be sure to add to my ever-growing "bio" of Al.


And, yes, please send some photos!


All the best,


SJS

 
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