APRIL - What's on your work bench?

Steve Sanford

Steve Sanford

Well-known member
[font=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]I guess W is my theme right now - I am currently at work on a Wigeon, a Whimbrel and a Wood Duck...all "mantel-piece birds".

The first two are primed - with 2 coats of spar varnish then grey high-build oil primer - and ready for oils starting tomorrow. I just put the eyes in the Woodie - the head will go on tomorrow.

This Drake Wigeon is hollow White Pine with a Basswood head.

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This Whimbrel is solid Basswood with a Shagbark Hickory (limb wood grown to the curve) bill insert.

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All the best,

SJS


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Very nice steve I like that whimbrel a lot,
I've been playing around with some different stuff lately here's a goldfinch recently finished up
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Steve, Great birds! I was noticing how smooth your birds are after your primer coats. Same for Mr. Furia's decoys. They look as if they were covered with an egg shell. I'm guessing that the 2 coats of spar varnish is enough to make the fur stand up enough to be sanded off. Then the high-build oil primer covers and fills whatever small imperfections that are left. Do you also sand the last coat of primer? 150 grit? I have been struggling with this a bit. I've tried using Rustoleum as primer, but the decoys seem to scuff easily. Now I have been using linseed oil and turpentine, and then painting on the wood with oils, which seems to really absorb into the wood, but I will always end up with a couple spots were I didn't sand enough. I am looking for a new method, and was hoping you and maybe some of the other guys could elaborate on how you do it. Thanks, Jeff
Pat, very nice as usual!
Mr. Furia, gorgeous!
Colin, good job on the little tweety.
We finished our mini decoys. Fun project that went fast enough for him not to lose interest.

 
Good morning, Jeffrey~

Here is my sanding schedule for my "fancy" mantel-piece birds - to be finished in oils:

Finish sand bare wood with 150

Spar varnish - dry over night - then sand with 220

Repeat

Spray on high-build Rustoleum Primer (first time I'm trying this)

Dry overnight - then sand with 220.

First coat of tube oils is just that - to establish the major areas of color (hue) and tone. I expect to build up with one or (usually) more topcoats as I work toward to desired effects.

All the best,

SJS
 
Haven't carved in sometime but the last 2 months I have jumped back in. Looking to clean the shop up and finish some cutouts that have been laying around. These need to be sealed and painted.

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Did some scaup for my duck club rig. Heads are from my great grandpa's pattern. White cedar bodies and white pine heads. Branded keels and lead mortised into the keels.

I'll be painting the hens in a painting demonstration at the Midwest Decoy Collectors Show on April 25th at St. Charles, Illinois if anyone wants to see the painting technique I use. Geoff Vine will also be painting a ruddy duck that day. Come out and join us...

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Pat - I like the body shape on these ... captures the characteristics of a bluebill plus nice and robust. Will take a beating. Do you test float them to determine the correct amount of weight and its location in the keels?




Joe
 
Joe - Thank you for the kind words.

I really don't float test them. After making as many as I have over the years, I pretty well know where to put this on my keel and, how much lead to use. I also find with the new body design I am using, it gives me maximum beam width which allows for a better more stable ride. I also don't pour lead to self right a decoy. That's contest stuff. Self righting decoys has never been a requirement of mine. On the occasion one of my decoys doesn't self right when it's deployed, I simply give it a pop with my push pole to bring it to attention.


Thanks for asking Joe and have a great day! Pat
 
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I like leaving the wood under tails on divers. The tails are awash anyway and it adds flotation and stability.




Joe
 
I will be painting this guy in oils at the Midwest Decoy Show in St. Charles on Saturday the 25th @ 10:00. I'm one of the free seminars back in the carver's corner. Stop by and say hi, if you are at the show.

AND the real treat this year will be seeing Marty Hanson's display at the show. It will be worth the trip, I guarantee it!

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Those are all great birds.

I haven't done anything on decoys the last couple of weeks. My "shop" is a disaster right now do to the arrival of a shed for the back yard and everything is in a in between stage of moving stuff from the garage to the shed, the basement to the garage etc.

And happily I have been involved heavily in buying a new boat. Hope to get back into it soon.
 
This thread has always been one of my very favorite threads and it just keeps getting better every month......
Great to see so many "new" carvers showing up......we got a huge boost way back when Keith Mueller started posting and the thread got a huge boost from the influx of carvers hat we had never seen here before.....over time some of those carvers left and we were left with some great new folks that have become strong members of this community...I've been noticing a new influx of "new carvers" over the last several months and its really been neat to see the long term guys with a strong mix of new people.....


Great job to everyone and keep em coming please.......




Steve
 
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