APRIL - What's on your Work Bench ?

Thanks for posting these pics Rick,that Bufflehead looks as tough as nails ,Nice!x2 on them heads in the background, sweet looking detail !!
 


1947 Ducker #D114, first year of production I believe. Not sure If i'm going to keep it yet, but it needs few rivets replaced and maybe a fresh coat of paint.
 
As I said in my post a couple weeks ago you guys out there kept all the cool boats close to home
 
Great bird and history Rick! I have one of Jim's ringnecks with the swing weight. I also have a ringneck miniature. Both drakes. Jim was a fine decoy carver... Pat
 
Jode they work quite well when it gets nasty out on the water. Obviously, there is a weight penalty when your rig consists of fifty decoys with this set-up. I made a half dozen common goldeneye and a dozen ringnecks with these keels and weights on them. Jim, was able to obtain a hundred feet plus of pure copper twisted power cable from a contractor doing a renovation of office space in the Steve T. Mason building. Jim or one of his 3 State employee hunting partners cut these to length and "distributed" them. They made their weight molds from blocks of hardwood; peened the copper section in the mold flat;heated it and greased the mold;then poured the molten lead in.
 
Charles, that is one of the best looking Duckers I have seen in a long time! You didn't by chance buy it in a little town northwest of Marinette, Wisconsin? There was a green one sitting on the edge of an excavated pond on the just outside the south side of town every summer. I stopped several times at the farm house but no one was ever around...leaving a note seemed intrusive.
 
Great bird and history Rick! I have one of Jim's ringnecks with the swing weight. I also have a ringneck miniature. Both drakes. Jim was a fine decoy carver... Pat

Thanks for the kind words, Pat. As you likely know, Jim and Marge are two of the nicest folks you could ever hope to meet! From what I recall, he won the head carving contest the last time he attended the ODCCA show with Willy.
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Larry I agree with you 100% I would just be so nervous of destroying fine craftsmanship with a stray pellet
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I'm happy for guys to hunt my birds. If anyone buys a decoy from me and shoots it, dog chews off the bill etc, they can send it back to get fixed, no charge.
Thats a hell of a offer Jode not many guys would make that offer. Plan on adding more Hillman's to the rig as my bank account allows...lol
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Jode , he called me and told me about it. I had put a bid in on the Yellowlegs, but ended up missing out because I went Turkey hunting. Which was a bust. I should have stayed home to raise my bid. I saw you had some stuff in there also. Lots of legendary names in that sale. I'd liked to see all of those decoys first hand. I'm going to try and get up there for the next Tuckerton show and spend sometime with my uncle. It would be my first show,and I think it would be a good place to start.
 
Yes it had a lot from Ky Kruas' collections ( which is where mine came from) . You'd have a blast at the show..... Try and work it out!
 
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Another 1/2 dzn done. I think I finally got the body shape & profile I like on the hen sleeper with the wooden head. But the one with the foam head came out alright too.
Drake sleeper is definitely a bobtail

Lou, those hens are painted in with your Dark Brown, a pint I ordered from you back in 1998 or '99 and never opened, still has the clips on the lid. Stirred and shook the heck out of it and it came out just great!

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Carl, if the bill is buried feathers, bould it not stand to reason that you REALLY do not need the nail?
Just a thought -Preener would show it, but nail is not needed for sleepers. I assume you are building a bunch of them for hunting scaup?
 
Yeah, thought about that just after I got done painting the nails! I guess the one hen with the foam head is really a preener!

Yep, beefing up my diver rig & replacing failing plastics. That and just giving me something ducky to do in the off season.
 
If you radius/soften the edge on the square edges of the heads they will not cut the bodies of other decoys when bouncing around in the boat. I did a bunch similar and I used a router with a radius bit think it was 1/2". Worked well without a lot of work.


Joe
 
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