APRIL What's on Your Workbench

Steve,
Those teal and very cool love them both.

Jim,
I think that bench will work fine. Mine is similar but built all of wood and perhaps a little most sturdy for really hogging the wood with the draw knife. I built it for a similar reason of being portable but I have used it ever since.


Bob,
Seriously man how long have you been keeping that April fools picture waiting for the post? Gave me a good chuckle this morning when I logged in.


Here is my contribution so far for this month. I posted this pair a while back when they were still naked as you guys can now see they are in fact ringers. I am quite happy with them certainly some flaws that need improvement but I feel I made a step in the right direction. I am sure you can see the main influences of other carvers in them. The paint is still in that in between stage of wet and dry and looks a little washed out plus I could not get a clear picture in the sunlight with the white background but you get the idea. You can see some sap bags hanging in the background as well. Maple syrup season is on its way here in the northwoods. Can't wait.

2013-04-01-decoys-019.jpg


2013-04-01-decoys-005.jpg

 
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Steve,
Those teal and very cool love them both.

Jim,
I think that bench will work fine. Mine is similar but built all of wood and perhaps a little most sturdy for really hogging the wood with the draw knife. I built it for a similar reason of being portable but I have used it ever since.


Bob,
Seriously man how long have you been keeping that April fools picture waiting for the post? Gave me a good chuckle this morning when I logged in.


Here is my contribution so far for this month. I posted this pair a while back when they were still naked as you guys can now see they are in fact ringers. I am quite happy with them certainly some flaws that need improvement but I feel I made a step in the right direction. I am sure you can see the main influences of other carvers in them. The paint is still in that in between stage of wet and dry and looks a little washed out plus I could not get a clear picture in the sunlight with the white background but you get the idea. You can see some sap bags hanging in the background as well. Maple syrup season is on its way here in the northwoods. Can't wait.

2013-04-01-decoys-019.jpg


2013-04-01-decoys-005.jpg
Click to expand...


Brandon,

What is that white stuff in the background???
 
Geoff and Pat

Just bring the redheads and bills to Washington State....wow is the only thing I can utter
 
Brad - Should we come in December or, January? I'm sure Geoff can get off work and I know I can...

Also, I plan on bringing one of my great grandpa's bluebill decoys from the 1920's with me. I still float it. It's like having him with me on the hunt... Pat
 
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Well, I figured I may as well (FINALLY) post up some pictures of what I am working on. Not quite the caliber some of you post, but in for a penny in for a pound....

Some geese I replaced the heads, patched up the major spots and am repainting. I am planning on not putting eyes on these four. The ducks will get eyes.

I really like the old school look to these. May go back and put in some feather details.... maybe.

Before:

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After:

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Before:
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After:

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And two sleeper/preeners I left the heads on and just repaired and repainted:

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AND

030_zps2ebc6268.jpg


Before anyone complains, I like the old porous look of the black cork decoys. I only repaired the major damage without taking all the character. AND, I still have to paint the cheek patch white.

Comments?


Mike
 
O.K., enough loony April fool's posts that depict decoys from the "Theriocephaletic School", and on to some serious stuff.

State bird of Minnesota..... Well, maybe this kind of qualifies as another Loony post:

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One of the first really useful pieces of reference material I owned was a booklet given to me by The late Joe Wooster shortly aftre we met. It was commonly referred to as "The Loon Book," and featured a writeup on Joe and some great B&W photos showing him carving & painting the loon that is featured in the book. It was fun to dig out my copy and revisit it when gathering reference for this pair.
 
Made this guy tail end of last month for a prize at GLDA show in Westlake. Pat Kane ended up the new owner. 24" long hard tiger maple.
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Close up of the head
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Finally getting time to fit in a decoy or two. Last year carved 4 with only 1 finished. This is my third from this year and the other two are painted already! I'm on a roll now!
F3A11210-C3DA-41EB-A399-ACE03C70CD35-654-000000668D82E98D_zps6250506c.jpg

 
Mr McCann, long time ago we can buy blank and mount it them self ... is it the same? we can mount a very good one at the fraction of the original price ..
 
I have been doing some experimenting with carving and painting techniques. Going slowly but I am prepping a few BWT bodies to use with a future tutorial session with Pat G. Here is a view of my bench with the chaos (after I cleaned this weekend). I did make a bird house with my granddaughter but that is already hanging outside waiting on occupants. My biggest problem right now is I get ahead of myself and do things out of order. I have a mental note of what I have to do next but forget them in my excitement to work on the next decoy. Time to make a big list and post it on the wall!



 
My two nephews both took their first ducks this past season. The oldest shot a mallard drake as it and a susie decoyed in to the pond. The youngest shot a redhead drake on Youth Days. It came in with what seemed like a million other redheads. Needless to say, each boy was beside himself on shooting their first duck. Their uncle (me) was the only one more excited/proud than they!

I decided to commemorate each nephew's accomplishment with a hand carved decoy by yours truly. Just finished up the younger boy's deke as his older brother killed his first duck over New Years.

Grace and peace,

David

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Mark,

I love the picture of you and your son(?), with those beautiful fox squirrels. I used to hunt those in Ohio with my granddad. Lots of grays here in Packerland, but fox squirrels are rare!

Art
 
First thing I noticed was the photo of those prime Fox squirrels! Got the Squirrel NE grand slam last fall, Grey, Black, and Fox all in one day - a first for me. I love Squirrel, "The Other White Meat."
No dove season here YET. So I went from shotgunning in Sept. to .22 for squirrels. Thats a great photo of a very good day, congratulations.
 
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