Balsa decoys...

P

Pat Gregory

Well-known member
Last year, I purchased a load of wood from a gentleman that had some balsa wood in it. I'd never carved it before but, became curious and interested in trying it.

About the same time, I was studying the history of vintage Michigan Decoymakers, Jim Kelson and Ralph Reghi. After WWII, there was an abundance of balsa wood available. Reghi, and his mentor, Kelson, set out to make quality yet, inexpensive duck decoys that hunters could afford. Some of these were sold commercially. Many vintage decoy makers used balsa at times in their careers to include Shang Wheeler, and the Ward Brothers to name a few. I love how frugal our forefathers were using what they had available to them and, respect them for it.

I've carved several divers recently from the balsa wood. It carves decent but has a tendency to tear somewhat like tupelo. It tends to do better with power tools. I even did some feather stamping on it and it took the stamping well.

Below are some pictures of my divers and, some other vintage and contemporary balsa decoys. Has anyone used it? Post up your experience and some pictures if you have them.
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Beautiful work Pat. I also have some balsa tucked up in the loft of the shop that I keep meaning to try out. I worked some paulownia wood decoys last year that came out pretty good. I got several good logs from a local Amish man for nothing and gave it a try. I will try to find some time and check out the balsa myself.




dc
 
Pat -
I have 1/4 of the balsa rig Paul Rutger carved a few years ago. They are my favorite teal decoys I own for form, function, and friendship... Sadly I only have "after effect" pictures of them working in the Aluetian Islands. I'm not sure what he sealed them with but they have held up wonderfully over the past few years.


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Pat, I carved a dozen canvasbacks from the remains of a WW II era life raft constructed of balsa chunks glued and doweled together. As you state, it "works" best when carved with power tools. The other issue I ran into is that the pieces I had were an amalgam of several difference pieces and densities, so I had to keep a very light touch on the burr when shaping the bodies. Since some sections of the bodies were so soft, I decided to Restle coat them with Titebond III and cork particles to stabilize the surface. The individual I carved them for only wanted the drakes, so I kept the hens.

I should have sanded the texured suface nearly flat, prior painting them. The hens were a bugger to paint. I did raise the primaries slightly and painted them to break-up the monotone of the tail area.


 
Made a bunch of balsa stool a fre years back, for use in shallows, due to buoyancy-Smyser picked up some from Solarbo, im Florida-All was laminated, similar to the old balsa life rafts, circa WW2.
I loved grinding on it, but it did take a bit of learning to NOT try to press hard with the bits, since occaswionally, one ran into slightly softer material.
The only drawback is that it does dent, which is not a serious problem, and if gunning in conditions where there is moving ice, the ice tended to abrade the areas around the sides.
Re hunted a group of them-puddlers-this year on the Misspillion.
Pat, i will send you some shots of the balsas and you can do what you want with them.
Bod Bless
 
R L ~

Beautiful Hens - great forms and excellent paint.


Pat ~

I have only made a couple of balsa birds. I sealed them with marine epoxy and that did a nice job of toughening the skin.

This Oldsquaw is from the very last U S National Decoy Show (on Long Island) in '94. Head is pine and tail insert is plastic. The gunners were auctioned off to support the Show - so I never did hunt over it.

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I made this Teal at the same time. My Mom liked it, though, so it has not seen a duck marsh either....

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I also have some old Herters balsa Geese (painted now as Brant) and 'Bills (painted bow as Whistlers). They are very serviceable birds. You probably recall that Herters assured us that they used "special hard Santa Marta balsa" (no doubt the "finest procurable") - and it does seem harder than the stuff I have used recently.

All the best,

SJS
 
Funny you are thinking about balsa. I have been looking to locate some balsa for a boat related project. Pat, the cans are super. Im told that Ralphs canvasbacks were made for a sneak rig and small and very wide/round. He liked the overhead view and the sleepers were a mainstay in that rig,reflecting a calmness in attitude. The smaller birds would stack better in boat ,and being balsa, weight was saved during the row home.
 
Wildfowler made thousands of Balsa decoys that work just fine. I have a Jim Kelson balsa Redhead, a very good decoy (photos on the DCF). The Kelson decoy has a hard coating over the decoy. All the Wildfowlers, I have seen and own, do not. I've made many decoys from Balsa, some with inserted tails like the Wards did. It rasps much better than it carves. Most I have made have a thin bottom board, and a coating of West System, trying to make them more durable. I have some nice pieces of balsa left, waiting for the right decoys. Most likely Wood ducks.... as both rigs of balsa Wood ducks I made, flew to new homes. Balsa makes great Carry In decoys, and Dove decoys as well.
 
Pat, I remember that Goldeneye from Frank like it was yesterday. When he first posted pics of it, the 'understated' head shape was odd to me. Years later I did a rig of GE and looking through hundreds of GE reference pics, I would always see that odd head shape and could picture Frank's decoy.

Really like that Reghi pair of cans too!
 
I love balsa! I had shoulder surgery to repair a large rotator-cuff tear and rather than carry heavy cork, I switched over and made a rig of balsa. My puddle ducks are almost all balsa and I love how light they are compared to cork. The sealer generally makes a pretty nice hard shell to paint on and they have held up very well through 7 years of pretty heavy use.
 
Dwane - Frank was a dandy and sorely missed. That goldeneye will stay in my rig for many years to come. He built it in a class he was doing for Woodcraft.

Bob - Love the Reghi's. I picked the redhead up at Edgerton in the old classic fashion, a guy walked into the show with a box to see what his decoys were worth... I bought it out of his box as he was leaving the show. The Mt. Clemens guys were amazing sneak shooters...

Steve - Beautiful squaw!

Brian - I too like carrying the balsa as opposed to wood or cork. And, you are correct, the surface does harden when sealed...
 
Pat, check that Jim Wicks Ringer you have, Jim made a bunch of balsa bodied birds in for years in the nineties, most of them were ringnecks or goldeneyes, with basswood heads and a bottom board from pine or scrap basswood. Yes, that is a beautiful group of balsa birds you have acquired, particularly the redhead and goldeneye.

Bob Mitchell carves a good number of working decoys in balsa wood as well. I think he posted a source..

IF I had the option available(i.e. West System supplies in-hand), I would opt to seal the finished balsa bodies via this route. You waterproof and stabilize the wood in one shot.

I think those Waterfolwer balsa birds were resin coated.

Also, thanks for the compliments on the cans!
 
The Wildfowlers (at least Old Saybrook) where keels were removed, look like they were sealed with varnish. Decoys Unlimited, out of Wattsburg Rd. Erie, Pa. also made thousands of balsa decoys. Many of them are still in service. I've had a bunch of them pass through my hands. They took a lickin' and kept on tickin', even had heads that swiveled. Their Blue bills were killers. They also made decoys for Abercrombie and Fitch. I have a preening Black duck marked as such. Very good scratch painting on the Decoys Unlimited birds.
 
very nice Pat,

I have a rig of Balsa birds that I made for out here. I am very happy with there durability especially the way I hunt/abuse them. I have a some dents, but Golden's provide a plastic like shell that really helps. My problem with denting has more to do the the balsa I got than anything. I told the company I wanted as uniform pieces as possible, but they stuck really dense(hard like cedar) next to something that was soft a like sponge. Made carving difficult as well as keel placement. Sikorski had better luck with his order. The denting that has occurred is usually in the softer pieces. For protected and smaller waters where you have to carry in or use small boat they are ideal in my mind. I have some bodies left to finish, if I ever get around to picking up a foredoom again.

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Bill - Nice looking decoys!

Vince - I had some Decoys Unlimited back in the 80's. Nice birds, held together nice and, were in great shape for how old they were. And, you're right, those Wildfowlers just keep on ticking...

Pat
 
Very nice decoys everyone. When I Seal my Balsa decoys I use a product By Minwax
called High Performance Wood Hardner. Then I seal with Deft and then prime and
paint.

Tom
 
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