bottom boards - yes or no

[Rick L]

I got my tan cork from duck blind.com, and am going to cut the right sized blocks out this weekend

these will be working decoys

the cork seems very dense, my question is do you use bottom boards on the dense cork (flat bottoms) to protect from wear or water

or just go right to the keel


thanks
Rick

 

[gcs]

I've seen them both ways, I put bottom boards on mine

 

[Matt DeFore]

bottom boards are not necessary with the tan cork from the duck blind. Only time I ever use them is if I need extra height to make my pattern fit. Nothing wrong with bottom boards, they make a good keel attachment point but you can have the same with good epoxy, screws, and cork bottoms. To me they are extra work when using his cork and plus you have another glue joint to deal with....so it better be a good one since more than like it will be below water. Take a cork bird and then one with a bottom board and hit the chine on the edge of a table, you tell me which one is going to ding up, it's not going to be the cork bird.

Happy carving and post up some pics.

 

[Pete McMiller]

I made a couple dozen Cans and Red Heads when this site first started, maybe 15 years ago. The Cans with black cork and the RHs with tan cork. Both have stood up very well with no significant damage to either material. I didn't use bottom boards on either of them, just sealed extremely well with thinned varnish and painted with a quality paint.

Bottom boards or not the best single thing you can do to make a long lasting decoy is seal it well.

 

[steve wheeler]

I've always used bottom boards--applied with a heavy coat of thickened epoxy they provide a good base for keels or weights and anchor line attachment points. Though maybe unnecessary, a bottom board provides addition rigidity to the decoy body. I have some twenty year old black ducks with 1/4" plywood bottoms and 1/4" plywood tail inserts that are as good as when they were made (well, that is, minus a few shot holes almost as good as new).

 

[Sean K]

I don't think bottom boards are necessary with Duck Blind cork. I have done it both ways. They get heavy with bottom boards so I have started to do it without. I think they will hold up fine either way.

 

[Andy Grant]

I used boards on some black cork decoys. 3/4 pine boards. When I do it again, I will resaw the boards thinner. 3/4" doesn't seem thick, but the kiln dried pine was very hard and a pain to carve. Although it could just be the local non-carving pine the boards were made out of.