Carving foam decoys

J

Jeremy Tilly

Member
Want to try my hand at carving some foam decoys this winter. Planning on using the 4 x 8 sheets of the 2 inch foam, just looking for some information to get started. Looking for some patterns going to be divers first. Thanks for the help.
 
I recommend building yourself a wire foam cutter first. You will need a step down transformer. If you are real serious spend some time watching some youtube videos on a wire foam homemade cutters. I do not have any pictures right now but could forward you some information on how to build and what you need to look for on amperage and voltage to cut the foam. You can always use a saw but it is really messy. That is why I switched to a foam cutter.


Regards,
Kristan
 
Yes I do like the idea of the wire cutter for the foam. I will look into that
Thanks for the pictures Steve very helpful, as far a coating not sure if I will burlap or restle coat yet or maybe a compilation of both. I like the toughness of burlap but how light the restle coat is
 
I made a rig of 8 giant scoter. All with hand tools it wasn't too bad but if I make any more, I will definitely make a hot wire.

Carving with a rasp is easy, it was the the cleanup that sucked. The little flakes are statically charged and stick to everything.

My heads were foam with Formica sandwiched between them for strength. The burlap really doesn't add too much weight.
 
I made a few flatties,cut them out on the band saw and shaped them with coarse sand paper.
Tried a few by gluing two pieces of two inch together then shaping with sand paper.
Kind of a fun project,time permitting i will make a rig of ringnecks for protected water hunting. Inset rebar with no keel works pretty well and provides good movement.
Urethane heads and burlaped.
They are time consuming they have their place but i would just as soon work with black cork.

I believe Don Mintz was a pioneer in foam carving.
 
I made quite a few foamers before moving to wood. I have always done my heads from wood though. As far as a hot wire cutter goes. I made one but did not use it that much. I used a model train transformer to power it. I found that using a back saw and sureform did the job just a quick. A bit more messy though. I used the pink foam not the white stuff and then burlapped them. As far as a pattern goes I just looked at pictures on the internet and went after it. My first few were horrible blocky numbers then I figured out that birds are round....... the profile was good I just didn't take off enough material. I used 1/2 plywood for a bottom board so I had something to screw the keel and head into. I have had my foamer diver rig for about 6-7 years now and they show. I don't coddle my decoys. We have a sleeper we call pinky because most of the burlap is gone on the head. Birds don't seem to mind. I have also done some flattie bluebills. The bodies were just cut from a cedar 2X10 the rough cut kind you can get in the spring for making garden boxes. Easy to make and the bills seem like them a lot. No hollowing necessary and can be made with a jig saw and rasp if you don't have a bandsaw. I eventually got a bigger bandsaw with a riser and only do wood now.

What species are you planing on making?
 
Great looking foam decoys Steve!


I must say that I prefer the burlap over the restle coated, of course weight is not a concern in the boat.
 
I think that after you mess around making a hot wire cutter, shaping with the associated static electricity, burlapping, etc..... at the end you would be happier and more satisfied making cork decoys.... JMHO
 
Been working on foamers this week actually, we recieved a shipment of trailers at my job and they stack them on large foam blocks, I get 3 herters 63 size decoys from each block, I would check trailer places, tractor supply, or a store like lowes ect. for the blocks. As for shaping them, I used a drywall knife to rough out the shape based on a herters body and used a rasp to shape the rest.
It sure is messy cause the foam blocks are s course foam unlike the pink stuff but it holds together well with mastic and burlap. Only downside is it's hard to cut fine wings or details into it.
I'm using herters heads and just painting on the details when I'm done. As for a keel, I'm messing around with cedar keels or may try the rebar insert idea.
 
I have hunted two season now with 18 full body pintails and 2 dozen teal full body birds in various positions: sentry, feeding, rest heads, high heads, and etc. I literally throw into a sled and toss in the back of the truck. I have no wood backing in the middle of the head like some carvers. The heads and body are all foam. The key difference is that I wrap several layers of burlap/mastic on the bill and around the neck/body transition. In all cases the bills are oversized and are not anything near the flatter profiles of an actual bill. Honestly, by the time a bird gets that close the smoke pole is already on them. I did this season actually experiment with painting a layer of epoxy on the entire bird with only one layer of burlap on the whole bird. The birds with epoxy can be hit with a bat. I do recommend if you decide to go the epoxy resin route that you actually dust the birds with wood dust after brushing with expoy resin. First paint bill area and let cure. Come back and paint the head and body while dusting with wood dust. After the epoxy cures lightly brush off excess wood and paint. I will consider the epoxy resin coated birds something that will last easily your lifetime.

Regards,
Kristan
 
One more recommendation is that if you have a hard time finding foam, which you might in your area, I would look on Smooth Foam website and buy the sheets of 2" x 12" x 36". They are packed 6 to a case.

I have built the following with 1 box of 6 sheets of foam:

-18 flattie decoys (Great filler decoys since the bill rest on the body and the heads cause the birds to look like content resting birds)
or
-8 Full body teals (2 layers thick)
or
-4 full body pintails (3 layers thick)
If you were to buy these in plastic the pintails are now close to $100 for 4.


I have never have tried carving any full body floaters out of foam but I know they would work well. I make my floaters out of nothing but one of the following: Balsa, cork, or black cork bodies with bass wood heads. To be honest the foam would probably be the best medium to start with because of cost. Foam is cheap when purchased or free if found. I do highly recommend if you like carving to hit up most of the individuals on this site with questions and moving into a more solid medium such as cork and/or wood. If you go this route find anyone close to you on this site that carves regulary or someone with carving knowledge not on this site. Pick their brains while sitting at their feet watching/learning. It will literally change the way you carve overnight if you have someone close to critique your every cut. I bit the bullet and ended-up being mentored by Willie McDonald which has cyclical classes around January/February in southern Michigan. Finding someone like Willie or other carvers with both anatomic knowledge on a birds body to shape plus painting knowledge will make a difference. Look at it like Spring Break for a duck hunter. My first two dozen birds looked like a footbal with a Potatoe head. After one class they started to resemble a duck. 12 years later I am still trying to figure out the painting side.

Regards,
Kristan
 
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