decoy patterns

Chris S.

Chris S.

Well-known member
In the next week or 2 I am gonna try my hand at hollow cedar decoys. I am looking to carve just basic gunning decoys. I will start with black ducks as the painting will be eaiser for the first timer. Is there a place or someone that I can get a basic gunning decoy pattern to start with then from there kinda make my own as time goes and my skills get better. I was looking at Godin's book but don't wanna spent the money just yet in case I really suck at carving. Any help with patterns or ideas would be great. Thanks.
 
Go on Amazon.com and search for Grayson Chesser's How to Carve the Century Old Way..has patterns but they need to be enlarged...the book is cheap on there but the book has a lot of great information for beginners like us. Also there is a Barnegat Bay style decoy book with full size patterns for puddlers and divers but no brant or geese by Anthony Hillman and Harry Shourds also on Amazon on the cheap. Dave
 
Awesome thanks I saw the shourds hillman book and was gonna get it but wasn't sure if it was good or not. That's where I got my sneakbox from was the grandson of shourds the carver. Thanks
 
I second the suggestion for Grayson Chesser's book. I still use it a lot for instructions on mixing paint to get certain colors.

As for sucking at carving...your first bird will probably suck compared to your second, or tenth. Don't judge your ability by your first decoy. You will get better with every one. Come on the forum and ask for constructive criticism. Somtimes after spending countless hours looking at a piece of wood, it's hard to see your mistakes. Other people will see them immediately.

Get a good book like Chesser's and follow the instructions closely, don't leave flat spots, and don't be afraid to suck at first.

Mike
 
My advice is to find a mentor to help you, at the very least with a few decoys. No sense in reinventing the wheel. A mentor will teach you what tools to buy and how to use them. Plus you will have insight into years of carving, your learning curve will be shortened considerably. After you get comfortable, then you can go off and try experimenting with different tools and techniques.
 
Thankks guys!

Terry I am gonna be making my first 3 cedar decoys side by side with with sneakbox builder/decoy maker Bill Simonsen as he makes 3 aswell. Same guy who hwlped me with my sneakbox rebuild last year. As you said this will help me a lot and show and teach me what tools I need and how to use them. Bill and I are going to a local cedar saw mill to get me some jersey cedar decoy wood this Sunday. With any luck I can talk him into carving that day too. If this ends up being like every other duck hunting related thing I get into I will be hooked in no time and will need to make more trips to the saw mill for more cedar.
 
My only complaint with the Grayson Chesser patterns, beside the need to be enlarged, is the lack of detail. There aren't any measurements for the head or bill width. These would seem very helpful for beginners.
 
Check out: Carving Duck Decoys by Harry V. Shrouds and Anthony Hillman, It's got full size patterns made of heavy construction paper for making 16 different ducks. I got it for $11 on Ebay about a month ago and have carved two pintails a ruddy duck a blue bull a surf scoter and a buffle head out of the patterns. They look really good. Great patterns in my opinion. These were my first hollow wood birds ever.
 
Find a picture of the duck, print it out, and make your own pattern.

Generally speaking a decoy should be 3 times as long as it is tall and twice as wide as it is tall. This isn't a hard fast rule, but it will get you something that looks proportionally correct and should float right.

A good mentor is a must, but a mentor that answers your questions will be much more valuable in the long run than one that tells you what to do.

Once you understand the basics of grains, tools, techniques you'll be off and running.

Happy carving.
-D
 
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I am getting out of carving and am selling all my stuff wood knives bandsaw sander, custom made spokeshave( a must for cedar and a bunch of half finished decoys. I have the whole set up and patterns for every species. Lemme know will let it go cheap
 
Jay,

If Chris doesn't take you up on the offer, I'd like to visit with you about the spokeshave and know what knives you've got...
 
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