February Workbench Thread

HaHa Bob, Very cool little buffy. You know you've done a nice job when you cant tell if it is a full size or mini until you see something to give it scale.

I was just going to start a Feb. Workbench thread but you beat me to it. Awesome work my friend.

Here's a pair of Flying Woodys that are literally "On the workbench"




 
Jode-

Good to see that someone else's painting surface looks like mine ;-).... the wood floor underneath it looks even worse. How is it I can get paint spattered over everything even when I'm not trying to spatter?

Hope everything is gong well. Obviously you're keeping busy!
 
So Bob,
Where did you get the oversize quarter? ;>) ;>)
Nice Buffy, sometimes that's about how big the look when they just don't want anything to do with you as they are flying by.
 
More progress, now that the Noquemenon Race is over(no nightly trail prep work-bees via headlamps). These are most 0f 40 tupelo and basswood diver heads nearly completed. The greater scaup in the foreground are a more stylized head than I normally carve. They are an homage version of a Jim Wicks bird. I will trim the heads down a bit and contour them to the bodies after I mount them. I only have 14 bodies with bottom boards cut-out.






 
Some sweet looking decoys this month already. Here's the turkey I've been working on for the last month. I noticed several things as I was going along that I would do differently next time to be more true to the bird. My painting not much I can do about that.



 
Love the buffie,
Finally getting around to doing some painting!

90c3fde4-3fd5-4ef4-9354-6db062711d2e_zpsiw8mvgvp.jpg

 
Rick - Love the divers and the mallard is a pleasant surprise. I have a couple of Jim's older birds both ringneck drakes, one full-sized and 1 miniature. Your work has a hint of Tom Schroeder to it. I need a Ligman scaup in my rig...

BTW, on your 14 ft. TDB, did all the decoys on the cover come with the boat??? :)

Nice work! Thanks for sharing... Pat
 
Nice work everyone! Great stamping Pat. I need to get my hands on some tools to do some stamping. Being a Michigan guy, I really like that look.
 
Rich - Thanks for the kind words. Check with Brian Ballard. He has a set to copy if you know someone that could make them.

By the way, any idea who made this green wing? I witnessed it lure many greenwings to their death during a couple days of hunting this past season. It truly graced the waters of the Ilinois River...

View attachment hohler.JPG

Pat
 
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View attachment Duck 3 (640x480) (400x300) (350x263).jpgThat decoy does look familiar Pat. Glad to see it served you guys well. Here is a bunch more I have done for my rig. I've learned a lot of things from you but the most important is the idea that carving decoys for your own rig is more rewarding than any decoys you can make to sell to others. It just seems like there is more appreciation and satisfaction in decoys you make and hunt over and you stay true to your own style.
 
Beautiful work Rich! Nothing more rewarding than seeing those greenwings coming into all our decoys. Both yours and Andrews greenwings worked great. And, they were in great company. Also in the rig were greenwings by Geoff Vine, Mike Lashbrook and yours truly. Other decoy carvers in the rig were Jim Schmiedlin, Steve Sanford, George Williams and George Root. There was even a pair of vintage cans by Nick Purdo. The Hohler decoy looked and worked as well as any of the rest... Nice work! Pat

View attachment teal2.jpg
 
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Frond Carvers: Those who see possibilities before they become obvious.
Here's another of my "odd duck" palm-frond interpretations. This time it was the white-cheeked pintail that caught my eye.


Hitch & Sutton tell me there have been sightings and a few taken in the Sunshine State over the past few seasons.


Here's what the live bird looks like:
View attachment A.jpg

This is the frond version I recently finished up:


View attachment B.jpg
View attachment C.jpg


Head close-up of the live bird:


View attachment E.jpg


And a close-up of the spatter painted head on the frond carving:


View attachment F.jpg
 
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Bob, that is definately a "WOW" bird!
Is it my eye, or does the eye's orbit location on the living bird look a bit further back than "normal"?
 
Nice work my friend! It's nice to have challenges like this that not only challenge our skills but, keep us fresh. When we hunted with Hitch, we hunted over several Furia Frond Decoys. They were as functional as they were beautiful. Keep up the good work Bob! You have been blessed with an incredible gift! Pat
 
Bob
I've been following your work for a long time and you never cease to amaze me.

you have inspired me to take up carving again after a ten year work related break.

Mike
 
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