First balsa decoy

K

kirby

New member
This is the first working decoy I did useing balsa for the body, tupelo for the head and acrylics
IMG]http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx75/kirby65/IMG_1552.jpg[/IMG]
IMG_1553.jpg

IMG_1555.jpg


Jim Kirby
 
that is absolutely spectacular!! Beautiful bird!

Couple questions:
Did you use a bottom board and tail board?

Did you carve with power (Foredom etc) or with a knife? When I tried balsa with a Foredom, WOW you had to be careful or you were going to wind up with a mini mini minature....

Lastly, you finished with acylics. Did you put any type of sealer over the wood before you painted?

Sorry for all of the questions, but I think balsa is a neat medium to work with.

Best,
Steve
 
Jim, that is a beautiful replica. Just what they look like when I shoot them down here during our season. How long did this project take from start to finish?
Al
 
Thanks for the nice comments about the decoy, let me give a little background about my self, I live in Michigan and have been carving for about 6 years mostly IWCA style birds and have been privileged enough to learn and carve with a bunch of good carvers and most importantly great guys.

Dennis - I get my balsa from National balsa, phone # is 1-413-277-9500, I order it by 4 1/2" X 7 1/2" X 4' and ask them to use water proof glue, great company to work with.

Steve - No bottom board or tail board, and yes I use both the grinder and a knife but mostly knife work, and then to answer the sealing question I put on a product made by Minwax called wood hardener, then two coats of polyurethane, then stipple with a mixture of Gesso and texture paste.

Al - if I would have to guess how long it took, I'm guessing a couple days I'm one of those guys that work on a couple hours then put it down come back a few days later and work on it some more.

Thanks again for the nice comments: Jim
 
Great deek Jim,

What part of Michigan are you in? There is a bunch of us in SW Michigan that get together on a weekly basis to swap lies, bust a gut laughing and on occasion have even been known to whittle a bit.

Chuck
 
Nice block. Never tried the balsa, but there is a guy selling it at Westlake every year. Mostly laminated blocks.
 
Chuck I live in SE michigan and we do the same thing, tell lies, bust a gut, and have a few pops :) and if we get the time put a few wood chips on the ground.


Jim
 
Thanks for the link.
I;ve thought about trying to carve Balsa but cuold never find it in big enough blocks. This is pretty reasonably priced, may give it a shot.

I've thinking a good knife, rasps & sand paper will work on Balsa.
Any advice on using it?
How durable is it?
 
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