Fixing old Herters Decoys

[Scott Gilliland]

I have about 3 dz old herters divers. They been well used and I'm thinking of patching them up and repainting. Most of the eye-bolts have rusted and a few heads are broken off at the base of the stem. I would like to replace the eye bolts (I'm calling them bolts, but they are leg screws) with stainless and reuse some for the broken heads. It's hard to find stainless eye bolts - I've found a source of 1/4" by 5" bolts. For the bolts they do not indicated if they are 5" overall or the leg is 5".

• Does anyone have a suggestion for re-attaching heads that the stem has ben broken?
  • Steve Sanford has a great how to repair these decoys and uses resin and fibreglass to attach the heads. I might do this, but I do like to be able to turn the heads.
• suggestions to the remove rusty eye bolts?
• I'm looking for 6" eye bolts and cannot find them - 5" eye bolts long enough?

Thanks
Scott

 

[James Boyd]

There are several ways to still use the heads with broken stems, the simplest being to simply glue the bottom of the head and the shelf together. You can then put expandable gorilla glue in the hole for the eyebolt and glue the eyebolt in.
Another method I have used is to cut a circular piece of 1/4” aluminum into the shape of the bottom of the neck. You can glue and screw or rivet the aluminum to the decoy head. Lastly drill and tap the aluminum to accept the threaded eyebolt. Most I’ve used are generally 1/4-20 which is a common size. This keeps your option to still turn the heads as you like. I’ve also used this method to attach other heads to herters decoys in the past

 

[Kevin Puls]

If you are not attached to using the original ones you have there are a lot of extras laying around in people’s shops. They can be found relatively inexpensively.

 

[Dave Diefenderfer]

My process: use a stepped drill and open base an inch or so. Fill with expanding foam. After foam cures, excavate about 3/4" back fill this with thickened epoxy. Heads will not shatter, and can be mounted with any hardware.

 

[James Boyd]

My process: use a stepped drill and open base an inch or so. Fill with expanding foam. After foam cures, excavate about 3/4" back fill this with thickened epoxy. Heads will not shatter, and can be mounted with any hardware.

To add to this method you can also use a wooden dowel inserted into the head after the expanding foam and leave a length outside the head same length as the prior stem was . I like 1/2” dowel for strength

 

[Scott Gilliland]

Thanks guys - that makes a lot of sense. With a wooden dowel inserted into the epoxy, you could get away with a shorter leg bolt too.

 

[Steve Sanford]

Thanks guys - that makes a lot of sense. With a wooden dowel inserted into the epoxy, you could get away with a shorter leg bolt too.

Scott~

Removing the rusty steel screw eyes is always a challenge. I think holding my breath while I back them out works as well as anything. One more "technical" approach that has worked for me is to warm/heat the screw eye with my torch - hoping to soften up (slightly) the Tenite and who-knows-what corrosion around the stem. A Vise-Grip usually protects my hands from excess heat.

Hope this helps!

SJS

 

[Scott Gilliland]

Thanks Steve. These were hunted a lot in salt water and the screws are in rough shape.

 

[Capt Rich Geminski]

Use really small drill bits, drill around the shaft to releive stress. Use vise gripes to help.

 

[Scott Gilliland]

I guess another option is just to cut the eye offend pull off the head.