herters 63 bluebill head ID

[bob welsh]

I'm going over some recent bills i picked up and refurbishing them and came across different heads. Did Herters change the head style over the years ? The one on the right is beefy compared with the other one. Just curious.
Hey Steve,i'm thinking about your old post on turning a diver head into wigeon on a 63 puddler body. Thoughts?

 

[bob welsh]

 

[bob welsh]

 

[Steve Sanford]

Bob~


I, too, have noticed 2 different Model 63 Bluebill heads. I cannot find such differences in my old catalogs - but notice that Herter's did have different heads for their Bluebills and Redheads in their Model 50s - which were a hollow-bodied, all-Tenite decoy. I do not know if these heads had the shafts (like 63s and 72s et cetera) before they were glued in place. I'll have to look more carefully to see if they ever sold these heads separately.







I prefer the high-crowned profile on the Redhead but the fat cheeks on the Bluebill.


And, yes, either would make a nice Wigeon on the 63 Mallard/Black body.








All the best,


SJS

 

[bob welsh]

Thanks Steve, Going through my recent pile of scrounged Herters I found only one fat cheeked head the rest were the thinner variety. I thought i was done with decoys for the season then the wigeon showed up. I was able to restle coat and prime 30 model 63 puddler bodies but don't have enough heads. I could go the 3 d printed route again or carve some but that takes time. The wigeon may be gone by the time I finish. If anybody has some of thes cheeky heads let me know.

 

[Dave Diefenderfer]

Bob, I made a mold of the cheeky head, and I have at least a couple heads cast on hand and am casting heads this week. How many do you need?

 

[bob welsh]

thanks Dave, send me what you can spare 2 dozen would work.

 

[bob welsh]

Fooling around in the shop this morning I hacked out a head. Can't kill a duck in this 70 degree weather .

 

[Derek Bendell]

Pretty sure those are Decoys Unlimited heads. Clinton, IA. (The cheeky ones.) I have half a dozen. Let me look around. I think there were some molds available to make those too. I believe mine were a batch from WI that had been made using the molds.

 

[bob welsh]

This is a plastic head i believe but thanks for checking your pile.

 

[Steve Sanford]

Derek and Bob~


I think Decoys Unlimited is the correct ID for the fat-cheeked, head:





I have never held the whole decoy in my hands, but I'm guessing they may have used a shaft similar to Herter's:






All the best,


SJS

 

[Derek Bendell]

Good evening guys. I think it's quite possible, like Herters there were different iterations over the years making them easy to confuse with potentially home built decoys. I didn't find half a dozen but I found that I have a fair number of Herters #63 BB & Canvasback heads collecting dust. This head appears to be made from foam but it's very dense. I would guess it's one of the boiled heads using molds and the expanding beads. Not sure too many people are doing this anymore. This head came to me over a decade ago with others, including bodies. The bodies were also super dense white foam. Likely similarly made from molds. Flat-bottom #63 design with no weights...

 

[Steve Sanford]

Interesting!


Back to Bob's initial ideas....


Here is a batch of Model 63 re-paints I picked up a few years ago - maybe a customer's birds? I never liked Herter's using Mallard/Black heads for Baldpate.








So, I used Bluebill heads on the Mallard/Black bodies. Here are the heads coated and painted. Note that I used Bluebill heads for Greenwings, too. (The 2 nice GWT heads are E Allen birds).






Decoy detective work never ends.....it's almost as challenging as duckboat detective work.....


All the best,


SJS

 

[Capt J. Stieben]

A year ago I acquired a few dozen 63 bluebills, some had the squatty head, with that lot of decoys there was a couple of bags of replacement heads, black plastic blow molded with stems, one bag was the normal Herter's 63 heads and there was about a dozen of them squatty ones, these decoys came from Beaver Dam area in WI. so I am betting someone came across these at Herter's. They are now floating around somewhere in Maryland if I remember right.

Knowing Herter's pursuit of quality LOL I bet they are from a mold they had laying around.

 

[bob welsh]

A few years ago i had many decoys unlimited molds and none of them had stems. I agree that the DU heads are similar to the herters. Just came back from hunting and the widgeon were all over the place. They decoyed to the new teal rig.

 

[Dave Diefenderfer]

Bob, I have 4 fat heads on hand, the mold and material on hand so can cast more as needed.

 

[bob welsh]

sounds good i'll take them let me know what you want for them and i can use more if you are not too busy.