Hollowing decoys?

[Neal Haarberg]

So I am doing my first hollow decoys and have a question. I used a drill press with a forstner bit to take out the material. Is it necessary to clean it up an smooth it out with a gouge or something? Will leaving rough cause it to crack over time or effect the longevity of the decoy? By the way I am using western red ceder for the bodys

 

[Huntindave McCann]

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Is it necessary to clean it up an smooth it out with a gouge or something?

All depends on how anal you might be. :>) :>) As for myself, I like to clean it up and smooth out all the rough edges. I doubt it makes any difference at all. I use a big coarse rotary bit in my flex shaft grinder to smooth and shape the inside.

I guess to justify cleaning it up, I figure a somewhat even wall thickness may be better for expansion and contraction.
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[Steve Sanford]

Neal~

I have not seen any difference. I use a bent gouge on my fancy birds to get thuings very even - because I want them as light as possible. On gunners, I let the 1" Forstner do all the work - never had a failure. Cracking is much more likely with solid body birds.

All the best,

SJS

 

[Terry Desilets]

I'm not all that fastidious about it. I hollow to about 1/2" - 3/8" then run a bit around and clean up the obvious stuff. I have no intentions on seeing the inside of my decoys again, why spend too much time on it. This isn't quite done, I went in with my Foredom and took a lot more off the top section and smoothed out the sides on the bottom half.

 

[Nate Grace]

Not really necessary to get it all even. I will sometimes take a black typhoon bur and try to take some more off, but that could be considered overkill. You need to leave some meat for the epoxy to get some bite. Be careful with the forstner on the edges of the decoy. I've punched a few holes, but nothing a little tape can't fix.

Good luck.


Nate

 

[steve wheeler]

I use a large forester bit on my hollow cedar or white pine decoys to take out guite a bit of the center areas of -top an bottom-and then use a 1'' curved gouge and a round nose carbide cylinder bit in a foredom tool to clean up the edges. This is probably an overkill but it allows for a little more symmetry and may produce a better level floating bird. Leave plenty of edge (3/4''- 1'') for a good glue joint.

 

[SCOTT SALZER]

I use the Foredom to even everything out inside solely to help the decoy float properly. I rarely have to add any ballast to correct an ill floating bird.

 

[Phil Boyles]

I have stopped leaving the posts in the middle of the decoy. Am I the only one who takes them out? Seems like an unnecessary item...

 

[Steve Sanford]

Phil~

I've never left posts in - never had any failures. I try to get the wall thickness about 1/2" or even a little less - and leave it a little fatter at the bow and stern because it's end grain. I mostly work in White Pine - don't know if Cedar might need to be a little more robust.

All the best,

SJS

 

[JimG]

I leave the posts in as the clamping at glue-up. I've been using a black typhoon to smooth out the inside for no other reason than further weight reduction. I have had a couple crack over the years, but after widening the crack and applying some epoxy with glass bubbles to fill it in, good to go again.

 

[Tom Modin]

I leave the posts in I hate clamping. Plus I don't have enough clamps when doing multiple birds. Clamps always caused a bit of slide for me too

 

[sean sutton]

Neal , another alternative is to use a gouge. With a little practice and a few sharp gouges . a decoy can be hollowed pretty quickly. The trick is to have a holding system. I use cork to keep the work from shifting. A vise with cork keeps the wood from being marred. Using a knife to score the edge keeps from tare out occurring. Starting with a large gouge and working with the grain to in to the body. Then reversing in to the cut makes quick work of getting started.

 

[sean sutton]

Once I got a well dug I switch up to a smaller spoon bent gouge. And then a Ice cream scoop gouge. The most important thing to remember is that the gouges have to be maintained. Sharp.

 

[sean sutton]

The finished halve can be done in 5 to 10 minutes. The pros of doing this way are . Its quite, no dust and very satisfying. The down side is the Cost of the gouges and the learning curve sharping them . But they will last you a life time.