how I make telephone pole decoys

[bob welsh]

I make these from time to time. The cedar is old and hard so its not my 1st choice but it does finish up to be a nice old school bird. Since the cedar is in the round I have a though time bandsawing so I made a jig or sled to hold it through the prccess.

top view cut from 1/2 ply

sled

this is how it goes through saw

 

[bob welsh]

tack pattern board on fof cutting top view

cut out as close as you can

lay block in cradle and secure solidly with screws from bottom and one from side. The cradle is wide enough to take various widths

 

[bob welsh]

as the decoy comes out of the saw

excess trimmed on saw

after drawknife and spokshave and assembled

shows the progression

 

[bob welsh]

one more

 

[jode hillman]

Bob, very cool, nice way to make use of free wood!

 

[Tim Speight]

Hi Bob...have to agree with Jode...very cool!

Great classic style and offers everything a gunning decoy should...great look...durable...easy to maintain...affordable.

Thanks for sharing!

Tim

 

[tod osier]

Very nice Bob, thanks for sharnig that!

 

[Al Hansen]

Just out of curiosity, Bob, how long have you been doing this and what gave you the idea in the first place? I think this is a great idea.
Al

 

[Brandon Yuchasz]

Thank for sharing that Bob. Very cool process and I love the finished product.

 

[Pat Gregory]

Sweet Bob! Ben Schmidt would be proud! Pat

 

[Darin Clark]

Very cool. A friend of mine has a old bluebill decoy that was carved out of a telephone pole. Not sure when or by who it was carved.

 

[Lou Tisch]

Very clever Bob, never thought about doing it that way with the templates. Nice!
Lou

 

[Scott Farris]

Small cautionary note, when Bob says it's hard he isn't kidding. I was given a couple of chunks of pole back in the 90's and promptly burned out the 1/2 hp motor on the old Rockwell band saw. Okay the blade may not have been the best but it was what I had. The old lineman who gave me the pole sections told me that here in Connecticut they stopped putting new ceder poles in around WWII. They are well aged!

 

[jon]

Now I know why my bandsaw is going so slow... I have been using T-pole cedar all along...lol. Wish you would have posted this months ago... haha.

Great ideas for NEXT time!!! Thanks.

 

[Scott Farris]

Jon,

I saw your post but didn't realize you were cutting tele poles. The burned out 1/2 hp motor was replaced with a 1 hp motor and with new 4-T/in blades she runs very nicely now.

Scott

 

[bob welsh]

Thanks guys. The telephone poles are tough to cut without the jig. In fact as i have learned the hard way dangerous. Ive kinked more than one bandsaw blade until i started using the jig. I got the poles for free at the utility company yard and they were cut in random lenghts. I used a froe to split them in half and cut into decoy body lengths. If you get some make sure they are from the upper lengths of the pole to avoid creosote and all the nails and staples from lost dog signs. There might be some nails still in them so give the wood on last glance before running them through the saw. Ive left most of them with the splits still in them and others I filled with putty . I have a feather stamper tool that I got from Mr. Snow that I sometimes use ...Schmidt style. Hope you enjoyed them and Ill post some pics with clothes on soon.

 

[milburn]

I didn't see this mentioned, but that old red cedar , along with the creasote that might be in it is hard on the lungs and might irratate the skin. I have made some and it irrates through my clothes.....

 

[bob welsh]

yes its red cedar I dont do much sanding with it and do avoid the creasote parts thats why I use the upper pole as they usually did not soak it that far

 

[Steve Seibel]

Very, very neat and interesting (the kids would say COOL!). How did you know, Bob, that I've got chunks of red cedar out back after cutting some dead trees out of our windbreak? Now, I don't own a band say (at least not yet). Do you think a person could do the rough-out with a chainsaw instead? Thanks for posting!

 

[bob welsh]

I think a chainsaw in the right hands could get you close and then a hatchet,drawknife and spokeshave