June - What's on your workbench ??????

Thanks Pat. The teal and the pintail where made from cypress that came from Iron City Beer where Jim Schmiedlin worked at.
 


Thirty-five tan cork body cut-outs, along with 11 black corks with tailboards glued and set. Fifty-seven oak keels cut. A stand to hold my dog boarding ladder for the TDB, along with some minor repair work to the vinyl edge trim. Wood to cut for more tailboards(fifteen done, but twenty still to go), tail slots to rip in the cork body cut-outs, pintails repaired and partially repainted.

I brought the 24 scaup out to the garage, since they are being painted in alkyd oils (Ronan and/orParkers over four base coats of Rustoleum), along new eyes, and oak keels to avoid exacerbating Karne's asthma via fumes during the drying phase. The rains have been so intense for the last four days we moved the vehicles inside the garage. Consequently, I had to break-down my paint table to make room.
 
Good morning, RL~

Prodigious rig - of my favorite species. Let's see some closeups in future posts!

Question: 4 coats of Rustoleum? Are these spray coats?

All the best,

SJS
 
Pat, these have been a "fits and starts" project. I combed them with heavy gel, so they are pretty 'Spikey". Now tjey are on hold again for the puppy training/socialization interval. I am pretty disorganized right now, I never broke-down my XC ski waxing vise. I did get the floor washed in the garage and the summerization and maintenance of the snowblower completed, as well as getting Karen's turn-out blankets washed prior the onset of nearly two weeks of rain. The tomatoes and green beans are not looking very good right now.

Steve, over time I've found that putting a good base of paint on my decoys prior the finish layer and detail, greatly extends their use interval prior the need for a repaint/refurbish, particularly for "black and white" species like divers. I am not very "kind" to my decoys once they go into service. Everything gets two coats of black rustoleum from bill to tail, then two more coats as I block-in the background base colors on the back, side pockets, bill, etc. All of these have a finish coat on their heads/necks. I paint the side pockets with flat white Rustoleum with an overcoat of Parkers #12-their scaup side-pocket color- to yield an off-white semi-transparent layer and then dry brush with a very light gray on the vermiculation. George Williams would kick me in the pants, because I am in open violation of the twenty-yard rule, but they are my personal birds; one of values and virtues of carving your own stool.

I need to cut another twenty tail boards out of the support board under the scaup. I also need to rip the tail slots in the tan cork bodies using one of three jigs for three tail positions I use in diver bodies.

Rick
 


I finished up some decoys that Al McCormick made in the 1980-s. There were 6 Canvasbacks varnished but not painted. I followed his style and painted the eyes.
 
Good morning, Joe~

Very nice! I did not know Al did Cans.

BTW: I just painted some eyes on 2 McCormick Hen Broadbill about an hour ago.

All the best,

SJS
 
I asked Al to make some Canvasbacks which he had a pattern for. I also asked him to make some Scoters for me from a pattern I had. I was worker for a construction company that did a take down of a "Bohacks" grocery store. There was 4" refrigerator cork insulation around a walk-in freezer that I salvaged. I traded Al some cork for the decoys. He gave them to me carved with a couple of coats of spar varnish on them. I painted the Scoters and gunned over them right away. The Cans sat unpainted because we didn't have much of a season for years. Still don't.
 
Joe~

There was a Bohack's in downtown East Islip when I was growing up - in the 50s. I think the King Kullen "supermarket" put it out of business in the early 60s....

All the best,

SJS
 
The one I demo's was in New Hyde Park ... think that Bohack's was a merger with a larger chain. I remember that I stayed after work and had to rip the cork out of the ceiling. I looked like a minstrel singer from dust and dirt. But I didn't leave any behind. It probably made 100 decoys. I split a lot of it with Al.
 
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