Steve Sanford
Well-known member
All~
Here is an abbreviated account of my latest adventures with Herter's decoys. The full tale - with many more photos - is on my website at:
https://stevenjaysanford.com/pintail-rehabbing-herters-smaller-decoys/
Regular followers will recall that I began to accumulate a bunch of Model 63 Mallards late last spring. Other bunches were to follow and I wound up with about 50 small Herter's puddle duck stool before winter arrived. I rehabbed a dozen - with my usual epoxy + fine sawdust coating and fresh paint. I gunned over the dozen later in the season a frequently enjoyed the sight of live Mallards and Blacks swimming amongst them. I watched them enough to know that the 63 is just a tad smaller than the real thing.
My first batch was Mallards and Blacks but I soon branched out. One batch had purported "Wood Ducks" - which were Model 63 Bluebill heads atop Model 63 Mallard bodies. This admixture fooled nether the biologist nor the artist in me, but I did think that the combination would pass muster as Wigeon. (Although Herter's first simply painted Mallards as Wigeon, I have seen later factory birds that combined the Bluebill and Mallard to make Wigeon.)
My next foray was to turn a few Mallards into Gadwall. Although the Herter's Mallard lacks the full crown I like so much in Gadwall, the shape was close enough.
However, there remained a slight problem. Sometime in their later years, Herter's began to offer decoys - Teals and Pintail - with a different head. A handful of the decoys in one of my batches had these "different" heads on Green-wing Teal. I have yet to encounter anyone who was snobbish about Herter's decoys - but these heads were clearly below the Herter's standard. In fact, if one looks at the Herter's plastic decoys - both hollow Tenite and Durlon foam, one must admire their form, especially when compared with other commercial decoys of their time. The carver who made the masters - I believe it was Jack Musgrove of Des Moines, Iowa - had a fine eye and hand. I also admired Herter's because they went to the trouble and expense - at least in their early years - to make individual models for five species of ducks: Mallard/Black Mallard, Pintail, Canvasback, Redhead, Bluebill. It is the Pintail that is the subject of this essay.
I wish I still had the first Herter's catalog I explored (studied, really) as a young child. Back in the days when one received a single catalog per year, Herter's was one that became well-read in many households. I just found a 1957-58 edition (original in excellent condition, with mailing envelope and a blank Order Form) on e-Bay. Since I was born in 1953, this may very well have been the first edition I read as a child.
Although the balsa decoys were no longer offered, both the hollow Tenite Butyrate Model 50s were sold along with the Durlon foam Model 63s, 72s, 81s and 92s. This "post-pounding" image is among my earliest memories, forever vivid.
It seems that Model 63 Mallards and Bluebills (Broadbill to us Great South Bay gunners) remain easy enough to find. I recall passing on 4 dozen or so 'bills last fall because I simply could not concoct a justification that satisfied even me. But, Pintail is a horse of a different color. With my "small puddler" rig now including Mallards, Blacks, Wigeon and Gadwall, I decided I needed just a pair of Model 63 Pintails to complete the "set". I have learned that they are hard to come by, at least here in the East where Pintails are an occasional bird. (I suspect they are too common to even mention out West.....) I searched the web, the duckboat show in Tuckerton, the duckboat show on Long Island, a couple of friends who are immersed in the world of old gunning stool, and always the web. A new friend on duckboats.net offered me a bird he described as "pretty beat up". Of course, that's just my style. Rather than seeking Herter's birds in "original paint", I want decoys begging for a "makeover".
I received the Model 63 Pintail in early March. It is a mystery. The foam body has the original flat bottom (later birds had extruded keel molded on their bottoms) and the head came with the solid brass screw-eye (later were brass-plated steel). The head, though, was the more recent "different" head. It still had its factory Drake Pintail paint but was not the original Model 63 shape (or size).
So, I embraced a new strategy. I decided to carve a new head for the Model 63 body and to purchase a pair of Model 50 Pintails. The latter came from California - thanks again to e-Bay - and I used their heads to make my pattern.
Here is the Model 63 with the "different" head. Notice how it is a bit too small for the body.
Here is the Model 50 "drake" as he arrived - disguised as a Drake Ringneck.
And here is the Model 50 "hen" - disguised as a Hen Ringneck. The Model 50 Pintail is a nice decoy - but the heads are glued in place, facing straight forward (unlike the Model 63s with their famous "any-position" heads). Also, the bills are a bit too high in my opinion - making the birds look a bit nervous.
I completed the Model 50s first. Even though they do not need the additional "toughness" provided by the epoxy + sawdust, I do like the rough surface that prevents shine and helps paint details to be seen.
I used the Model 50 head to guide my pattern for a Model 63 replacement.
Here is the new head - Basswood with a dowel as a shaft.
Here is the comparison of sizes and shapes.
The biggest difference from the "original" is the "eye channel" - the shallow groove between the brow and the cheek.
While I have for many decades put style over biology in my Drake Pintails, I decided to cave in to Mother Nature and paint those two White neck stripes closer to their natural shape. Instead of carrying them forward and coming to a fine point on the brow, I have shaped these closer to the "real thing".
Sea trials were conducted here on the Hemlock swamp this afternoon. I jumped Mallards, Woodies and Canadas - and heard a couple of Spring Peepers but no Wood Frogs yet.
Here are the Model 50s:
Here is the Model 63 with its "replacement" head:
All the best,
SJS
Here is an abbreviated account of my latest adventures with Herter's decoys. The full tale - with many more photos - is on my website at:
https://stevenjaysanford.com/pintail-rehabbing-herters-smaller-decoys/
Regular followers will recall that I began to accumulate a bunch of Model 63 Mallards late last spring. Other bunches were to follow and I wound up with about 50 small Herter's puddle duck stool before winter arrived. I rehabbed a dozen - with my usual epoxy + fine sawdust coating and fresh paint. I gunned over the dozen later in the season a frequently enjoyed the sight of live Mallards and Blacks swimming amongst them. I watched them enough to know that the 63 is just a tad smaller than the real thing.
My first batch was Mallards and Blacks but I soon branched out. One batch had purported "Wood Ducks" - which were Model 63 Bluebill heads atop Model 63 Mallard bodies. This admixture fooled nether the biologist nor the artist in me, but I did think that the combination would pass muster as Wigeon. (Although Herter's first simply painted Mallards as Wigeon, I have seen later factory birds that combined the Bluebill and Mallard to make Wigeon.)
My next foray was to turn a few Mallards into Gadwall. Although the Herter's Mallard lacks the full crown I like so much in Gadwall, the shape was close enough.
However, there remained a slight problem. Sometime in their later years, Herter's began to offer decoys - Teals and Pintail - with a different head. A handful of the decoys in one of my batches had these "different" heads on Green-wing Teal. I have yet to encounter anyone who was snobbish about Herter's decoys - but these heads were clearly below the Herter's standard. In fact, if one looks at the Herter's plastic decoys - both hollow Tenite and Durlon foam, one must admire their form, especially when compared with other commercial decoys of their time. The carver who made the masters - I believe it was Jack Musgrove of Des Moines, Iowa - had a fine eye and hand. I also admired Herter's because they went to the trouble and expense - at least in their early years - to make individual models for five species of ducks: Mallard/Black Mallard, Pintail, Canvasback, Redhead, Bluebill. It is the Pintail that is the subject of this essay.
I wish I still had the first Herter's catalog I explored (studied, really) as a young child. Back in the days when one received a single catalog per year, Herter's was one that became well-read in many households. I just found a 1957-58 edition (original in excellent condition, with mailing envelope and a blank Order Form) on e-Bay. Since I was born in 1953, this may very well have been the first edition I read as a child.
Although the balsa decoys were no longer offered, both the hollow Tenite Butyrate Model 50s were sold along with the Durlon foam Model 63s, 72s, 81s and 92s. This "post-pounding" image is among my earliest memories, forever vivid.
It seems that Model 63 Mallards and Bluebills (Broadbill to us Great South Bay gunners) remain easy enough to find. I recall passing on 4 dozen or so 'bills last fall because I simply could not concoct a justification that satisfied even me. But, Pintail is a horse of a different color. With my "small puddler" rig now including Mallards, Blacks, Wigeon and Gadwall, I decided I needed just a pair of Model 63 Pintails to complete the "set". I have learned that they are hard to come by, at least here in the East where Pintails are an occasional bird. (I suspect they are too common to even mention out West.....) I searched the web, the duckboat show in Tuckerton, the duckboat show on Long Island, a couple of friends who are immersed in the world of old gunning stool, and always the web. A new friend on duckboats.net offered me a bird he described as "pretty beat up". Of course, that's just my style. Rather than seeking Herter's birds in "original paint", I want decoys begging for a "makeover".
I received the Model 63 Pintail in early March. It is a mystery. The foam body has the original flat bottom (later birds had extruded keel molded on their bottoms) and the head came with the solid brass screw-eye (later were brass-plated steel). The head, though, was the more recent "different" head. It still had its factory Drake Pintail paint but was not the original Model 63 shape (or size).
So, I embraced a new strategy. I decided to carve a new head for the Model 63 body and to purchase a pair of Model 50 Pintails. The latter came from California - thanks again to e-Bay - and I used their heads to make my pattern.
Here is the Model 63 with the "different" head. Notice how it is a bit too small for the body.
Here is the Model 50 "drake" as he arrived - disguised as a Drake Ringneck.
And here is the Model 50 "hen" - disguised as a Hen Ringneck. The Model 50 Pintail is a nice decoy - but the heads are glued in place, facing straight forward (unlike the Model 63s with their famous "any-position" heads). Also, the bills are a bit too high in my opinion - making the birds look a bit nervous.
I completed the Model 50s first. Even though they do not need the additional "toughness" provided by the epoxy + sawdust, I do like the rough surface that prevents shine and helps paint details to be seen.
I used the Model 50 head to guide my pattern for a Model 63 replacement.
Here is the new head - Basswood with a dowel as a shaft.
Here is the comparison of sizes and shapes.
The biggest difference from the "original" is the "eye channel" - the shallow groove between the brow and the cheek.
While I have for many decades put style over biology in my Drake Pintails, I decided to cave in to Mother Nature and paint those two White neck stripes closer to their natural shape. Instead of carrying them forward and coming to a fine point on the brow, I have shaped these closer to the "real thing".
Sea trials were conducted here on the Hemlock swamp this afternoon. I jumped Mallards, Woodies and Canadas - and heard a couple of Spring Peepers but no Wood Frogs yet.
Here are the Model 50s:
Here is the Model 63 with its "replacement" head:
All the best,
SJS
