Steve Sanford
Well-known member
All~
I had some help this past weekend with re-furbishing my old "saltwater rig" of 9 cork Black Ducks. I had made the birds back in the late 80s. Because had I used the old Wiley Cork - which was fully waterproof - I was able to finish them with linseed oil and a torch - and no additional sealing. I have hunted over them for many years - every day of the season when I still lived on Long Island - and they still looked okay - certainly good enough to fool all but the most discerning Black Duck. However, since I am getting my Sneakbox back into fighting trim, I thought I ought to get the rig looking its best.
Here are a few earlier this year - the best BEFORE photo I have.
Mike Braden and his son Kyle came up from coastal New Jersey to see how it's done - and to lend some very capable hands.
The prep was easy: I had vacuumed the dust off the day before, and then we carried them out to the picnic table. This is definitely "an outside job".
We first covered the painted heads with heavy duty aluminum foil - so the heat did not ruin the paint. Then, we brushed a wet coat of linseed oil onto the bodies - staying a quarter-inch or so away from the head paint. Kyle is pretty handy with the camera. I am hoping he has a shot or 2 showing the foil-wrapped heads - looking like so many baked potatoes.
The Bernzomatic torch does all the work. The objective is to light the linseed oil on fire so it begins to scorch the cork beneath it - but not to set the cork afire so that it turns to charcoal. I know Kyle has one photo showing a bird fully engulfed in flames - very dramatic - and I hope he (or Mike) adds it here.
We used gravity and a rag to control the flames.
After burning, the soot and oil are rubbed over and into the body with the oily-sooty rag.
The fresh new body plumage makes the heads "pop" - even without new paint.
Once the birds were all re-burned, the bottoms got a fresh coat of duckboat paint. First, though, I bored out each hole in the keel. As the years have rolled on, I have come to appreciate larger anchor line holes - so reeving my #72 tarred nylon lines through the keels becomes an easier, tool-free task. So, the 1/8-inch holes are now 5/16.
Note the lead ballast poured into the bottoms of the keels. And - since this was before the days of nice long deck screws - the heads were attached with 1/4-inch (heavy!) galvanized lag bolts.
I will do a bit of touch-up painting on a few heads - then lines and anchors get tied back on - and they will once again be "ready-to-hunt".
All the best,
SJS
I had some help this past weekend with re-furbishing my old "saltwater rig" of 9 cork Black Ducks. I had made the birds back in the late 80s. Because had I used the old Wiley Cork - which was fully waterproof - I was able to finish them with linseed oil and a torch - and no additional sealing. I have hunted over them for many years - every day of the season when I still lived on Long Island - and they still looked okay - certainly good enough to fool all but the most discerning Black Duck. However, since I am getting my Sneakbox back into fighting trim, I thought I ought to get the rig looking its best.
Here are a few earlier this year - the best BEFORE photo I have.
Mike Braden and his son Kyle came up from coastal New Jersey to see how it's done - and to lend some very capable hands.
The prep was easy: I had vacuumed the dust off the day before, and then we carried them out to the picnic table. This is definitely "an outside job".
We first covered the painted heads with heavy duty aluminum foil - so the heat did not ruin the paint. Then, we brushed a wet coat of linseed oil onto the bodies - staying a quarter-inch or so away from the head paint. Kyle is pretty handy with the camera. I am hoping he has a shot or 2 showing the foil-wrapped heads - looking like so many baked potatoes.
The Bernzomatic torch does all the work. The objective is to light the linseed oil on fire so it begins to scorch the cork beneath it - but not to set the cork afire so that it turns to charcoal. I know Kyle has one photo showing a bird fully engulfed in flames - very dramatic - and I hope he (or Mike) adds it here.
We used gravity and a rag to control the flames.
After burning, the soot and oil are rubbed over and into the body with the oily-sooty rag.
The fresh new body plumage makes the heads "pop" - even without new paint.
Once the birds were all re-burned, the bottoms got a fresh coat of duckboat paint. First, though, I bored out each hole in the keel. As the years have rolled on, I have come to appreciate larger anchor line holes - so reeving my #72 tarred nylon lines through the keels becomes an easier, tool-free task. So, the 1/8-inch holes are now 5/16.
Note the lead ballast poured into the bottoms of the keels. And - since this was before the days of nice long deck screws - the heads were attached with 1/4-inch (heavy!) galvanized lag bolts.
I will do a bit of touch-up painting on a few heads - then lines and anchors get tied back on - and they will once again be "ready-to-hunt".
All the best,
SJS
