I have a collection of old cork decoys that I continue to use, but some are beat up --- cracks and even small pieces of body missing. Does anyone have advice on techniques and materials for repairing cork decoys? Thanks, Lou
Inject or force waterproof glue or wood fillers into the cracks or expanding foam into larger voids and sand too contour? Obviously being careful that you don't make any separations worse with the expanding foam. That stuff is amazingly sticky.
If you post some pictures of the damages then you might could get some specific repairs. You might can try searching the forum too, Steve Sanford has posted some pictures of repairing cork birds, might be in one of the monthly work bench threads.
Some instances might be better to cut a section out and replace it with new.
I rebuilt several over the summer.
There was no best way.
Some needed tailboards replaced
Some needed cork replaced.
The ones with chunks of cork. I squared off then glued cork in place with urethane gorilla .
With smaller chunks or voids and made a peanut butter mix of sawdust and bond tite 3 glue.
One thing I did to all was sealed then painted with several coats of primer and paint.
This season we will see how well the repairs hold up.
I probably have a bunch of cork repairs scattered throughout my posts here at duckboats.net. These (below) on my own website focus on painting but include some repairs.
Whenever possible, I replace cork with cork. I cut out whatever I need to and bed new cork with thickened epoxy (epoxy + fairing compound). For shallower repairs, I use thickened epoxy (a very stiff mix) then sprinkle cork dust on the surface before it cures.
If you post photos, I can offer more specific thoughts.
As you will see, I am a proponent of Spar Varnish (not spar urethane) as a sealer. Black cork dries out to where it can crumble into oblivion. To continue hunting such decoys, they need a soaking coat of Spar Varnish or Linseed Oil, then new paint. Expensive marine varnish is not needed. I get oil-based Spar Varnish at my local hardware stores for about $18 per quart. I prefer the Satin to the Gloss if I can get it.
I prime over the Spar Varnish with flat oil paints - usually Rustoleum. I will be rehabbing 3 LL Bean Greenwings shortly and will post my process. Their bodies need shallow filling - not major reconstructive surgery.
Steve, This is very helpful. I checked your previous posts and looked at your website and work. It's mpressive, for sure. By acclimation, you seem to be the forum's go-to guy on decoy repair. Thanks for your thoughts. I will post some pics.
FYI~ Bean's decoys are made from a material known variously as black cork, brown cork or refrigerator cork. All cork products come from Cork Oaks that grow mostly in Portugal and Spain. The thick bark is harvested for the cork.
The bark is ground into fairly coarse chunks into a slurry, heated, then pressed into molds to make a product of uniform thickness. Before modern petroleum-based insulation, ice houses and other refrigeration plants (e.g., fur storage) kept cool with refrigerator cork.
Back in the day, most gunners bought their black cork from National Cork Co., in Keyport, NJ. For decoys, it must be sealed to prevent it from absorbing water when in use.
A different cork product is known as white, tan or bulletin board cork. It is ground much more finely and bound with a chemical binder. It is much denser, can hold considerable detail, and requires less structural reinforcement.
The earliest cork decoys were made from unprocessed slabs of the cork bark. Such slabs were often pinned together with dowels to make suitable body sizes. Natural cork slabs were also used in the earliest life preservers for flotation. Life jackets salvaged from beaches after wrecks often contributed to decoy rigs.
Steve, can you explain why spar urethane should not be used (or if that is a mischaracterization, why spar varnish is better)?
I have quart of Helmsman Indoor/Outdoor Spar Urethane that I have been using and I wonder if I've been making a mistake that I'll find out about down the road. Thanks.