Sealing and Glueing Cork

R

Rob_Crowley

New member
Hi all,

I am planning on making a small rig of gunning black ducks. I was planning on making them pretty big for the open water hunting I do on long island the dims were 17.5x8.75x6, the dims are not set in stone but from the plans I made this was what I came up with. Now to my question to piece the two halves together I was planning on using titebond II, if there is a better process I am open to ideas, but from my research this is what I came up with.

Next, is sealing I have cork sealer from Wily, which I used on my first decoy, but I have also been told by some people they use marine spar varnish. I'm sure there are bias on this process so I would like to hear both sides of it. Last part of the question is should I seal all sides of the cork before I glue them or will the sides glued together not need to be sealed.

Thanks in advance for your help and input!

Rob
 
Linseed oil and spar varnish was a old standard. Doing a few decoys, some use commercial decoy shop sealers. As for glue, I would use the best I could afford. Like building a boat, what will fail first. If I were building a new rig, I would go with the better materials. Labor is the largest part.
 
Rob~

I will be interested to see others' responses to your questions. Titebond III was not available when I last glued up any tan cork ( I have used both Resorcinol and marine epoxy). Al McCormick always used Barge Cement (made for shoes, I believe) on his black cork birds.

I am especially interested in the sealing question. My LI Black Duck rig is tan cork with no sealer. I paint the raw (sanded cork) with linseed oil, burn it with a torch (patting out any "deep" fires with a rag), then wipe the bird with a rag to work the carbon into the oil. It seems a shame to seal and paint the perfect (and traditional) finish for this species. (BTW: I cover the painted head with aluminum foil during the burning process.) They have served many seasons - but do need another session with the torch to refresh the deeper tones. (Sharp-eyed members will also notice that I use neither tail inserts nor bottom boards.)

CorkBlackDuckPreener-Alightened_zpsc56fd8e8.jpg


As it happens, the decoy I am putting in the duckboats.net Decoy Swap will be a burned-cork Black Duck - photos will follow when it's done next week.

All the best,

SJS
 
Rob, i went from barge, which is sometimes available in shoe repair stores, to contack cement, to Gorilla. Seems to work just spiffy for keels, heads, and piecing cork and wood bottom boards together.
The pattern i will send you is for a four inch body, but you can either glue a bottom board on, or a 1" slab of cork. Any taller and you may stand the risk of rolling, especially if you round too much on the bottom-chine.
Too bad wiley cork is no longer available-Burnt, it made a superb black duck color.
 
Steve, that kinda looks like Wiley. That stuff was aces-never needed sealing-just carve, sand and paint-or in the case of a BD, singe!
 
George~

You are correct - that's Wiley Cork. I made the rig in the late 80s.

Is the new cork more vulnerable to water?

All the best,

SJS
 
My cork decoys that I am going to hunt over I use marine epoxy for gluing heads,keels, tails, and cork together. I have used titebond for gluing tails or keels on, but for heads it's epoxy. As for sealing I use marine spar varnish if I am going to paint with oils and all purpose sealer from Traditions if using acrylics. I like the all purpose sealer over the cork sealer because it seems like it gives you a harder finish. Also you might want to hollow the cork, seeing that you are going to glue two pieces together. One of the draw backs of tan cork is the weight and if you are making them big they will be heavy. I have never brunt the cork, but have been looking for some natural cork (like a wine cork)big enough to make a rig of 3 blacks from. Like Shang.s decoys that he used.
Pete
 
Thanks for all of the responses guys!

Steve, I was planning on using linseed oil and a torch on one of the blacks and see how it comes out. I really like the way your birds look, lets see if I can inmate them. Also I really like the picture you have of Al McCormick on your website, I've always loved his decoys my friends father used to carve with him so I've hunted over a bunch of his birds.

George, thanks for all of your help also. I'll remember what you said about the height. Do you think if I hollowed out the top a little it may keep the base heavy enough to keep it more stable.

Thanks
Rob
 
Steve, have some old cork bodies that were roughed out. Was thinking of putting 1/4 marine for a bottom board. Good or bad idea? They will get rough use. Don't want the edges to chip???
 
Rich~

I have some black cork and am planning to do the same thing (but probably just with AC) - and have done it on a few birds. Glueing it on with marine epoxy AND sealing the edges well is a sound approach. Once the glue cures, I round the edge over with a 3/16" router bit, then seal.

And, you can glue & screw a keel to the plywood and get a better result than just doweling into the cork, in my opinion.

All the best,

SJS
 
Rich~

Only difference between AC and Marine is the voids and the C side - glues are the same. Marine is supposed to have no voids. Good AC has a few small voids, cheap AC has lots of big voids. I get nice AC from my local (family-owned) lumber yard and Marine is hard to get up here in dairy country.

SJS
 
Steve, unlike Wiley, ALL of the newer tan cork needs sealing. Problem is the binder, which leaves voids, which wick water like crazy. It took some problem solving after Wiley went out, but either Golden GAC700 or Traditions cork sealer work just fine. Just make sure you use at least two coats-I put three on most dekes, just as a safeguard. I've discovered that if you mist the part you are sealing, ie, bottom half-first, the base coat will follow the water, and seems to fill voids well.
If a deke is shot or damaged below water line, immediate attention is a good way to go to prevent any wicking through that spot.
Big problem is that is you try to burn the cork, you will have to find some type of matte sealer to go over the burnt stuff--Kinda messes up the concept of burning, like with Wiley.
 
Thanks, George!

I'm wondering if a marine epoxy would work as well. It may be a bit more expensive - but I always have some in the shop.

BTW: I just oiled and burned my "Swap" bird. I got the cork from a friend several years ago. It looks like Wiley's - but I guess I won't know if it's a sponge until the "Swappee" complains....maybe I should just stick to hollow pine and cedar.

All the best,

SJS
 
i have some birds that are burned then sealed with a 50/50 or so mixture of spar and a walnut colored stain. I will see if I can find a pic. I wouldn't say they are perfectly flat, but they don't shine.
 
Steve, when you cut and carved the body , did it smell the same? Wiley has a distinctive odor when cut or ground.
 
George~

It sure looked and felt the same; particle size and shape looked familiar. I do not recall the smell - but now it smells like burned linseed oil....

Corker2014Swapb_zps20222f35.jpg


I guess time will tell if it soaks up all the water in Great South Bay (or wherever it winds up in the decoy swap). Sea trials yesterday only lasted a few minutes.

Thanks again!

SJS
 
I still have a few small pieces of Wiley, for teal and shore birds. I do believe the smell/aroma was from the could be toxic binder, it sure made good decoys though.
 
AVince, i still have four full sheets of 4" about 50 2" sheets, both goose and duck, AND a bag of scrap that i am using to make plugs in bodttoms of dekes, where i run the screw and washer into the bottom of the head. With that AND gorilla, there is a good seal, AND, everyone gets a bit of history with the wiley plug. Weell, at least until i run outta scraps.
Still LOVE the aroma.
 
On the orange type cork , options one use the sealer that willey sells, & burn the cork use green scoring pad to lightly take some of the black color off seal after burning. best natural color that i have found the ducks handle the best,. On the Black type cork which has a lot of small voids using 4 in. all I use two different oil based colored stains made by MINWAX,Oil content.Look at their color chart. oil base seals bird. 1st The color is like a raw sienna right out of the can Brush on like you were going to paint the decoy extra coat as it sinks in, let it Dry , then then next day Pick a dark walnut color just dip a rag in the can squeeze it out & wipe over the complete body so the dark wont completely cover the light sienna stain color,so as not to have much fall into the voids. ,it looks like the real feather color have used that method for years & been very successful. Any Question contact me. Thanks Paul
 
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